Merely focusing on the energy-efficiency enhancement of buildings is not enough to reduce building sector's increasing energy demand. This paradox is conceptualised as The paradox of Inefficiency of Increased Building Energy Efficiency. Compared to merely focusing on the energy-efficiency enhancement, increasing the number of energy-efficient buildings (EEBs) with a better marketability via enhancement of their aesthetic features is proposed as a novel approach (aesthetics, energy efficiency, and marketing oriented) to reduce building sector's energy demand and contribute the efforts to minimise the hazards of global warming in the article;
"Aydin, Yusuf Cihat, Parham A. Mirzaei, and Sanam Akhavannasab. "On the relationship between building energy efficiency, aesthetic features and marketability: Toward a novel policy for energy demand reduction." Energy Policy 128 (2019): 593-606" , Full text can be accessed until 20 March 2019 via: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1YU0v14YGgXiGz.
This article contains valuable information about; (1) the current stage of EEBs’ adoption, (2) market barriers of EEBs, (3) the role of aesthetic features on buildings’ marketability for development of effective policies, (4) housing buyers' decision making process when they are buying a house, (5) the potential role of visual aesthetic on buildings’ marketability, (6) the applicability of aesthetic enhancement of EEBs in practice, (7) building components that simultaneously affecting the buildings aesthetic, energy efficiency and marketability, (8) the most important building parameters in consumer decision-making process when they are buying a house, (9) the monetary added value of different building parameters, and (10) impact of window's parameters on market demand of residential buildings.
In this study, several pre-studies and a comprehensive email survey was conducted on residential sales employees from real-estate agencies (n = 289) across 26 UK cities.
I would pleased to discuss with my colleagues about this proposed novel paradox and approach, and hear their thoughts about the necessity of new approaches for reducing building sector's energy demand and contribute reaching the goals of Paris agreement.
The theoretically motivated response to your question is "of course not!". Why? Because of the so-called "rebound effect". Unless "efficiency" is accompanied with "sobriety", then the augmentation due to increased "lifestyle demands" for artificial comfort, gadgets, conspicuous consumption, prestige etc., say +20%, can easily outrun, on a periodic or exponential basis, the gains of "greater efficiency" (say 10%).
This is a well known consideration, which highlights that meaningful responses to sustainability concerns/challenges cannot be rooted primarily in "efficiency" terms (even if, at thelevel of "means to an end", different facets of efficiency are meaningful performance considerations).
- Martin O'Connor
Dear Martin,
Thanks for your contribution, as you mentioned rebound effect which also known as the Jevons paradox is a big issue; some of the previous studies present some valuable evidences about the validity of this paradox; for example, companies and individuals consume more energy than required to satisfy a basic comfort level in energy-efficient buildings (EEBs), which can exceed up to 30% for space heating and 70% for space cooling.
However, proposed novel paradox has a fundamental difference from the rebound effect, according to the Jevons paradox, as efficiency increases, the rate of consumption of a resource (e.g. energy) rises rather than being reduced due to the increase in the demand. Yet, in Inefficiency of Increased Building Energy Efficiency paradox( IIBEE ) there is a negative correlation between the efficiency and demand (e.g. marketability) rather than a positive correlation.
It should be emphasised that the IIBEE paradox is not an alternative or an opposition to the Jevons paradox. The Jevons paradox essentially becomes a problem after the sale of an EEB, but the IIBEE paradox is essentially a problem that arises during the sale process of an EEB, as it is mainly associated with the lack of widespread adoption of EEBs. In terms of EEBs, the Jevons paradox is essentially associated with occupants’ behaviour, and while strategies are being developed to reduce the energy demand of the building sector, preventive measures for Jevons paradox should also be taken into the account.
Both paradoxes are obstacles for reducing building sector energy demand with current strategies. So it seems new strategies are required to reduce building sectors energy demand.
Among many other factors, I would like to draw your attention to urban planning and design, energy mix and primary energy factor:
- Buildings with identical design when located in different urban tissues perform differently. For instance, in hot climates, dense urban tissues provide more shadow on the facades of buildings and reduce their cooling energy demands.
- Buildings with identical design and energy demands when supplied by more advanced power plants require smaller amounts of primary energy and result in less greenhouse gas emissions (think of power plants using coal vs solar PV).
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