Educating the house occupants is one of the most important solutions. Also, real time monitoring of the energy consumption is another.

Dear Napoleon, I really appreciate your reply, but the question is still exist. what is the best and efficient way to educate users? do you agree the idea of TV and/or Radio reportage, small brochures distributed directly to occupants at their homes, street publicities? or you can advice me some different idea, especially that there is no an obligatory energy code for buildings in my country. unfortunately, neither the government nor the engineer syndicate impulse such requirement.

what is the best and efficient way to educate users?

>> If you can do real demonstration to them for energy conservation, efficiency and others. Be sure to have factual results.

do you agree the idea of TV and/or Radio reportage, small brochures distributed directly to occupants at their homes, street publicities?

>> Yes, you can but make it simple and practical for them to understand and appreciate

or you can advice me some different idea, especially that there is no an obligatory energy code for buildings in my country. unfortunately, neither the government nor the engineer syndicate impulse such requirement.

>> maybe, you can start this in your university. Later, you can invite those people in government for them to know/appreciate. Those people in government (politicians) are responsible for making laws for this case.

Napoleon & Salman, I really appreciate your contribution to my question.

Dear Napoleon, concerning your proposition to start from the university, I can confirm you that we are already do this especially in my department of building engineering. But, unfortunately, i don't see a great reflection of this important question on the real construction marketing and production. For this reason, I'm trying to identify different approaches or solutions to increase the awareness of people, architects and investors despite the absence of laws necessary to this important question.

Dear Salman, I agree with you. I think its so important to start with kids and integrate this question in their pedagogy. So, one time again, the responsible in government ( decision makers) should be firstly awareness and integrated in the solutions.

I believe the key is communication and engagement. You could use posters, leverage on social media (YouTube, websites etc) to communicate about the importance of sustainability. Here at UNSW, we use Green Sense to track electricity and water usage of buildings. Perhaps you could do the same and might even want to consider organising competitions to reward winning building occupants who have shown tremendous improvements (reduced electricity or water consumption by a certain target etc)

The key element acceptance. In order to achieve more acceptance, any kind of systems, measures, etc schould be understandable for the inhabitants

thanks a lot for your participations. I think that i get many different ideas.

Since 2008, the european commission strongly believe that, for inhabitants, one way to decrease energy consumption in houses is to give the opportunitie to inhabitants to have their consumption in real time, through the utilization of ICT(on a tablet, a web site, a tv, a smartphone) . You can have a look on this website to see the results of 6 european projects in few countries (http://www.smartspaces.eu/news-events/news-details/article/eemeasure-calculation-of-energy-efficiency-in-buildings-web-portal-is-now-publicly-available-fo/)

As you will see you can decrease or not the consumption using information and education. However, there is not one truth. Depending of inhabitants, countries, technical systems, etc... you can have a really big variation in energy savings. A lot of sociologists propose research on this point to analyse the causes and consequences of education protocols and the different ways to sensibilize inhabitants.

Concerning designers and architects (especially in France), apply energy efficiency solution is difficult when the final cost is to high. However, the major part of those people just think using a ROI. However, the design process has a impact on all the life of the building. In consequence, when they can analyse the long cost cycle, sometimes their point of view change.

In another hand, the design process of energy efficient buildings is different in my opinion, from the traditional (and actual) process design. Today, to decrease the cost and obtain high performance in building, designer, architects and other actors should really work together in an iterative and constructive process. Which is unfortunately not the case (in France, i mean).

New solutions to decrease the cost and develop a constructive process can be discussed : the building information modeling and model (BIM) , the concept of lean construction (see research at Berckley university for example) could be a solution to change the perception of designer and architects and decrease the cost of energy efficient solutions.

What I am suggesting is just an idea and is neither tried out by me nor am i recommending its' application.

If you develop an energy matrix which can compare the building designs' ability to conserve energy and use this as a tool along with the selling price or rent of the house; or cost of the commercial space, it would help buyers and builders both consider better built homes for a higher price. The energy matrix could be as simple as an Overall Heat Transfer Value (OTTV) or an overall U-value of the building.

However, this will have an impact of RoI calculations and may have to be tried out on a pilot scale.   

These two scientific contributions will allow you to form a clear idea of the possible answers to your question. I hope this information is of great use to you.

• Methods used in social sciences that suit energy research: A literature review on qualitative methods to assess the human dimension of energy use in buildings
• The human dimensions of energy use in buildings: A review