By Katharina Reindl.
“It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out nor more doubtful of success nor more dangerous to handle than to initiate a new order of things; for the reformer has enemies in all those who profit by the old order, and only lukewarm defenders in all those who would profit by the new order; this lukewarmness arising partly from the incredulity of mankind who does not truly believe in anything new until they actually have experience of it.” Nicolo Machiavelli (1469 – 1527)
A few years ago, I studied how energy measures were handled in three building renovations of a municipal housing company in Sweden. I attended planning meetings and interviewed all the participants. Planning phases are important as they lay the groundwork for how a building will be (re)constructed, and there are thus opportunities to implement measures to reduce the energy consumption and thereby achieve a more sustainable built environment and reach our climate targets. There is however a common phenomenon that even though energy measures exist, they are not necessarily implemented.
Phases of the renovation process
The housing company had introduced an ambitious energy goal, and this should have been mirrored in their upcoming renovation projects. However, though “standard” energy measures were implemented, like additional insulation and exchanging the windows, energy issues were always in the background. It was interesting to observe how the topic was always circling the table but never brought to the table when I attended the meetings. There were rumours about energy, everyone hinted about energy, but it was hard to see it take real shape and real actions being proposed. A renovation team consists of internal employees of the housing company and externally hired consultants (HVAC, electricity, fire consultants, architects, building engineers). I describe here where energy issues were discussed or surprisingly not discussed.
- Energy in the planning meetings
The meeting participants saw energy efficiency or saving as the second most important goal to achieve with a renovation after achieving a good standard for the tenants, but energy issues were not discussed much during the meetings. Each project had six meetings each 120 minutes. If energy issues were discussed, then less than 5 minutes were used in the end to be taken up the next time. I eagerly awaited the next meeting to see the Energy unicorn to be brought to the table, but unfortunately, every meeting ended the same way as the previous – “let’s discuss this further the next time we meet”. The fear of the new and unknown is indeed real. In interviews I later did with the meeting participants, they said that energy issues were not more included here than in other projects. Makes you think, doesn’t it, what opportunities are lost because we fear the new.
- Energy goals?
The housing company had introduced a new goal, to reduce the amount of purchased energy per m2 by 25% from 2011 to 2025. This goal was never talked about at the meetings and the external participants did not know about the goal. For the housing company it had become self-evident, they thought everyone on the planning team considered the goal, but half of the participants did not. The goal was not explicitly communicated.
No measures were conducted on how much each building consumes and how much this consumption needed to be reduced. In the meetings, it was said that the energy consumption of the buildings should be reduced “as much as possible” after the renovation, but that raises the question of what “as much as possible” means.
- Energy calculations and energy consultant
Energy calculations of the buildings remained unclear and hard to follow. It was difficult to get a clear picture of what was done, and I am still unsure if/ how “energy calculations” were done. Supposedly an external energy consultant did them. It was not a common procedure to include an energy consultant in the projects. For one project there was one included, employed by an HVAC consultancy company. His role was small, and his calculations were barely talked about. Additionally, the HVAC company said they always did these calculations. In another project, the project leader did not even know that these calculations existed, even referring to the person doing them as a shadowy figure.
- Energy group
Due to the “increased focus on energy” the housing company also created an energy group to work with energy issues in the company. Their role in the renovation process was not very prominent either. It obviously takes time to form routines around this group.
- Energy measures and pay-off time
If the pay-off time was less than six years, the planning team could choose these measures to implement. At investment decisions, energy measures were often not chosen having usually a longer pay-off time. The housing company themselves reflected upon the fact that their pay-off calculations might be too pessimistic to include energy measures. This is something to think about for future investments. Maybe this implies placing less focus on maximising profits?
- Energy measures and rent
It was unclear how to consider energy measures and rent. If any measure increases the standard of living for tenants, then a rent increase is justified. However, energy measures were usually not seen as standard increases. Then the question remains who pays for them?
- Electricity
Electricity was not talked about during the planning meetings since electricity is paid for by the tenants it was not seen as worth spending time on.
In conclusion, the renovations were more focused on profit-maximising and less environmental concerns. The renovation projects repeated themselves and were just another business-as-usual renovation – it appeared easier to stick to what you know instead of going to the next steps. Forming new practice around energy takes time and simply introducing a goal and new group is not enough. The construction industry has also been described by many as rather conservative where it takes a long time for change to happen. When it comes to new technological solutions or innovations the general attitude is often: “We are not using this – let the others make the mistakes”, “We don’t want to be the guinea pig for this”. Sticking measures that are known to work seem to be easier and more convenient in an environment characterized by time pressure and financial restrictions.
If you have further questions, do not hesitate to contact me.
More results from this research can also be found here:
http://liu.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1134771&dswid=1081
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221462961530075X
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12053-017-9549-9
https://journals.aau.dk/index.php/sepm/article/view/3426
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12053-020-09885-1
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352484720313329
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