Exploring Decision-Making Factors for Energy Efficiency Retrofit in Building Portfolio

Abstract

Building Energy Efficiency Retrofit (BEER) is essential for energy conservation and emission reduction. Despite advancing knowledge of the benefits and available solutions, the current BEER projects are considerably limited. One difficulty in promoting BEER is the complexity of the decision-making process. Decisions are made at different stages to evaluate hundreds of energy efficiency measures involving multiple stakeholders with conflicting interests, especially those who manage building portfolios. This dissertation aims to evaluate factors to help industry professionals and policymakers establish a comprehensive decision-making approach when considering BEER projects in commercial and institutional buildings. This dissertation first ranked stakeholders’ priorities toward a set of factors across the United States using Analytic Hierarchy Process. The study also introduced some critical dimensions of context in energy efficiency, including physical (e.g., geographical region), functional (e.g., industry sector), and social contexts (e.g., leadership position). The results showed no significant disagreement between public and private institutions or between executives and non-executives but more considerable differences among climate zones and industry sectors. Second, this research explored the decision-making processes of BEER projects at the University of Washington. Using semi-structured interviews, document review, and the Causal Loop Diagram approach, the study identified the cause-and-effect relationships among factors. The research suggests that initiating corrective actions to increase organizational commitment, government support, use of technology, and funding will drive more BEER investment in higher education institutions. Finally, this dissertation brings together empirical studies worldwide that examined the factors influencing energy efficiency improvements. A total of 30 factors emerged from a systematic literature review of 42 peer-reviewed articles, categorized into economic feasibility, team process, technical practicality, institutional characteristic, governmental policy, occupant impact, and environmental impact. The study discussed how geographical regions, building types, and country’s economic classifications impact the building stakeholders’ perceptions about energy efficiency. The findings from this dissertation highlight that the promotion of energy efficiency in buildings will necessarily imply a further effort to contextualize the research and point out the so-called non-energy benefits from the implementation of BEER.