Energy Renovation of Danish Single-Family Houses: An Investigation of Barriers and Motivation Factors

The PhD project is based on requirements from the European Union to reduce the energy consumption and on current renovation needs of and a huge energy saving potential in the Danish single-family houses from the 1960’s and 1970’s. The project focuses on the barriers for energy renovations of these houses and on defining motivation factors for the homeowners.
The barriers are many and variating in influence and studies show that both professionals and homeowners are affected. The barriers range from lack of interest and knowledge to uncertainties about among others economy and technical solutions. Not one is overpowering, but numerous barriers have to be broken down simultaneously to achieve the desired effect.
A questionnaire survey with nearly 900 responding homeowners examines the homeowners’ interest and willingness in performing energy renovations and their potential motivation factors.
The results show that despite the barriers the owners can in fact be motivated to perform private energy renovations. A sound project economy is all-important for this to happen and it should if possible be supported by improvements in both comfort, indoor environment and architecture to increase the motivation. The motivating aspects of these three parameters varies depending on the homeowner, however two groups with very different motivation factors is defined; the younger and the older generation.