Are Energy Decisions About Energy? A Study of Homeowners’ Decision-making Processes in the Transition to Low-carbon Housing in the Netherlands.

Low-carbon housing choices are never only technical

In my doctoral thesis, I ask whether energy decisions are really about energy. My answer is clearly no. Insulation, glazing, heating systems and solar energy are essential for a low-carbon housing stock, but their uptake remains too slow. Choices about homes are embedded in daily life. They are shaped by personal circumstances and social practices, affected by fairness and influenced by the people and organisations that help residents understand change.

Focusing on the Netherlands, I studied owner-occupied and social housing through four empirical projects using qualitative and quantitative methods. The first developed an integrative model for homeowners’ energy-renovation decisions. It follows the stages of interest, knowledge, opinion, decision, implementation and experience. Housing condition, environmental concern, life events, external developments, advice, social networks, trust, finance and payback can all matter, but not at the same moment or in the same way.

Different households need different routes into transition

The second study examined the diversity of potential solar adopters. Five groups, distinguished by background and environmental concern, differed in how they viewed complexity, aesthetics, earlier energy measures and social influence. This challenges one-size-fits-all campaigns. More effective support offers varied benefits, multiple channels, objective non-technical advice and opportunities to learn from other residents.

I then turned to justice in social-housing renovation. Distribution, recognition, participation, capability and responsibility have to be considered together. A renovation can improve performance while still being unfair if residents’ needs, voice, inconvenience, resources or ability to benefit are ignored. Finally, the work on building-integrated photovoltaics showed why an ecology of intermediaries is needed: suppliers, advisers, architects, engineers, municipalities and others must close information gaps, coordinate value chains and support decisions at each stage.

Together, these studies offer a socio-technical view of housing transition. Low-carbon choices become more achievable when policy, communication, renovation practice and support systems recognise the diversity and lived context of the people expected to make them.