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An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()()
This paper studies the determinants of why low-income households in Ireland abandon energy efficiency retrofit applications using administrative data from a targeted energy efficiency grant. By applying for the scheme, the applicants overcome any financial barriers for undertaking retrofits and demo...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Elsevier
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8531562/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34712861 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08205 |
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author | Pillai, Arya Tovar Reaños, Miguel Curtis, John |
author_facet | Pillai, Arya Tovar Reaños, Miguel Curtis, John |
author_sort | Pillai, Arya |
collection | PubMed |
description | This paper studies the determinants of why low-income households in Ireland abandon energy efficiency retrofit applications using administrative data from a targeted energy efficiency grant. By applying for the scheme, the applicants overcome any financial barriers for undertaking retrofits and demonstrate their willingness to improve the energy efficiency of their dwellings. Hence this study contributes to the scarce literature on non-financial barriers preventing low-income households from undertaking energy efficiency retrofits. Contrary to previous findings, we find that the higher the number of retrofits to be implemented, the lower the probability of households abandoning their applications. We also find that planning to undertake retrofits such as ventilation, which can significantly improve the health and safety standards of the dwelling, is associated with a higher probability of abandonment. Both findings indicate the presence of key behavioural and informational barriers which prevent low-income households from fully comprehending the purpose or benefits of proposed energy efficient retrofits. Our findings also suggest that higher grant expenditure on dwellings with poor pre-works energy efficiency rating and on retrofits such as attic insulation and heating system upgrades may have the highest energy efficiency improvements per unit of expenditure. Within the constraints of limited budgets for retrofit grant supports, this research can inform the redesign of grant schemes to achieve the greatest aggregate improvements in residential building energy efficiency. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8531562 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Elsevier |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85315622021-10-27 An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() Pillai, Arya Tovar Reaños, Miguel Curtis, John Heliyon Research Article This paper studies the determinants of why low-income households in Ireland abandon energy efficiency retrofit applications using administrative data from a targeted energy efficiency grant. By applying for the scheme, the applicants overcome any financial barriers for undertaking retrofits and demonstrate their willingness to improve the energy efficiency of their dwellings. Hence this study contributes to the scarce literature on non-financial barriers preventing low-income households from undertaking energy efficiency retrofits. Contrary to previous findings, we find that the higher the number of retrofits to be implemented, the lower the probability of households abandoning their applications. We also find that planning to undertake retrofits such as ventilation, which can significantly improve the health and safety standards of the dwelling, is associated with a higher probability of abandonment. Both findings indicate the presence of key behavioural and informational barriers which prevent low-income households from fully comprehending the purpose or benefits of proposed energy efficient retrofits. Our findings also suggest that higher grant expenditure on dwellings with poor pre-works energy efficiency rating and on retrofits such as attic insulation and heating system upgrades may have the highest energy efficiency improvements per unit of expenditure. Within the constraints of limited budgets for retrofit grant supports, this research can inform the redesign of grant schemes to achieve the greatest aggregate improvements in residential building energy efficiency. Elsevier 2021-10-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8531562/ /pubmed/34712861 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08205 Text en © 2021 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Research Article Pillai, Arya Tovar Reaños, Miguel Curtis, John An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() |
title | An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() |
title_full | An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() |
title_fullStr | An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() |
title_full_unstemmed | An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() |
title_short | An examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in Ireland()() |
title_sort | examination of energy efficiency retrofit scheme applications by low-income households in ireland()() |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8531562/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34712861 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e08205 |
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