Conference article

The UK target to significantly reduce CO2 emissions from housing has been challenged by the fact that 80% of the UK housing stock existing in 2030 has already been built. Energy-efficiency technologies for existing housing are developed in attempt to meet this target; e.g. fabric upgrades; ventilation systems; etc; but the interrelationship between the technical and social aspects of using these technologies is not fully understood. From the household perspective; a clear financial case in addition to other intangible benefits should exist to create high demand for these technologies. On the other hand; many technological interventions are still in the development stage and according to the technology diffusion theory there will be a delay in adopting these technologies on the expected scale. This study will use system dynamics modelling to investigate the relationship between the supply and demand of energy-efficiency technologies for existing housing. A dynamic hypothesis will be set to analyse the interrelationships among the controlling variables of technologies development over a period of time. This paper introduces the main structure of the study and discusses the technique adopted to model the identified dynamic hypothesis.

Energy-efficiency technologies; System dynamics