Stakeholder Workshop on Encouraging Energy Retrofit among UK Homeowners, 2021

The Fast-tracking Low-Energy Use via Retrofit (FLEUR) project is based on a recent UCL-led research project on the adoption process of low-carbon home retrofit among UK homeowners, which made use of realistic psychological models of household decision-making regarding domestic energy retrofit. Out of this work came several novel insights that the FLEUR project aimed to translate into plausible policy suggestions for impact in the real world, in order to help the UK housing sector to reach net zero carbon targets by 2050. This aim of the FLEUR project was met through a project workshop with various stakeholders interested to advance low-energy retrofit in the UK, such as demand and supply side actors in energy retrofit industry, governmental actors, intermediary organisations that operate to advance change towards sustainability and academics that specialise in low-carbon home retrofit.

The workshop was successfully carried out on 25th May 2021 with 36 participants. It provided the opportunity to discuss, validate and enrich the research-based insights, as well as reach out to and communicate research findings to relevant beneficiaries (workshop stakeholders). The workshop participants were encouraged to think about the familiar topic of domestic energy retrofit from a novel perspective with the intend to internalise research findings and integrate them, where possible, in their organisational activities.

The data related to the project workshop is deposited here. The collected data include:
- A record of answers to open ended questions in the pre-workshop survey
- 10 transcripts of breakout sessions in 10 Zoom break out rooms.
- One transcript for the plenary session.
- A record of the workshop chat, which took place via Zoom<p>Almost a third of the total energy use in the UK is attributed to the energy used in homes. The materials, products and technologies necessary to retrofit a dwelling and achieve a substantial reduction in energy use are readily available on the market. The reduction in energy use in dwellings and the associated reduction in carbon emissions can help to stabilise the concentration of carbon in the atmosphere, reduce its influence on climate change, and mitigate potentially disastrous and irreversible changes in the environment. Retrofit aimed to reduce energy use in homes can also bring numerous benefits to the occupants, ranging from energy savings to the improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Despite these obvious benefits of low-energy retrofit, as well as various governmental policies and incentives aimed to encourage it, the rate of such retrofit remains persistently low, even when it concerns cost-beneficial measures.

During my PhD I investigated how UK policy can encourage homeowners to carry out low-energy retrofit. The analysis yielded a set of interesting results. One of the results highlighted that governmental building policy focuses primarily on the techno-economic aspects of achieving energy savings, and ignores the complex emotional, personal and socially-bound context of one's home, where retrofit decisions are made. In reality, home is a place of a great significance and meaning for individuals. Previous research has argued that goals and motivations behind energy retrofit should be understood through the meanings people attach to their homes. To address this challenge, I developed a realistic psychological model of household decision-making regarding domestic energy retrofit, which takes into account the meaningful and emotional realm of homeowner decisions.

The Fast-tracking Low-Energy Use via Retrofit (FLEUR) project aimed to translate the insights obtained during my PhD into plausible policy suggestions for impact in the real world, in order to help the UK housing sector to reach net zero carbon targets by 2050. The insight regarding understanding homeowner retrofit motivations through meanings people attach to their homes was translated into policy suggestions during a project workshop with various stakeholders interested to advance low-energy retrofit in the UK. The stakeholders were recruited among demand and supply side actors in energy retrofit industry, governmental actors, intermediary organisations that operate to advance change towards sustainability and academics that specialise in low-carbon home retrofit. The workshop was successfully carried out on 25th May 2021 with 36 participants. It provided the opportunity to discuss, validate and enrich the research-based insights, as well as reach out to and communicate research findings to relevant beneficiaries (workshop stakeholders). The workshop participants were engaged in a process of thinking about ways to encourage domestic energy retrofit among homeowners from a novel perspective with the intention to internalise research findings and integrate them, where possible and appropriate, in their organisational activities. The research benefitted from the practical and on-the-ground knowledge of relevant experts, who grounded the research insights in the political and practical context of the UK, and thus, made it relevant and useful in the real world. The outputs and insights from the research and brainstorming sessions during the workshop were well received, which meant that they have a high chance to be adopted in relevant activities of these organisations and, consequently, have an effect on what people are doing with their homes when they retrofit them.

The FLEUR project delivered the following outcome: useful and well-formulated policies to encourage adoption of low-energy home retrofit among UK homeowners, grounded in sound qualitative analysis and shaped by the expert feedback from governmental and non-governmental actors.</p>