| 1. |
- Azizi, Shoaib, 1989-
(författare)
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A multi-method assessment to support energy efficiency decisions in existing residential and academic buildings
- 2021
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Rapid decarbonization of building stock is essential for the energy transition required to mitigate climate change and limit the global temperature rise below 1.5 °C. The decision-making for the adoption of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) is often complex and involves lasting consequences and risks. The strategy to direct and support the decision makers can significantly increase the adoption rate of EEMs in buildings. This Ph.D. project focuses on facilitating sustainability improvement in buildings by supporting the decision makers who are accountable for the consequences of adopting the EEMs. Energy efficiency improvement is decided and managed differently in various types of buildings and contexts and encounters different challenges and opportunities. Accordingly, it is required to understand the needs to select adequate strategies and to devise effective supporting interventions for energy efficiency improvement.The owners of single-family houses are often the occupants who are in charge of the most decisions to improve energy efficiency in their dwellings. The situation is rather different in multi-family buildings and academic buildings in which organizational management adds more complexity and the decisions affect various stakeholders. The studies in this project are based on qualitative and quantitative data collected from single-family houses, multi-family buildings, and university buildings in northern Sweden. Surveys were used to elicit the decision makers' perceptions of different types of buildings. Moreover, sensor data from university buildings were used in the case studies to develop informative metrics for space use efficiency and to analyze the effect of sensor positioning on monitored data.The initial work involved understanding the opportunities and challenges of improving energy efficiency in buildings and the tradeoffs between the perceived benefits and barriers. This part of the thesis provided the foundation and inspiration for the rest of the project, including investigating how to bundle several measures and use information and communication technologies (ICT) for building sustainability. The findings show lack of information and evidence that could justify the beneficial outcomes of EEMs is a major barrier for effective decision-making. Clear information on potential improvements allows sharing the responsibilities among different stakeholders and increases the management capacity to handle projects and adopt EEMs. Using feedback tools (for example, space use and/or energy use visualizations) might be an effective strategy to influence decision makers.Various studies incorporated in this multidisciplinary Ph.D. thesis develop and investigate strategies to support decision makers to improve energy efficiency in buildings. The findings provide insights to policymakers and businesses to devise intervention strategies for energy efficiency in buildings.
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| 2. |
- Mäkivierikko, Aram
(författare)
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Sustaining Sustainable Behaviours of Citizens by Creating Value in Their Everyday Life
- 2023
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Over 60% of global greenhouse gas emissions derive from household consumption patterns. To reach the 1.5-degree target set in the Paris Agreement, new interventions to influence household behaviours are needed. This thesis examined two areas, household electricity consumption and waste sorting, where behaviour plays a large role. To change behaviour, households need information and feedback regarding their consumption, but in an era of information overload it is difficult to reach individuals. This thesis explored whether households can be better reached by a service that creates value for its users, so that feedback is noticed and acted upon over a sustained period. Specific objectives were to: (1) identify needs of citizens that could be addressed with a local digital service and develop such a service; (2) design and develop elements of the service to promote selected sustainable behaviours affecting household electricity consumption and household waste sorting; and (3) evaluate whether these elements can improve awareness of sustainability matters and promote pro-environmental behaviour among residents.To fulfil objective (1), a local social network for neighbourhoods was designed and developed. A phone survey in Stockholm Royal Seaport confirmed low neighbour interaction, while focus group interviews in Hammarby Sjöstad identified specific local information and communication needs. To fulfil objective (2), a subset of design principles identified from the literature was used to design feedback for the local social network. The feedback was developed into a prototype through workshop and focus group discussions. To fulfil objective (3), residents were provided with feedback and interventions in two pilot studies in Stockholm, a 15-month study on electricity consumption involving 281 students at KTH and a 12-month study on waste sorting involving 61 households in Stockholm Royal Seaport having an automatic waste collection system. The study on electricity showed a 3.3 %-unit peak-hour reduction for the intervention group and 46 %-unit reduction for saving participants. Average participation in peak load reduction was 3 months, but some stayed for almost the entire period, indicating potential for long-term engagement. Incentives were not necessary, but improved outcomes. The waste study found increased plastic sorting among app users, but also challenges in data collection and analysis. Overall, the value-creating approach can be useful if user needs are met correctly, and reaches a larger user group with feedback than conventional energy apps.
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| 3. |
- Pereverza, Kateryna
(författare)
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Steering sustainability transitions? Modular participatory backcasting for strategic planning in the heating and cooling sector
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Fostering sustainability transitions in the heating and cooling sector is a necessary and urgent issue. Steering mechanisms can enable coordination of actions by different actors towards common sustainability goals. Previous studies have identified requirements relevant for such steering frameworks, but have not specifically addressed planning in the highly contextual heating and cooling sector. Participatory backcasting (PB) possesses a number of relevant characteristics for use as a planning framework in this sector, but its adaptability and potential impact first need to be addressed.This thesis sought to advance strategic planning in the heating and cooling sector by improving the adaptability, transparency and reflexivity of PB processes and extending their impact beyond individuals directly involved, so-called social scales of impact. Key research objectives of the present work were to: (1) develop a strategic planning framework for the heating and cooling sector based on PB and examine its adaptability to local contexts, (2) develop methods for scenario development, selection and analysis to allow for co-informing between modelling and participatory processes within PB-based strategic planning, and (3) identify factors that could influence the social scales of the impact of participatory strategic planning processes.Objectives 1 and 2 were pursued in a multiple case study involving transdisciplinary research over one-year PB-based planning processes in Bila Tserkva, Ukraine (Case I) and Niš, Serbia (Case II). The social scales of impact (Objective 3) were studied in a single case – a Swedish project aimed at advancing the practice of long-term planning in regions ‘Region 2050’ (Case III). In all cases, both theoretical and empirical research were conducted.The study proposes a novel framework, modular participatory backcasting (mPB), for strategic planning in the heating and cooling sector. The framework integrates principles of modularity, participatory modelling, and transdisciplinarity. The results of mPB implementation in Case I and Case II suggest that the framework has acceptable adaptability to local contexts. Greater reflexivity and transparency in the scenario development, selection and analysis were achieved by developing a morphological method and implementation of participatory modelling approaches. Finally, boundary spanning individuals, collaborations and institutional plurality were identified in Case III as important factors for broadening the social scales of impact of participatory strategic planning processes.
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| 4. |
- Shahrokni, Hossein, 1983-
(författare)
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Smart Urban Metabolism : Toward a New Understanding of Causalities in Cities
- 2015
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- For half a century, urban metabolism has been used to provide insights to support transitions to sustainable urban development (SUD). Internet and Communication Technology (ICT) has recently been recognized as a potential technology enabler to advance this transition. This thesis explored the potential for an ICT-enabled urban metabolism framework aimed at improving resource efficiency in urban areas by supporting decision-making processes. Three research objectives were identified: i) investigation of how the urban metabolism framework, aided by ICT, could be utilized to support decision-making processes; ii) development of an ICT platform that manages real-time, high spatial and temporal resolution urban metabolism data and evaluation of its implementation; and iii) identification of the potential for efficiency improvements through the use of resulting high spatial and temporal resolution urban metabolism data. The work to achieve these objectives was based on literature reviews, single-case study research in Stockholm, software engineering research, and big data analytics of resulting data. The evolved framework, Smart Urban Metabolism (SUM), enabled by the emerging context of smart cities, operates at higher temporal (up to real-time), and spatial (up to household/individual) data resolution. A key finding was that the new framework overcomes some of the barriers identified for the conventional urban metabolism framework. The results confirm that there are hidden urban patterns that may be uncovered by analyzing structured big urban data. Some of those patterns may lead to the identification of appropriate intervention measures for SUD.
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| 5. |
- Mäkivierikko, Aram
(författare)
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A Needs-Based Approach towards Fostering Long-term Engagement with Energy Feedback among Local Residents
- 2019
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- In order to reach the current climate goals, energy consumption needs to decrease in all sectors, including households, which produce 20% of the European emissions. However, it is difficult to increase residents’ engagement in their household electricity consumption as it is an ‘invisible’ form of energy, the monetary incentives are often too small and environmental incentives are not very effective. Building on the idea that an engagement mechanism should be based on user needs, and recent research showing that social influence can be an effective way to affect consumption behaviour, this thesis examines the potential of a neighbourhood-based digital local social network providing feedback on household electricity consumption as an engagement solution. By helping neighbours to know each other better, such a network could meet the basic human need of belonging to a group, while also taking advantage of the social influence between neighbours to increase the effectiveness of the energy feedback provided.This thesis sought to: 1) Identify needs of residents that could be served by a local social network and explore whether such a network could provide a beneficial context for energy feedback; 2) identify and evaluate a set of design principles for energy feedback and use them to propose a prototype feedback design suitable for use in a local social network; and 3) design and implement a baseline study for measuring changes in aspects of social and environmental sustainability in a neighbourhood that introduction of a local social network can achieve, such as social cohesion, trust, safety, and energy attitudes and behaviour.In order to achieve these objectives, the Research Through Design methodology was used. This resulted in mixed methods research using quantitative (household survey) and qualitative (focus group interviews, stakeholder consultation workshop) methods. The research was conducted in two eco-districts in Stockholm, Sweden: Hammarby Sjöstad and Stockholm Royal Seaport.Regarding the first objective, results from the household survey indicated a need for increased interaction between neighbours in Stockholm Royal Seaport, while the focus group discussions revealed local communication needs that a local social network could meet. However, the possibility to use social influence between neighbours in increasing the intention to save energy was shown to be rather weak, possibly because of the current low level of connection between neighbours. Regarding the second objective, a set of design principles was identified using a literature study. They were used to create a design prototype of energy feedback that was presented to potential end-users in a stakeholder consultation workshop and then refined using suggestions given in the workshop. The workshop indicated support for many of the design principles as they were indirectly mentioned in the discussions. The design principle of fair feedback was further explored, suggesting use of typical household consumption as part of a fair comparison metric and when setting reduction goals.Regarding the third objective, an evaluation method with baseline survey and follow-up surveys was suggested. The household survey served as a baseline for measuring social and environmental sustainability aspects in a neighbourhood. Further research is needed on the effectiveness of a local social network as an engagement mechanism for energy feedback.
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| 6. |
- Pasichnyi, Oleksii, 1986-
(författare)
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Advancing urban analytics for energy transitions : Data-driven strategic planning for citywide building retrofitting
- 2020
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Decarbonisation of the building stock is essential for energy transitions towards climate-neutral cities in Sweden, Europe and globally. Meeting 1.5°C scenarios is only possible through collaborative efforts by all relevant stakeholders — building owners, housing associations, energy installation companies, city authorities, energy utilities and, ultimately, citizens. These stakeholders are driven by different interests and goals. Many win-win solutions are not implemented due to lack of information, transparency and trust about current building energy performance and available interventions, ranging from city-wide policies to single building energy service contracts. The emergence of big data in the building and energy sectors allows this challenge to be addressed through new types of analytical services based on enriched data, urban energy models, machine learning algorithms and interactive visualisations as important enablers for decision-makers on different levels.The overall aim of this thesis was to advance urban analytics in the building energy domain. Specific objectives were to: (1) develop and demonstrate an urban building energy modelling framework for strategic planning of large-scale building energy retrofitting; (2) investigate the interconnection between quality and applications of urban building energy data; and (3) explore how urban analytics can be integrated into decision-making for energy transitions in cities. Objectives 1 and 2 were pursued within a single case study based on continuous collaboration with local stakeholders in the city of Stockholm, Sweden. Objective 3 was addressed within a multiple case study on participatory modelling for strategic energy planning in two cities, Niš, Serbia, and Stockholm. A transdisciplinary research strategy was applied throughout.A new urban building energy modelling framework was developed and demonstrated for the case of Stockholm. This framework utilises high-resolution building energy data to identify buildings and retrofitting measures with the highest potential, assess the change in total energy demand from large-scale retrofitting and explore its impact on the supply side. Growing use of energy performance certificate (EPC) data and increasing requirements on data quality were identified in a systematic mapping of EPC applications combined with assessment of EPC data quality for Stockholm. Continuity of data collaborations and interactivity of new analytical tools were identified as important factors for better integration of urban analytics into decision-making on energy transitions in cities.
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