Moradi, S; Hirvonen, J and Sormunen, P (2024) A qualitative and life cycle-based study of the energy performance gap in building construction: Perspectives of Finnish project professionals and property maintenance experts. Building Research & Information, 52(5), pp. 564-576. ISSN 0961-3218
Abstract
The significant share of buildings from total energy consumption across the world has been mentioned and emphasized very well by several scholars. In this regard, there have been major developments and improvements in the expertise of developing and designing buildings to be adequately energy efficient. However, the recent studies show that there is still a considerable deviation between the intended and actual energy consumption of the completed buildings. Hence, this exploratory study aims to discover the origin of success and failure in achieving energy efficiency in building construction projects with a life cycle perspective and based on viewpoints of key participants in the project and constructed building’s operation. To do so, 21 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Finnish project professionals representing client, design/planning experts, contractors and building operation/maintenance experts. Both thematic analysis and content analysis methods were employed for analysing the obtained research data. The findings reveal a set of challenges/barriers and solutions/enablers which account for failure and success of achieving energy-efficient buildings. The obtained results contribute to the existing body of knowledge and practices on achieving energy efficiency in building construction projects.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | building construction; building energy consumption; construction management; energy performance gap; sustainability; interview |
| Index terms: | energy-efficient building, energy consumption, life cycle, deviation, building energy consumption, energy efficiency, building operation, body of knowledge, energy performance gap, thematic analysis, building construction, content analysis, exploratory study, interview |
| Subjects: | building construction, management, research methods, methods and analysis, sustainable design, sustainability and energy, knowledge management, data analysis and analytics, energy systems, financial and cost management, data collection methods, value management |
| Topics: | Project Management, Research Practice, Information Management, Business Strategy, Cost Management, Construction Technology, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here