Evaluation of on-site energy consultations concerning energetic modernisation of private homes in North Rine-Westpalia (NRW), Germany

Panel: 8. Monitoring and evaluation: building confidence and enhancing practices

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Reinhard Loch, Verbraucherzentrale NRW e.V., Germany
Martin Steinestel, Verbraucherzentrale NRW e.V., Germany
Udo Sieverding, Verbraucherzentrale NRW e.V., Germany

Abstract

About 40 % of Germany’s energy consumption is actually spend on heating, due to the poor performance of older buildings, especially those build before 1978. Even though a variety of methods to decrease the energy consumption of those buildings are available, an immense lack of willingness to invest in even promising techniques hampers the progress.

Therefore one of the most important issues of the „Energiewende“ policy in Germany is to increase the modernisation rate of buildings regarding energy efficiency. To tackle this, owners and investors have to be motivated to invest in reasonable energy modernisation measures.

As one part of the climate saving activities the government of NRW started a program for on site energy consulting in 2012, addressing private owners and landlords of older dwellings. This so called “KEK- Project” was put into practice by the Consumer Association NRW , supported by the EU's EFRE-Program.

In 2012 and 2013 about 15.000 owners of smaller dwellings (up to 6 flats) asked for on site energy counselling. The consultation included a short analysis of the present performance of the building and gave recommendations for individual and reasonable energetic renovation measures.

In 2014 an evaluation of the project was conducted. The focus was to find answers to the following questions:

What decisions did the owner make after on site consultation concerning energy saving measures in modernisation?

What was the influence of the on site counselling on the owner's decisions?

What were the resulting energy saving effects?

What type of owner or landlord (age, social situation, phase of life e.g. marriage, retirement) made use of the counselling program and what was the individual motivation?

To achieve this, 500 house owners have been interviewed, about one year after the consultancy.

In our paper we will state detailed results of the evaluation, for example the average energy reduction effects on the building's energy consumption and measures triggered by on site counselling.