From demonstration projects to volume market: Market development for advanced housing renovation

How do we get from demonstration projects to a volume market for very low energy demand in advanced housing renovation? The contributors to this report have been working with this issue for many years. Some worked in both IEA SHC Task 28 Sustainable Housing (2000-2005) and in SHC Task 37 Advanced Housing Renovation with Solar and Conservation. This work resulted in the handbook Business Opportunities in Sustainable Housing (from Task 28) and in this booklet. Building stock analyses from Task 37 show that many countries have a huge theoretical potential for reducing the energy consumed in the existing building stock. The question is: How do we speed up the transition from demonstration projects to volume market? This report looks both at a traditional market development perspective and interventions by public actors. By doing this, the report aims to provide a better understanding of what drives advanced housing renovation, and provides a reference document designed to inform and recommend directions for policy makers and central decision makers. For successful market development, it is necessary that the right private and public actors cooperate, coordinate their measures and perform them at the right time. Those saying that the market is not ready for this are quite right if they mean the majority of the market. Any new product or service has to be adopted first by the innovators in the introduction phase and thereafter the early adopters in the growth phase before it can reach the early majority in the volume market. This applies to both the supply and demand side. This booklet investigates these three phases through four marketing perspectives: attractiveness, competitiveness, affordability and availability. Separate chapters highlight the driving forces, barriers and critical success factors that are recognised in each phase. This chapter is a short summary of the findings. To fully exploit the potential of this report it should serve as input for a strategic process carried out by public or private actors which consider taking an active part in developing the market for Advanced Housing Renovation.