ENERGY-EFFICIENCY INVESTMENT DECISIONS IN THE HOUSING SECTOR: INCENTIVES AND BARRIERS TO RENOVATION

Energy efficiency (EE) in the housing sector can substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. The aim of this study is to empirically establish the determinants of the decision to invest in residential EE improvements and the corresponding amounts spent, with a particular emphasis on the role of expected savings in energy expenditures in France. In this paper, we demonstrate a procedure for extending an existing dataset to obtain estimates of expected savings in energy expenditures for each potential alternative renovation. This extension is one of the major original features of our approach. In its analysis of renovation expenditures with a multivariate Tobit model, this study provides two major contributions. First, it shows that although market barriers can explain the slow adoption of EE investments, the decision to invest is ultimately driven by economic determinants such as potential energy savings. Second, it finds that the beneficiaries of policy measures ought not to be households, but owners of single-family dwellings and private owners of multifamily dwellings in the rental sector.