Barriers for renewable technology in commercial buildings

Abstract

Policies within the United Kingdom (UK), such as the Renewable Energy Strategy, demand the construction sector to adopt renewable technology within buildings. Moreover, as commercial buildings are responsible for 14% of the total UK carbon emissions, building professionals are required to integrate renewable technology within these properties to assist the targets. Despite the policies, the UK renewable technology uptake remains low. Within this context, existing literature identifies the barriers to the adoption of renewable technology in buildings. There are few studies, however, concerning the current uptake of renewable technology in commercial buildings, in addition to little detail of solutions to the barriers experienced by the construction sector. A study was conducted to investigate the integration of renewable technology in UK commercial buildings. Data collection consisted of a literature review, a survey involving 30 construction professionals and two semi-structured interviews with an engineer and a programme manager. Findings evidenced a range of social, economic, and technical barriers for the adoption of renewable technology in buildings. Primary data results support concerns of the financial cost associated with the technology, along with greater detail to explain the barriers associated with awareness, a lack of experience and knowledge of renewable technology options for integration within commercial buildings. Finally, in contribution to theory, results evidence similar findings to existing literature published over 10 years ago, which indicates the need for future research to study solutions to the barriers of renewable technology adoption in commercial buildings.