Finding Clients and Demonstrating Long-Term Benefits are Biggest Challenges for Energy-Efficient Projects Finds Ekotrope Survey

By Ekotrope

• Solar, insulation and window design/fenestration named as top three sustainable building developments over past decade-

Boston, MA – Finding clients keen to undertake energy-efficient projects, demonstrating long-term financial benefits and demonstrating long-term energy savings, are the biggest barriers to energy-efficient building projects, according to a survey conducted by Ekotrope.

The survey was conducted by Ekotrope at the March 2012 Northeast Sustainable Energy Association’s Building Energy conference. It was completed by 113 respondents who shared their views and attitudes to energy-efficient building projects, technologies and opportunities.

The survey also asked respondents to list the drivers of energy-efficient building projects, with ‘rising energy costs’ the most popular answer, followed by ‘state incentives’ and ‘an increased awareness and education of consumers’.

When asked which states they considered to be the most energy-efficient with regards to building initiatives, California, Massachusetts and New Jersey were the most popular responses.

In the survey, respondents were asked which groups involved in design and building are the most resistant and the most supportive of energy-efficient building projects. The majority of respondents (41 percent) said that home owners were the main driver for energy-efficient projects, while 32 percent of the same respondents said that both builders and developers were the most resistant to these same projects.

With regards to technical developments that have enhanced energy-efficient building projects, 25 percent said that solar and PV (photovoltaic) developments were the greatest developments in the last ten years, seven percent said fenestration (window and door design) and 19 percent said foam and insulation technologies. Other developments named were LED (four percent) and geothermal technologies (also four percent).

When asked if respondents thought there was too much focus on energy conservation of new buildings and not enough focus on energy efficient retrofits and renovations for older buildings, 66 percent agreed and said the building industry was too focused on constructing new buildings.

Blake Bisson, Vice President and founder of Ekotrope said: “Our mission is to facilitate and guide the conversations between all of the stakeholders involved in energy-efficient and sustainable building projects, including developers, owners, builders and architects. This is why we are always keen to gather relevant opinions and snapshots of opinions and attitudes. We know, from the interest and uptake in both our solutions – HomeSEED Estimator and HomeSEED Analyst – that there is a high demand for an automated solution to perform energy and cost optimization for analysis and certification and to make rational decisions on energy systems in a timely and visual manner.”