Influence of Interventions on Building Practitioners’ Beyond-Compliance with Residential Energy Performance Standards

Abstract

Building practitioners often fail to achieve beyond-compliance with residential energy performance standards, jeopardizing industry sustainability. Governments increasingly employ policies to drive behavior change toward beyond-compliance. However, the influence of interventions on building practitioners’ compliance behavior remains underexplored, along with the consideration of social interactions among these practitioners. This study aims to assess the influence of interventions on building practitioners’ beyond-compliance in Australia. Two specific objectives are set accordingly: To identify the specific behavioral constructs impacted by interventions; and to evaluate the extent of behavior change resulting from interventions, particularly in achieving better beyond-compliance outcomes. Data was gathered from a survey of 73 building practitioners involved in residential design, including architects, designers, builders, project managers, and thermal performance assessors. Agent-based modeling was used to simulate behavior changes compared to initial self-reported behavior states under the influence of two widely implemented policies: training and financial incentive. The findings show that while training improves knowledge of energy-efficient designs, it does not lead to tangible improvements in achieving beyond-compliance outcomes. Conversely, financial incentive effectively drives behavior change in delivering homes that are beyond-compliance by offsetting perceived high compliance costs. These results provide valuable insights for policymakers and industry advisory bodies, enabling them to develop more targeted interventions that align with building practitioners’ interests, ultimately contributing to the sustainability of the residential building sector.