A Critical Appraisal of Germany's Thermal Retrofit Policy

Dr Ray Galvin has an interdisciplinary background in engineering, social psychology, climate change science, and environmental policy studies. He seeks to bring together theoretical approaches from the physical and social sciences, in order to develop trans-disciplinary frameworks for environmental science research. Over the past four years, at East Anglia, Cambridge and now RWTH-Aachen University, his research focus has been on thermal retrofits in Germany. He is especially interested in how government policy, the physical properties of buildings, and household behavior interplay to inhibit or enable fuel savings. He also has 30 years practical experience managing a portfolio of rental housing. Dr Minna Sunikka-Blank is a Lecturer at the Department of Architecture at Cambridge University and a Fellow and Director of Studies in Architecture in Churchill College. She specializes in comparative policy analysis, and over the past 15 years she has published several books and scientific papers on the subject. Her research focuses on how national governments can improve their sustainable building policies so as to increase feasible, cost-efficient and genuine carbon reductions in the housing stock, supported by behavioral change. She is a registered architect and has worked on environmental impact assessment and practical building projects in Finland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Methodology for interdisciplinary research on thermal retrofits.- German thermal retrofit policy in context.- Technical possibilities and limitations of thermal retrofits.- The economics of thermal refits.- User behavior / Part 1 Prebound and rebound effects.- User behavior / Part 2 Payback time and fuel price elasticity.- User behavior / Part 3 What is causing the reduction in heating fuel consumption in Germany?.- Discussion: a way forward.- Lessons for other countries.