Stakeholder perceptions of solar buildings

How important do you think are aspects such as performance, financing and the environment of solar buildings? Participants in IEA Task 66 on Solar Buildings are interested in this issue. They jointly conducted a survey completed by no less than 310 stakeholders, including academics (41%), but also consultants (20%) and participants from industry, public institutions, etc. (see chart). The main countries of origin were Germany (104), China (101), Mexico (43) and Denmark (29). Elsabet Nielsen from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), together with Xinyu Zhang and Wenbo Cai from the China Academy of Architecture (CABR), summarized the results of the survey conducted by the participants of Task 66.

Source: IEA SHC Mission 66

The questionnaire includes general questions about the planning, project development, performance, finance, and environmental aspects of solar buildings. Survey participants were asked to rate each factor on a five-point scale, ranging from "very relevant" to "very unrelevant." In the assessment, the number of "very relevant" and "relevant" answers, as well as the number of "very irlevant" and "irrelevant" answers, is then summarized.

Figure 1 shows the factors that more than 80% of survey participants in all countries considered relevant. These factors are mainly related to carbon monoxide2 and the balance of construction and cost issues. The most important point for stakeholders is related to carbon monoxide2 reductions.

Figure 1: Most Relevant Factors: More than 80% of participants clicked on "relevant" or "very relevant" factors.

Source: IEA SHC Mission 66

Figure 2 contains factors with significantly lower relevance ratings, ranging from 50% to 70%. These aspects are mainly related to project development, but the subsidy also scores lower compared to some others.

Figure 2: Less Relevant Factors: Factors that 50% to 70% of participants clicked on "relevant" or "very relevant."

Source: IEA SHC Mission 66

"The overwhelming response to the survey, particularly from Germany, China, Mexico and Denmark, has allowed us to make comparisons between these countries," said DTU's Nielsen. The answer to the question on "top of the list" was used to make country comparisons. Here, survey participants were able to select what they considered to be the most important factors from a range of aspects related to solar buildings. Figure 3 shows block results for factors related to solar building performance, which vary from country to country.

Figure 3: Country comparison of clicks on performance that should be "at the top of the list". Source: IEA SHC Mission 66

Stable energy/electricity sales rules are a factor that is more important in Denmark than in other countries. In China, energy savings and electricity costs for solar buildings are rated as decisive factors. Mexico is the only country where stakeholders consider the local production of building construction components to be very important. Compiled by Chen Jiaoyun

"The country in which the participants are located certainly has a greater impact on the outcome than the type of institution they work for", Nielsen stressed. The Task 66 team found that there were no significant differences in the views of academics and advisors.

Stakeholder viewpoints on solar energy buildings

• Mind, 8 April 2024

How important do you find aspects such as performance, financing and the environment in relation to solar energy buildings? This question interested the participants of the IEA Task 66 on Solar Energy Buildings. They jointly conducted a survey, which was completed by no less than 310 stakeholders, including academics (41 %), but also consultants (20 %) as well as participants from industry, public authorities, etc. (see chart). The main countries of origin were Germany (104), China (101), Mexico (43) and Denmark (29). Elsabet Nielsen from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), together with Xinyu Zhang and Wenbo Cai from the Chinese Academy of Building Research (CABR), summarized the results of the survey carried out by the Task 66 participants.

Source: IEA SHC Task 66

The questionnaire included general questions on planning, project development, performance, financial, and environmental aspects of solar energy buildings. The survey participants were asked to value each factor on a five-point scale from “very relevant” to “very irrelevant”. In the evaluation, the answers “very relevant” and “relevant” are then summarized, as well as the number of answers for “very irrelevant” and “irrelevant”.

Figure 1 shows the factors that over 80 % of the survey participants across all countries considered relevant. These factors mainly have to do with the CO2 balance of the building and cost issues. The most important points for the stakeholders are related to CO2 emission reductions.

Figure 1: Most relevant factors: those for which more than 80 % of the participants clicked “relevant” or “very relevant”.

Source: IEA SHC Task 66

Figure 2 contains factors that received a significantly lower relevance rating of between 50 and 70 %. These aspects mostly relate to project development but subsidies, for example, also received a lower score compared with some other aspects.

Figure 2: Less relevant factors: those for which between 50 and 70 % of the participants clicked “relevant” or “very relevant”.

Source: IEA SHC Task 66

“The great response to the survey, particularly from Germany, China, Mexico and Denmark, enabled us to make comparisons between the countries”, said Nielsen from the DTU. The answers to the question about “the top of the list” were used to make a country comparison. Here, the survey participants were able to select the factor they considered most important from a block of aspects relating to solar energy buildings. Figure 3 shows the results, which differ greatly from country to country, in the block with the factors related to the performance of solar energy buildings.

Figure 3: Country-comparison regarding the number of clicks for performance aspects that should be “at the top of the list”. Source: IEA SHC Task 66

Stable rules on selling energy/electricity is a factor that is more important in Denmark than in other countries. In China, energy savings in solar energy buildings and electricity costs were rated as decisive factors. Mexico is the only country in which stakeholders consider the local production of components for building construction to be very important.