Investigating the potential impact of stakeholder preferences in Passivhaus design

Low-energy buildings have a major role to play in achieving carbon emission reduction targets. The Passivhaus standard is driven by improved thermal comfort and has stringent targets for limiting energy consumption. Such constraints can be difficult to achieve with aesthetically pleasing results. In early stage building design, decisions are often made based on preferences, without assessing their impact on energy performance. Multi-criteria decision-making provides a technique of evaluating competing criteria using a robust framework. However, existing research in building performance focusses on quantitative measures, leaving a research gap in the subjective area of design preferences. This paper applies a modelling technique that incorporates user preferences, alongside quantitative building performance measures, by applying multi-criteria decision-making to a Passivhaus case study. Potential building forms are evaluated using dynamic simulation, then the impact of stakeholder preferences is assessed

Stakeholder decision making in Passivhaus design

The design and construction of a building is inherently complex and a myriad of decisions must be made during the design and planning process. No single stakeholder (architect, client, building physicist) has complete knowledge and visibility of the consequences of each decision and each stakeholder group is driven by different objectives. Those aspiring to construct low-energy buildings, and Passivhaus in particular, are subject to numerous constraints, relating to building performance, site restrictions and planning policy (amongst others) and seemingly innocuous small changes to the design can divert decision- makers from their aims. Multi-criteria decision making provides a method of attempting to satisfy numerous, often conflicting objectives, in order to reach the ‘optimum’ solution, and therefore provides a means to combine these varied goals. Existing research in the sphere of building performance simulation often focuses on its application to quantitative criteria. This paper proposes incorporating stakeholder preference modelling in multi-criteria decision making by first analysing stakeholder goals, to gain a greater understanding of their motivation and decision paths, within the context of Passivhaus construction in the UK

Distributing power, a transition to a civic energy future: Report of the Realising Transition Pathways Research Consortium ‘Engine Room’

The overarching challenge for UK energy policy is to ensure the delivery of secure, affordable energy in a way that meets the emission reductions targets laid out in the Climate Change Act (2008). The EPSRCfunded Transition Pathways (TP) and, more recently, Realising Transition Pathways (RTP) projects have both argued that multiple logics of governance, ownership, and control of the electricity system can be followed to address the energy trilemma. This work has developed three transition pathways for the UK energy system, each driven by different governance patterns. Each pathway has a specific technological mix, institutional architecture, and societal drivers. These pathways are: Central Co-ordination: Central to this pathway is the role of the nation state in actively delivering the transition. Market Rules: After the creation of a broad policy framework, the state allows competition and private companies to deliver sustainable, affordable energy. Thousand Flowers: This pathway is characterised by a greatly expanded role for civil society in delivering distributed low-carbon generation. The following report focuses on the Thousand Flowers pathway. There is growing interest, from a range of stakeholders, in the potential of distributed low-carbon electricity generation in delivering a low-carbon energy system. Yet there are still significant gaps in understanding, particularly regarding the feasibility of scaling up distributed generation from technological, governance, regulation, policy, and financial perspectives. The aim of this report is to address these gaps within the context of the Thousand Flowers pathway. This research was carried out by the ‘Engine Room’ of the EPSRC-funded Realising Transition Pathways (RTP) consortium. The ‘Engine Room’ was established to facilitate interdisciplinary work across the consortium and consists of research fellows and doctoral researchers from different fields in the nine partner institutions. Engine Room workshops and meetings give researchers the space to present their work and develop and exchange ideas with their peers. This report is an output of a series of interdisciplinary Engine Room workshops held throughout 2013/14 which also drew on contributions from energy industry stakeholders. These workshops brought together the current research and cumulative findings of the Realising Transition Pathways consortium, to examine the consequences of a transition from a centralised energy system to one where distributed generation plays a much greater role (50% of final electricity demand), and is delivered by a civic energy sector. In this report we do not present any panaceas, attempt to preference a civil response to energy transition, or claim technological infallibility. We do, however, explore the potential of a distributed energy future and investigate the technological trajectory it could follow, along with an institutional architecture compatible with its development. We acknowledge throughout that this is a challenging but realistic system transition

Multi-stakeholder decision-making in low-energy building design optimization

The climate emergency means that policy makers are now seeking to reduce our carbon dioxide emissions. The construction and operation of buildings is a major source of emissions. Adopting low-energy building design standards has a role in addressing the problem by reducing operational energy demand. However, the decision-making process in building design is complex and involves a wide range of stakeholders with diverse priorities. Decisions made in the early stage of design impact on energy performance and are often made based on stakeholder preferences, without recourse to building simulation. Furthermore, the complex relationship between building geometry, design parameters and building performance can make emissions reduction more challenging, or even impossible, to achieve depending on the decisions made at this stage.This thesis investigates incorporating desirability into computational optimization, as method of condensing multiple criteria into the objective of satisfying the preferences for each of multiple stakeholders. Hence, it is informed by the techniques of MCDM and optimization. It necessitates an ‘a priori’ approach because stakeholders’ preferences are fully integrated into the optimization process. The outcome illustrates the decision-making process as a trade-off between stakeholders, which can be considered as a negotiation process.The research is informed by multi-criterion methods for multi-stakeholder decision-making and their application to achieve a compromise between building aesthetics and energy performance. The limitations of existing techniques are then addressed by incorporating preference profiles into the optimization process to illustrate the results as a negotiation process between decision-makers.It concludes that there are fundamental differences in the design process needed for low-energy building. Energy calculations need to be undertaken early and updated as the design evolves. This aspect necessitates the inclusion of an additional stakeholder: the energy modeller or building physicist. Hence, there are transaction costs that are borne by the client. Existing methods can be adapted to include stakeholder preferences; however, they are not fully integrated into the process and lack the ability to illustrate the trade-offs between decision-makers.Incorporating desirability functions into optimization using an additive method is proposed. The approach illustrates conflict between stakeholders in the design process and identifies contradictions in the preferences of a single decision-maker.</div

Testing the reliability of deterministic multi-criteria decision-making methods using building performance simulation

The design of a building is a decision problem with multiple stakeholders and several often conflicting criteria. Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods are capable of handling decision problems with the abovementioned specific features. This paper focuses on the application and comparison of some of the most well-known and widely applied MCDM methods; namely AHP, TOPSIS, ELECTRE III, and PROMETHEE II. For this purpose, a framework that incorporates the decision-makers’ preferences and the use of dynamic simulation of the potential building forms is developed and applied to a real-life case study. This procedure provides a holistic approach through which the design team arrive at a more appropriate decision. The examined methods yield similar results, showing broad agreement on the top ten alternatives, amongst which the decision-makers can decide. In particular, the majority of the examined methods (all except TOPSIS) concluded with the same optimal solution, a situation that provides confidence in the final decision. Furthermore, an investigation of four “what-if” scenarios indicates that TOPSIS is the most sensitive method to the examined changes in the subjective preferences