Reduction of living space consumption as necessity for reaching energy targets – potentials, barriers, policies

Panel: 7. Make buildings policies great again

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Tanja Kenkmann, Öko-Institut (Institute for Applied Ecology), Germany
Johanna Cludius, Öko-Institut e.V., Germany
Schumacher Katja, Öko-Institut e.V., Germany

Abstract

Despite a more or less stagnating population, the living space in Germany significantly increases every year and leads to growing living space consumption per capita. A further increase is expected in long-term scenarios and will let sustainability, energy, and climate targets in the building sector much more difficult to reach. It also causes a growing use of space and resources, as well as enormous infrastructure costs.

In Germany there is a growing awareness of this problem, especially on a regional level. In an in-depth research project for the Federal Environment Agency of Germany we estimate the vast potential of a reduced living space per capita in general. We identify most promising target groups that use a living-space far above average and might be interested to reduce it. Retirees and households that face a break in their routine of lifes such as reaching retirement age or families whose children are moving out are among those target groups.

For these target groups we analyze specific barriers against the reduction of living space. We have a closer look at actors such as policy makers, associations, and the housing sector, and their specific obstacles and motivations to address the problem. To support households to reduce their living space a mix of policy instruments is necessary, consisting of both informational and financial instruments.

In the project we describe existing approaches and create a set of novel instruments to support households of the target groups to reduce their living space.The impact of these instruments for energy consumption and emissions of the target groups is calculated. Furthermore we analyze whether or not these measures are attractive from the point of view of a household taking into account costs and benefits and show likely distributional effects.