The façade retrofit market faces some key barriers: the selection of performance criteria and the reliability of the performance data. On the demand side, the problem is approached from an investment perspective which creates "split incentives" between the stakeholders who pay for the investment and those who benefit from it. On the supply side, there is an inherent complexity in modeling these options because of the incomplete knowledge of the physical and cost parameters involved in the performance evaluation. The thermal comfort of the building occupant is an important component of the retrofit performance assessment. This research attempts to fill a gap in the approach to façade retrofit decision by 1) quantifying uncertainties in these three dimensions of performance, 2) incorporating new financing models available in the retrofit market, 3) considering the target and risk attitude of the decision maker. The methodology proposed in this research integrates key indicators for delivery process, environmental performance, and investment performance. The purpose is to provide a methodological framework for performance evaluation. A residential case study is conducted to test the proposed framework. Three retrofit scenarios including the financing structure are examined. Each façade retrofit scenario is then evaluated based on the level of confidence to meet or exceed a specific target improvement for the Net Present Value and the risk to fall below a minimum improvement threshold. The case study results confirm that risk must be considered for more reliable façade retrofit decision-making. Research findings point to further research needed to expand the understanding of the interdependencies among uncertain parameters.

The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not green certificates have an impact on income-generating commercial buildings' rent compared to similar non-certified commercial buildings. In addition, evaluate if there exists a variation in the rent premium between the different certifications and if the rental premium increases with the distance from city center. To answer the research questions a quantitative approach with hedonic pricing regressions has been conducted. For the purpose of this study, three types of hedonic regressions models have been estimated. To capture the effect of green certificates, the models have controlled for structural, locational and, quality attributes of the buildings. The first model examinedwhether certified office buildings archive a rent premium compared to non-certified buildings. The second model separated the label into indicator variables to capture the effect of each individual label. Lastly, the third model analyzed the progressive effect of the interaction between distance and certification. This study uses a dataset of rent observations for office buildings from four major Swedish cities – Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö and Uppsala – in order to analyze the rent premium of green certifications. The result of this study indicates that there exists a premium of 4,9 to 5,4 percent for certified buildings. When investigating each certification label the results indicate a rental premium of 10 percent forBREEAM, 5,1 percent for LEED, and 4,4 percent for Miljöbyggnad. Lastly, the finding suggests an incremental premium for certified buildings located farther away from the city center. This study contributes to the rising literature on the topic of green office buildings, as it is the first study to investigate the rental impact of green certification on the Swedish market. / Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka om miljöcertifieringar har en hyrespåverkan på kontorsbyggnader, i jämförelse med liknande icke-certifierade kontorsbyggnader. Vidare,undersöka om hyrespremien skiljer sig mellan de olika miljöcertifieringarna samt om hyrespremien ökar med avståndet från citykärnan. För att kunna besvara forskningsfrågorna har regressionsanalyser genomförts, bestående av tre olika modeller. Modellerna kontrollerar för strukturella, lägesspecifika och kvalitativa attribut. Den första modellen undersöker huruvida certifierade byggnader erhåller en högre hyra i jämförelse med icke-certifierade byggnader. Den andra modellen separerar de olika typerna av miljöcertifieringar för att undersöka vilken certifiering som bidrar med högst hyrespremie. Slutligen, den tredje modellen analyserar den stegvisa effekten av interaktionen mellan avstånd och certifiering. Datasetet som studien baseras på består av hyreskontrakt från de fyra största städerna iSverige – Stockholm, Göteborg, Malmö och Uppsala. Resultaten påvisar att det existerar en hyrespremie för certifierade byggnader på 4,9 till 5,4 procent. Premien skiljer sig beroende på vilken certifiering byggnader har, resultaten påvisar en hyrespremie på 10 procent för BREEAM, 5,1 procent för LEED och 4,4 procent för Miljöbyggnad. Resultaten visar även att det finns en stegvis hyrespremie för certifierade byggnader som är belägna längre bort från stadens centrum. Avslutningsvis, denna studie bidrar till den befintliga litteraturen gällande gröna byggnader, då det är den första studien i Sverige som undersöker förhållandet mellan hyresnivå och miljöcertifieringar.

This dissertation seeks to contribute to the policy discussion on how to design efficient and sustainable energy policies. In three self-contained chapters, it applies microeconomic theory and empirical analysis to identify three market failures in European energy markets and to evaluate specific policy measures that strive to overcome these failures in order to increase market efficiency and to enhance environmental or societal sustainability. Chapter 1 and 2 study European electricity markets, which play an important role in the transition towards a carbon-neutral energy future. Overcoming barriers to efficient electricity markets is a crucial step to keep the costs of this transition as low as possible to society. Both chapters focus on obstacles to electricity market efficiency that have recently been highlighted by the European Commission. On the supply side, subsidies for renewable electricity may distort production incentives and competition in wholesale electricity markets. Chapter 1 applies a theoretical model to study the effect of different subsidies on producer strategies and competition in wholesale electricity markets. On the demand side, the European Commission seeks to overcome the reluctance of residential electricity consumers to switch electricity supplier in order to ensure effective competition in the retail electricity market. Chapter 2 empirically quantifies different reasons for switching inertia using a structural discrete choice model and performs counterfactual analysis to study the effect of different policy measures that seek to overcome switching inertia. Chapter 3 looks at the building sector, which accounts for 40% of final energy consumption in Europe and is a major emitter of carbon emissions. In the residential housing market information asymmetries hamper incentives to invest in energy efficiency improvements of rental property. This chapter empirically analyzes the effect of a European policy that mandates the use of energy performance certificates aiming at establishing an efficient market for energy efficient dwellings. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished