Introducing new technologies in buildings in Sweden have historically been connected with great portions of scepticism, hence influencing the speed of acceptance of new technologies. The speed is slow even though technologies are tested, evaluated, proven to make an impact, and economic efficient. In order to understand acceptance of energy efficient technologies in multifamily buildings and to identify the origin of barriers to energy efficiency this paper investigates barriers as consequences of the current system structure in the Swedish building sector. The study views the Swedish building sector as a sociotechnical system built from technical artefacts, institutions, and actors, thus often deeply embedded in our societies. The Swedish building sector is well structured, resulting in that innovation and development occurring outside of the existing sociotechnical regime might not be recognized as feasible investments. In order to identify the structures enabling barriers to energy efficiency adoption this paper aims at developing a framework for categorizing barriers depending on their structural origin. The categorization framework is inspired by theories of sustainable innovation journeys and of soft systems and distinguishes between three decision-levels for barriers to energy efficiency: Project level, Sector level and Contextual level. By implementing the proposed categorization framework it becomes obvious that problem areas in the building sector are not connected to any specific structural level. However, results in this study reveal that most barriers originate in the Contextual level, which implies that energy and sustainability are not yet key aspects when forming and transforming contextual preconditions on how to design and build multifamily buildings in Sweden. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

This paper investigates problem areas related to energy efficiency implementation in Swedish multifamily buildings. The paper first presents a generic list of (theoretical) problem areas identified through a literature survey. Using a qualitative approach, the paper also investigates if the problem areas identified in the literature also have an impact on the Swedish building sector. Results from the interview study reveal a strong coherence between problem areas in the literature and those expressed by the interviewees. However, this paper identifies seven novel challenges that cannot be derived from the list of barriers in the literature. Moreover, results reveal that as many as 12 problem areas have their origin in national factors such as agreement structures, incentive schemes, and cost calculation methods.

This study examines current governance structures related to multifamily buildings designed by single actors (developers) and operated in cooperative forms. The study analyses the long-term sustainability of the resource regime of study (multifamily buildings) and inked governance structures by applying Ostrom’s eight design principles for long-term survival of self-organized resource regimes (Common-pool resources or CPR’s). The study also searches for signs of movement towards social innovation and collective action in current governance structures. We argue that the structures governing planning, production and operation of housing cooperatives in Sweden do not fulfil the eight design principles for the long-term survival of the resource regime of study, nor do they encourage movement towards social innovation or collective action. In order to ensure the long-term survival of the resource regime of study and to increase innovation in governance structures, five adjustments are proposed; changes in the structures governing risk/profit distribution, communication, collaboration and information between actors in the Swedish cooperative housing sector.

The issue of whether contracts promote innovation and sustainability is an important but overlooked aspect for achieving energy and environmental targets, as well as for creating smart and sustainable cities. In this article, based on the principle/agent problem and Holmstrom and Milgrom's work on optimal contracts it is argued that the current general conditions of architectural and engineering consulting agreements in Sweden (ABK 09)-a standard type of contract often used in developer/consultant relations-may not incentivize choices that support the long-term goals of society. Furthermore, although this exploratory study specifically analyses a Swedish standard contract, the question of how contractual incentive structures can optimize real-world performance is a general one, and thus the article's findings have general applicability. This exploratory study also points to further research into how contractual structures impact climate-neutral buildings. In this way, Swedish consultants who use ABK 09 are incentivized to include low-risk, well-proven, and widely used technologies in order to minimize risks for themselves. This study contributes to resolving this dilemma by suggesting how ABK 09 could be restructured to change the balance between incentives and risk and incentivize innovation and sustainability. As mentioned above, the current study operates at a theoretical level. It discusses six possible changes that would better align the contract with the societal goals of innovation and sustainability.