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Talking about targets: How construction discourses of theory and reality represent the energy performance gap in the United Kingdom
- Source :
- Energy Research & Social Science. 64:101330
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Elsevier BV, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Targets for energy performance in operation have been advocated as a solution to the well-documented mismatch between the expected and actual energy use of buildings. Although construction industry actors will be crucial in realising these targets, their response to them is currently under-explored. Augmenting research on how middle actors shape energy consumption, this paper examines how everyday talk in the construction industry sustains this mismatch, drawing on a study of a hospital construction project with targets for energy in use. It applies Gilbert and Mulkay's approach to discourse analysis, particularly their interest in “accounting for error”, to data drawn from interviews with actors across the construction project, observation of daily life on site, and an examination of written interactions. Findings show how actors make a discursive division between the “theory” and “reality” of energy use. Expressing scepticism about “theory”, in particular, allows them to rationalise problems with future operational energy consumption and thereby mitigate their professional liability. This division therefore perpetuates, rather than overcomes, the separation between energy in design and operation, displacing a more collaborative discussion of performance expectations. This challenges the assumption that targets for energy in use can be effective without accompanying changes in industry incentives and ways of working. This paper argues for more attention to the patterns of talk that are found in the construction industry, in order to uncover how this crucial set of actors will respond to new energy policy incentives.
- Subjects :
- Consumption (economics)
Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
business.industry
020209 energy
Energy (esotericism)
Discourse analysis
Liability
0211 other engineering and technologies
Energy Engineering and Power Technology
02 engineering and technology
Energy consumption
Public relations
Fuel Technology
Incentive
Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Order (exchange)
021105 building & construction
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
Business
Set (psychology)
Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 22146296
- Volume :
- 64
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Energy Research & Social Science
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi...........4c916eb63119947e6d5e967ad3d23878