Stakeholder studies and the social networks of NetZero energy homes (NZEHs)

Stakeholder engagement and effective communication are imperative for the promotion and advancement of sustainable buildings such as NetZero Energy Homes (NZEHs). This paper proposes a holistic framework to analyze stakeholders for NZEHs, which can be deployed to enhance stakeholder engagement and communication, thereby improving NZEH implementation. First, the stakeholder influence, interest, and the dynamics, which is the dynamic changes of influence and interest over the lifecycle of a project, are analyzed for various identified stakeholders based on a focus group study, and strategies that could be applied to promote NZEHs are proposed. The acceptable energy performance (i.e. energy generation vs. consumption) as a qualified NZEH and the market acceptance with the acceptable additional cost of NZEHs are analyzed based on a survey, the results of which can be used to improve the design and marketing of NZEHs. Furthermore, the impacts of NZEHs on occupants and on stakeholder relationships are examined with social networks utilized, and the results reveal that NZEH stakeholders are more dedicated than those of conventional homes. This research proposes a stakeholder analysis framework for NZEHs, the results arising from which can be applied to promote NZEHs.