Consumer’s willingness towards Net Zero Energy Settlements and pre-occupancy evaluation of building energy performance in a real case study in Italy

Both technical strategies and occupancy need to be considered to achieve high energy performance buildings. In this view, the purpose of this work, developed within the context of the H2020 project ZERO-PLUS, is to evaluate the influence of users on Net Zero Energy (NZE) settlements feasibility in terms of both energy performance and willingness of consumers towards this building typology. To this aim, calibrated thermal-energy dynamic simulation of case study buildings is carried out after the pre-occupancy checks of their envelope performance. Therefore, different scenarios of occupant-building interaction are modelled when varying users’ energy awareness. Finally, an extensive survey is developed to examine consumers' intention to purchase NZEBs in NZE settlements. Results clearly confirm the impact of occupant behavior on building annual energy savings up to 60% moving from unaware to green behavior. Furthermore, the survey shows that psychological factors can be significant determinants of willingness towards NZE settlements.