Literature Review: Reducing Energy Usage in Private Housing Projects

This literature review focuses on the critical issue of reducing energy usage in private housing projects, particularly within the context of the Netherlands. The paper begins by establishing the background of the problem, highlighting the adverse impacts of high energy consumption, such as global warming and environmental pollution. It then identifies specific problems related to energy usage in private housing, including high energy costs and the need for sustainable solutions. The review examines various sustainable practices, such as the use of solar, wind, and biomass energy, as well as project management techniques like agile methodologies. The paper also explores relevant frameworks, including the Iron Triangle and the Triple Bottom Line, to assess cost-effectiveness and sustainability. The methodology of energy reduction, including the use of thermal simulators and evidence-based practices like the Green Proforma, are discussed. The review identifies gaps in existing research, such as a lack of discussion on challenges related to sustainable practices. The conclusion offers recommendations for strategic planners and project managers in the Netherlands, emphasizing the importance of incorporating sustainable practices to reduce energy usage in private housing projects.

Running head: REDUCING ENERGY USAGE IN PRIVATE HOUSING
Reducing energy usage in private housing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REDUCING THE ENERGY USAGE IN PRIVATE HOUSING
Abstract
Climate change is one of the most significant global challenges which has to be taken care of
on an emergency basis as most of the non-renewable energy sources are about to be
exhausted in the coming years. This literature review shall focus on the identification of
diverse categories of sustainable practices and Project Management (PM) practices which can
be used useful to control the overall usage of energy in the private housing projects of
Netherlands. The contribution of each of the selected articles shall be discussed in the
concluding section of this research. This paper shall also provide a list of recommendations
which can be used to identify ways to reduce the energy usage in the private housing projects
within the Netherlands.

2REDUCING THE ENERGY USAGE IN PRIVATE HOUSING
Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................4
1.1 Background of the topic...................................................................................................4
1.2 Identification of the problems..........................................................................................4
1.3 Purpose of the paper.........................................................................................................5
1.4 Relevant framework.........................................................................................................6
1.5 Overall trends of energy reduction in private housing.....................................................7
1.6 Methodology of energy reduction....................................................................................7
1.7 Evidence based practise...................................................................................................8
1.8 Gaps in the research.........................................................................................................9
1.9 Point of view....................................................................................................................9
1.10 Scope of the literature....................................................................................................9
2. Empirical material and analysis...........................................................................................10
2.1 Organize the material.....................................................................................................15
2.2. Summarization of individual articles............................................................................15
2.3 Sustainable project management and leading and organizing for sustainability...........17
3. Methodology........................................................................................................................17
3.1 Major methodological flaws..........................................................................................18
4. Inconsistencies in theory and findings.................................................................................18
4.1 Relationship between Project management and leadership for sustainability...............19
5. Conclusion and Recommendations......................................................................................19
6. Reference..............................................................................................................................21

3REDUCING THE ENERGY USAGE IN PRIVATE HOUSING
1. Introduction
1.1 Background of the topic
According to Cauvain & Bouzarovski (2016), Global warming is one of the most
adverse impacts of high energy usage across different types of projects and industries.
Furthermore, Cheung et al, (2017) added that the intergovernmental plans related with
reduction of the usage of energy across the different industries have been partially successful
however, there are few areas which are needed to be focused in order to reduce the impact of
the climate change has minimum effect on our lives. Our eco system gets affected due to high
energy usage across different categories of industries all over the world (Li et al., 2017). On
the other hand, as elaborated by Reilly & Kinnane (2017), triple bottom line can be very
much useful to enhance the transparency and the accountability in the construction projects to
promote the concept of sustainability.
1.2 Identification of the problems
High energy usage has numerous adverse impacts on our environment such as air
pollution and water pollution. The other negative impacts of climate change due to high
energy usage is damage to public health, loss of wildlife and habitat loss (Fan, Zhang &
Wang, 2017). There are other negative effects related to high energy consumptions like the
amount of living costs as the prices of the fuels and the energy bills increase overtime.
Most of the private housing projects usually requires huge amount of energy which is
a significant source of concern from the environmental perspective. There are diverse
categories of sustainable energy sources which are increasingly used in the private housing
projects such as solar energy, wind energy, biomass energy and geothermal energy (Huemann
& Silvius, 2017). There are numerous new concepts which are directly related with most of
the private housing projects which take care of the high energy usages like the concept of

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green building (Li et al., 2017). In the recent years, there have been developed diverse
categories of project management (PM) techniques which are used in private housing projects
such as the agile technique, program evaluation and review technique, extreme project
management and rational unified process. The other building methods which contribute to
sustainable housing are green roofs, synthetic roof underlayment and solar thermal cladding.
There are diverse categories of sustainability practices which are introduced in the
private housing projects such as setting the intentions about the sustainability practices,
partnering with employees and third party organizations, management of the supply chain,
development of a recycling program, chemical management procedure, purchasing the energy
efficient products and development of the sustainable work policies (Notarnicola et al.,
2017). However, there are diverse categories of challenges related with incorporation of the
sustainability practices as well as the desertification, exploitation of soil, loss of bio diversity,
cost of the sustainable practices, selection of the decision making frameworks and
management of the pollution which are caused due to the incorporation of the sustainability
practices.
Thus, the problem which will be focussed in this research is reduction of the use
sustainable energy sources
1.3 Purpose of the paper
This literature review shall be focused on the cost effectiveness of the sustainability
products such as the IoT enabled integrated automated building systems. This literature
review shall be done using peer reviewed articles which will be selected from reliable
secondary sources. The originality as well as the effectiveness of this literature review is very
much on the higher side due to the selection of peer reviewed articles, and each of the
researchers whose works will be considered in this literature review shall be cited in the

5REDUCING THE ENERGY USAGE IN PRIVATE HOUSING
concluding section of this assignment. Therefore, it can be said that this literature review
shall be useful for the strategic planners of the private housing projects of Netherlands so that
they can select the appropriate PM techniques which can help to incorporate sustainability
practices.
1.4 Relevant framework
According to Cauvain & Bouzarovski (2016), there are diverse categories of
frameworks which are used by the strategic planners as well as the project managers of the
private housing projects. The paper highlighted the effectiveness of the Iron Triangle which is
increasingly used by the project managers to manage the cost relation between different
categories of cost related with the introduction of sustainability practices in the private
housing projects, management of the time required to incorporate the sustainability practices
and managing the quality of services which are provided to the inhabitants of these projects
(Anantatmula & Thomas, 2010). The following illustration will be useful to understand the
contribution of the iron triangle in the private projects as it helps in managing the cost of the
sustainable products such as straw bales and rammed earth which is used in the construction
of private firms, manage the time required to address the complexities of incorporating those
sustainable products and maintaining the quality of service provided by these products.
Figure 1: Iron Triangle

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(Source: Cauvain & Karvonen, 2018)
The researchers of this paper highlighted that this triangle can be an integral part of a
critical project and it can set the priorities of a project. The article highlighted that the
motivation of the stakeholders of private housing projects can also be managed in the first
place with the help of this triangle. The paper also highlighted the significance of the triple
bottom line framework which can be used to address the challenges of sustainability issues
faced in private housing projects. The paper highlighted that sustainability principles can be
taken care of with the help of the triple bottom line technique. Thus, the selection of
frameworks like Iron triangle can be very much useful to address the challenges of
incorporating sustainable products for the creation of private housing complexes.
On the other hand, as discussed by Brière et al. (2015), triple bottom-line framework
can be very much useful to promote the concept of sustainability in the construction projects.
The scholars of this paper added that all the three dimensions of this framework can are
equally helpful to promote the sustainability principles in the construction projects. The
researchers added that social responsibility, bottom line and environmental sustainability is
supported by this accounting framework.
1.5 Overall trends of energy reduction in private housing
According to Cluett, Amann & Ou (2016), the trends of energy reductions keep on
changing in countries like the Netherlands. The good sustainable practices depend hugely on
the role of the project leader and who gets the contract of developing private housing
complexes (Cheung et al., 2017). The researchers of this article highlighted the significance
of the Energy Act of 2011 which has to be considered in the first place by the builders of the
private housing complexes to maintain sustainability. The researchers of this paper

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acknowledged that the cost of maintaining sustainable practices is high but inevitable as the
higher energy consumption is having an adverse effect on the environment.
1.6 Methodology of energy reduction
As discussed by Huemann & Silvius (2017), energy management methodology is a
significant measure to improve the climatic conditions of the areas which are getting affected
due to heavy energy usage (Eskerod & Huemann, 2013). The researchers of this article
focussed on the outdoor temperature model which is increasingly used in most of the private
housing projects, it is used to manage the thermal simulations in the projects (Ebbesen &
Hope, 2013). The contribution of thermal simulators which provides sustainability in these
projects can be understood in the first place with the help of the following diagram.
Figure 2: Thermal simulator
(Source: Hwang, Wiseman & Thomas, 2016)
1.7 Evidence based practise
According to Labuschagne & Brent (2005), decision making ability of the project
managers is relevant for the growth and development of private housing projects. The paper
highlighted that maintaining of the sustainability practices can be useful to improve the

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quality of life of the local community as well as to deal with global challenges like climate
change (Jaffar et al., 2018). The paper was informative as it provided detailed information of
the key sustainability principles which are practised in most of the private housing projects of
Netherlands such as optimizing site potential, optimizing building space and enhance indoor
environmental quality. Thus, the paper emphasized on the advantages of using the PM
principles regarding the incorporation of sustainable practices in private housing projects.
On the other hand, as described by Priemus (2005), the uncertainties of using the
energy saving equipment across the private housing projects can be resolved using the Green
Proforma. This proforma is very much useful to identify the exact sustainability indicators
and establish benchmarks. Development of the sustainability index is one of the other
contributions of this framework in the construction projects. The following illustration can be
very much useful to understand this framework.
Figure 3: Proforma framework
Source: Priemus (2005)

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1.8 Gaps in the research
The challenges of maintaining the sustainable practices such as the selection of the
construction technologies, long term monitoring procedures and maintaining ethical standards
were not mentioned by any of the researchers whose works were considered in the above
literature review. The paper provided in depth discussion about the methodologies of energy
reduction however the challenges of incorporating those methodologies were not discussed
by the researchers. The limitations of the Iron triangle were not discussed by any of the
investigators whose peer reviewed articles were considered in this literature review. The
challenges faced by the strategic planners as well as the project managers while maintaining
the overall trends of energy reduction were also not elaborated on any of the discussions of
the literature review.
1.9 Point of view
Each of the research papers which were considered in this part of the literature review
was selected based on certain criteria’s. The criteria which were considered while selecting
an article from secondary sources is a selection of articles based on the date of publication. In
order to remove reliability recent articles were selected to ensure there is no outdated
information. The selected articles which of this literature review have been thoroughly
analysed in order to safeguard the continuity and relation to the topic of the paper. The
majority of the current trends of sustainable practices related to the private housing projects
are represented in most of the papers which were selected for the literature review.
1.10 Scope of the literature
There are diverse categories of reasons which were considered for rejecting articles
from the secondary source which were selected for this literature review. The most significant
reason behind rejecting the article is that the majority of those articles were generalized and

10REDUCING THE ENERGY USAGE IN PRIVATE HOUSING
any kinds of conclusive statements could not be identified from them. Some of the articles
which were rejected have produced concepts of older technologies which no longer exists or
not relevant anymore. There were very few substantial knowledge related articles which were
not selected in this literature review. Some of the articles were rejected based on cultural
settings as it cannot be aligned with the work culture and the projects within the Netherlands.
The presence of the predictable results in most of the papers was the other reason behind the
rejection of some of the articles since they add no new information. Lack of theories and
clinical concepts was the other reason behind rejecting some of the articles.
2. Empirical material and analysis
Figure 3: Life cycle of construction components
(Source: Priemus, 2005)

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The entire life cycle of the buildings can be understood in the first place with the help
of the above pictorial description. This diagram highlights the overall trends of the energy
reduction procedures which are maintained by the construction companies of the Netherlands.
Figure 4: Sustainability practice in private housing
(Source: Priemus, 2005)
The above illustration shows the role of each of the stakeholders who are related with
the private housing projects in Netherlands (Li et al., 2017).