ABSTRACT
Introduction Over recent years governments have refocused on energy efficiency in the built environment as a having an important role in meeting their commitments to avoid serious climate change, with the UK aiming to reduce its overall carbon emissions by 60 per cent from their 1990 levels by 2050 (DTI, 2007). There is also heightened interest both in ensuring that such policy measures work and that the predictions of resultant energy saving are accurate. An implicit assumption exists that improved efficiency, such as in appliances or heating systems, will lead to lower overall energy consumption. However, it has also long been recognized that a ‘rebound effect’ occurs, where some of the expected energy savings do not eventuate due to benefits being mitigated by changes in occupant behaviour. It may even lead to an overall increase in energy consumption by stimulating new demands (Saunders, 1992). However, the extent and full implications of this phenomenon remain a matter of ongoing debate (Herring and Roy, 2007).
