Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

A critical challenge within governments and public institutions is to address global climate change. One way that they are doing so is via advanced energy and environmental technologies, especially in buildings and construction since 39% of carbon dioxide emissions are generated from building development and use. However, initial technology adoption is often slow and lacks political support because it is costly and disrupts existing organization practices.

Technology demonstration projects are policy tools that can be leveraged by the public sector to increase the adoption and diffusion of new, socially beneficial technologies. The effectiveness of these projects has received scant attention in the literature. However, demonstration projects can seed the uptake of advanced energy and environmental technologies by disseminating information through networks, and even changing network structures. Early adopters of technology may lower adoption costs for subsequent actors, facilitating the uptake of environmental and energy technologies, and potentially catalyzing market transformation. One example is the construction of Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design (KBISD), which is a Living Building demonstration project. Located at Georgia Tech, a large public university, KBISD is designed to be net positive energy, water, and waste, and contains over 18 innovative or experimental technological solutions. The building is being constructed with the aim to transform the building and construction industry in the Southeast and disseminate knowledge and information about regenerative building techniques.

KBISD provides an opportunity to observe, in real time, the formation of a network around a demonstration project and how attitudes and behaviors relating to environmental technologies disseminate through the building design and construction network. We assess these factors so using a mixed method approach to understand and evaluate the mechanisms that demonstration projects disseminate information through networks, as well as opportunities and barriers for market transformation in the built environment.

To evaluate the early impacts of this demonstration project, we conducted several dozen semi-structured interviews with firms (design firms, prime contractors, and subcontractors) involved in the construction of the KBISD building and those firms who are pursuing traditional builds. These interview results reveal the motivations, challenges, innovations, costs, and risks associated with participation in a demonstration project, as well as key differences between this regenerative building approach and design-bid-build approaches often employed in traditional buildings. Further, the interviews highlight the role that networks have played in the construction of the KBISD building as well as how information has disseminated through networks to seed market transformation. These findings are combined with an industry-wide survey that assesses the knowledge and attitudes associated with the innovative technologies in the building and construction industry.

Early survey results highlight the role of certain key players in developing and piloting new energy and environmental technologies. They also reveal the complex decision process by which these decisions are made, as well as the important role of project teams and partnerships in transmitting and disseminating information for advanced energy and environmental technologies.