Problems, solutions, and institutional logics: Insights from Dutch domestic energy-efficiency retrofits

Abstract

This paper analyzes the logics that underlie two distinct approaches to energy-efficiency retrofits in the Netherlands. It is explained how these logics lead to differing viewpoints on problems and solutions on the road to scale-up of such retrofits. For this, the paper makes use of the institutional logics approach. The institutional logics approach can be used to understand the reasoning that lies behind material practices and is here applied to two renovation approaches. Institutional logics theory can also explain why actors focus their attention on certain problems and solutions, namely, they focus on the ones consistent with the institutional logics that guide them. The thorough understanding of the empirical domain hereby achieved facilitates the policy formulation process and helps to set suitable system boundaries within frameworks for analyzing technological change processes.