Do Energy Performance Certificates Matter in Housing Selection: Evidence from Choice Experiments in Barcelona

Energy Performances Certificates have been implemented in Spain just in the moment of the largest real estate recession, such situation does not allow to observe consumers’ preferences on energy efficient homes. This paper uses choice experiment to study the relative importance of energy efficiency in relation to other functional and quality attributes. In order to evaluate the role of framework information in the formation of household preferences thesample has been split into2 sets and informed on the economic and environmental implications of energy efficiency using technical and illustrative units. Results suggest that households do give importance to energy efficiency mainly when they are informed in an easy-to understand way. This latter finding has important implications for the design of energy policy.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version