Uncertainty Affecting Building Energy Efficiency (BEE) Market from Transaction Costs (TCs) Perspective: A Aase Study with Architects in Malaysia

Attractive opportunities exist to reduce buildings' energy use at lower costs and higher returns in the long run. As little work done using transaction costs (TCs) approach in this area, this paper using empirical case study of Malaysia to demonstrate how TCs, especially uncertainty aspects affect the business investment of BEE by the major stakeholders, i.e. architects. To solicit views regarding BEE investment, in-depth interviews were conducted with 30 architects who work in major real estate development firms in Malaysia. This research applies transaction cost economics (TCE) to understand the underlying barriers resulting from uncertainty that prohibits the acceptance of BEE by choice. It provides a detailed analysis of the current situation and future prospects for BEE adoption through studying the impacts from three uncertainty aspects: economic, market and policy. It delineates the market and suggests possible policy solutions to overcome the uncertainties and to attain the large-scale deployment of energy-efficient building techniques. The findings indicate the uncertainties to the BEE decision-makings from both market and policy sides. It establishes the groundwork for future studies on how to choose a particular policy package and what roles government should play to solve the existing problems in BEE development.