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The purpose of this paper is to explore the reasons behind the apparent reluctance of UK residential developers to embrace microgeneration technology and adopt it large‐scale across their developments despite consumer demand for post‐construction microgeneration technologies. This paper explores residential developers’ attitudes towards these technologies, their perceptions of drivers and barriers to sustainability, supply and demand issues and perceptions of the potential contribution that microgeneration technologies could make towards sustainable construction across the UK.

This paper reports on the findings from 12 telephone interviews with UK residential developers which were carried out in May 2007.

The main driver towards sustainability was legislation. The most favoured microgeneration technology amongst developers was solar thermal, as it was perceived to be the most established microgeneration technology. Barriers towards adopting this technology were the initial cost to developers, the initial costs to occupiers, long payback periods, and the current market immaturity, reliability and liability of microgeneration products.

This represents a snapshot of developers views in 2007 and due to technological improvements, policy and changes to the economy opinions may have changed.

The results suggest that unless there are significant improvements in efficiency, reliability, reductions in purchase costs and, guarantees that they will be free from liability when things go wrong, developers will struggle to achieve the requirements of the code for sustainable homes Level Six “zero carbon” rating in 2016.

The study addresses microgeneration from the house‐builders’ perspective.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the microgeneration between Generation X and the Millennial generation. The research question addressed was “What makes the Xennial generation unique and how might the knowledge of these differences be beneficial to organizations?”

The research question was analyzed by a review of literature through the lens of generational theory. This study reviewed current literature on generational theory, years encompassing specific generations, and differences between recent generations in the workplace.

It was discovered the exact years distinguishing generations were unclear because generations fade into one another without a distinct starting and stopping point. This overlap creates a cusp generation or microgeneration. The presented findings suggest microgeneration employees could aid in reducing workplace generational tensions.

Organizations can benefit from creating flexible workplaces accommodating the desires of multi-generational employees while still meeting the goals of the organization as a whole. It is important managers approach generational differences with a clear perspective of what information is valid and what may simply be popular. It is crucial to remember employees are individuals who never completely fit a stereotype, generational, or otherwise.

Very few academic articles on generational differences mention cusp generations and none address their unique opportunities for organizations in the workplace. Members of microgenerations between major generational cohorts may be a key to reducing workplace friction between employees of different generations.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

This literature review paper concentrates on the microgenerations produced at the cusp where different generations merge into one another. The Xennial microgeneration is a productivity-enhancing organizational asset uniquely placed to help diffuse tension between Gen Xers and Millennials in the workplace.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

The United Kingdom (UK) Government is required to meet various renewable energy targets set by the European Union. The UK has had renewables support schemes for many years. It has become clear that the old schemes are insufficient to lead to enough new capacity to meet the target. The government has accordingly reformed the renewables obligation (RO). The purpose of this paper is to analyse whether the reformed RO will meet the targets set for 2015 and 2020.

The paper undertakes a review of the modelling literature and performs a critical, deductive analysis of the RO to answer its research issue.

The paper finds that it is too late to make any difference to the 2010 target, but that the reforms might lead to the 2015 target being met, and finds that whilst it is clear that the reformed RO will lead to more capacity being built than otherwise would have been the case, it is difficult to establish that the 2020 target will be met.

This paper shows that there may be further reform of the already‐reformed RO, and that more time is needed to see the impacts of the recent regulatory responses to the external failures. This understanding will be useful in developing new policies to promote renewable energies in the UK.

One of the most significant challenges facing contemporary architectural and urban design is how it can become more sustainable. Energy consumption by housing is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions and a cause of depletion of non-renewable energy sources. Of particular concern is existing stock, which has the worst performance and is hardest to improve.

One means of addressing these issues that is attracting increasing interest is the integration of embedded renewable energy technologies. This paper discusses the use of wind turbines on buildings as a response to climate change legislation. It examines the potential for embedded generation in a specific built form (existing high rise housing) and places this in the context of a particular geographical location (Glasgow, Scotland) where the existing provision is highly problematic, but which also presents significant potential. It describes findings from two projects in Glasgow, a pilot installation on a city centre multi-storey block, and subsequent feasibility study for a Housing Association managed multi-storey block and identifies the problems and opportunities that may be applied in similar projects elsewhere.

Due to technological improvement and development of the vehicle-to-home (V2H) concept, electric vehicle (EV) can be considered as an active component of net-zero energy buildings (NZEBs). However, to achieve more dependable results, proper energy analysis is needed to take into consideration the stochastic behavior of renewable energy, energy consumption in the building and vehicle use pattern. This study aims to stochastically model a building integrating photovoltaic panels as a microgeneration technology and EVs to meet NZEB requirements.

First, a multiobjective nondominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) was developed to optimize the building energy performance considering panels installed on the façade. Next, a dynamic solution is implemented in MATLAB to stochastically model electricity generation using solar panels as well as building and EV energy consumption. Besides, the Monte Carlo simulation method is used for quantifying the uncertainty of NZEB performance. To investigate the impact of weather on both energy consumption and generation, the model is tested in five different climatic zones in Iran.

The results show that the stochastic simulation provides building designers with a variety of convenient options to select the best design based on level of confidence and desired budget. Furthermore, economic evaluation signifies that investing in all studied cities is profitable.

Considering the uncertainty in building energy demand and PV power generation as well as EV mobility and the charging–discharging power profile for evaluating building energy performance is the main contribution of this study.

Households account for 27 per cent of the UK's total CO₂ emissions therefore addressing housing energy efficiency has become a priority. Low-zero carbon technologies (LZCTs) for both new-build and the existing housing stock are one mechanism to reduce CO₂. A gap in previous research into the subject was identified – the ongoing maintenance or “Asset Management” of LZCTs. This is important, inefficient or ineffective Asset Management may have a negative impact on the sustainability of energy efficient housing stock from a number of perspectives, including physical, social and economic. This paper aims to discuss these issues.

The research presents a sector based study of the English social housing sector with seven individual organisations (known as “Registered Social Landlords”) represented by senior Asset Management practitioners, providing the units of analysis. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate the past, current and future ability of the sector to successfully maintain LZCTs. The interviews were coded and a theme/sub-theme building process undertaken.

The interview analysis yielded three main themes (Asset Management Planning, Maintenance Skills and Occupier Impacts) and 12 sub-themes. Some of these confirmed findings from the literature review but others had not been previously located including inter-departmental conflicts and occupiers taking responsibility for maintenance.

A paucity of previous work specifically relating to Asset Management and LZCTs in the social housing sector was found. The findings should therefore be of interest to a wide range of stakeholders including registered providers, asset managers, surveyors, developers and policy makers.