Assessing occupant satisfaction and energy behaviours in Toronto’s LEED gold high-rise residential buildings

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 492-505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig Brown ◽  
Mark Gorgolewski
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Indoor Environmental Quality ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Occupant Satisfaction

Purpose – This paper aims to present four purposes: to assess occupant satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ); to determine if occupants appear to be operating their dwellings in an energy efficient manner; to suggest ways that occupant satisfaction and behaviour can help or hinder energy efficiency; and to show that the post-occupancy evaluation approach is an effective tool in diagnosing and improving satisfaction and energy efficiency in high-rise residential buildings. Design/methodology/approach – Beyond measuring occupant satisfaction with IEQ, this paper uses scores and user comments from occupant questionnaires to identify success and indicate frustration and/or confusion with particular building technologies. It also extrapolates the energy efficiency implications of these responses in four Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Gold residential towers. Findings – The research highlights where problems occur, particularly with the adoption of new technologies which may not be well understood by the occupants. It also identifies behaviour patterns that may negate energy efficiency strategies. Research limitations/implications – The lack of dwelling metre data prevents this research from making causal links between behaviours and their energy implications. Also, the lack of Canadian benchmarks for satisfaction of occupants means that comparisons can only be made to cases from the UK, which is less robust. Originality/value – This type of work has never been done in Canadian residential high rise towers before. It helps to better understand the process of ensuring that occupants successfully adopt innovation that can lead to energy savings.

Maintenance of lift systems affecting resident satisfaction in low-cost high-rise residential buildings

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheong Peng Au-Yong ◽  
Nur Farhana Azmi ◽  
Nur Aaina Mahassan
Keyword(s):  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Housing Quality ◽  
Resident Satisfaction ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Breakdown Rate ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Rise ◽  
Poor Households

Purpose Providing quality low-cost high-rise residential housing for poor households remains a major concern worldwide and especially in Malaysia. Despite government effort to maintain the quality of the housing through the Housing Maintenance Program and 1Malaysia Maintenance Fund Program (TP1M), the maintenance industry is still faced with serious housing quality problems in terms of facilities, one of which is the lift system. As the most expensive and important transportation system in a high-rise building, a lift system requires regular maintenance and inspection to provide safe and effective service to occupants. Unfortunately, most lift systems in Malaysia are not effectively maintained. The purpose of this paper is to examine contributing factors to the breakdown of lift systems, which greatly affect resident satisfaction in low-cost high-rise residential buildings. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were conducted with three stakeholders involved in maintenance management to identify the common causes of lift breakdown. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was used to investigate resident satisfaction with the system. Findings The results demonstrate vandalism as the most common cause for the frequent breakdown of lift system in low-cost housing. The study also reveals that there is a significant relationship between system breakdown rate and residents’ satisfaction. Originality/value The paper concludes with the recommendation that stakeholders, including both maintenance personnel and residents, should commit themselves to ensuring that the use and care of lift system are correct

Offsite construction in the Australian low-rise residential buildings application levels and procurement options

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong Lin ◽  
Sainan Lyu ◽  
Rebecca Jing Yang ◽  
Linda Tivendale
Keyword(s):  
Construction Industry ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Analysis Method ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Rise ◽  
The World ◽  
Different Levels ◽  
Selection Of

PurposePrefabricated housing has become a boom industry across the world; however, the uptake of offsite construction (OSC) approaches in Australian low-rise buildings is rather low compared with high-rise buildings in other countries. This study aims to investigate and analyse the adoption of different levels of OSC approaches and the selection of different procurement options in Australian low-rise residential buildings.Design/methodology/approachThe research objectives were pursued through a mixed research method. An empirical questionnaire survey was carried out with 35 professionals in the Australian building and construction industry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 interviewees and analysed using thematic analysis method in NVivo software.FindingsThe research results found that the most suitable OSC level for Australian low-rise buildings is components-based prefabrication and identified the barriers to OSC uptake for each OSC level. The study also showed that the best option of procuring prefabricated products is from Australian manufacturers, followed by Australian suppliers/dealers and overseas manufacturers. Panelised prefabrication and components-based prefabrication are ranked as the most suitable OSC approaches for Australian manufacturers. Modular prefabrication is regarded as the most suitable for overseas manufacturer, while components-based prefabrication is the most suitable for Australian suppliers/dealers.Originality/valueThe selection of various OSC approaches and different procurement options in the low-rise residential buildings are scarcely explored topic, and thus, this study provides knowledge of interest for both researchers and practitioners.

Prospects and restraints of green roofs for high-rise buildings in Sri Lanka

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 246-260
Author(s):  
Subaskar Charles ◽  
Herath Vidyaratne ◽  
Damithri Gayashini Melagoda
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Questionnaire Survey ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Green Roof ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Expert Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
High Rise ◽  
The Government

Purpose Green roofs are acknowledged as a method to substitute greenery washed out by the urbanization. They provide many ecological and sustainable benefits of greenery; reduce the adverse effects of high-rise building constructions. Though this concept is more popular across many countries over the past few decades, still, implementation of this technology in Sri Lanka is new and scant. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the potential of green roofs in high-rise buildings in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach The data collection was conducted through expert interviews and questionnaire survey. Expert interviews were carried out to validate the prospects and restraints identified through literature review to the Sri Lankan context and analyzed using content analysis. Questionnaire survey identified the most significant prospects and restraints using descriptive statistics and paired sample t-test. Purposive sampling was used to select participants. Findings Reduction of air pollution, aesthetical appearance, thermal benefits and energy savings, reduction of an urban heat island effect, the addition of points in the green rating system are the top most significant prospects that need to be highlighted in promoting green roof systems in Sri Lankan high rises. Less space allocation on rooftops, lack of technical competence and lack of awareness and research are restraints that need most effective elimination strategies to encourage green roof systems. Originality/value The first identified and quantified prospects and restraints for green roof system in Sri Lankan high-rise buildings can be utilized by the government, donors, multi-lateral agencies to promote the sustainable development in Sri Lanka and this knowledge could be used in different scale awareness programs. The value of this paper is such that the paper discusses the links of green roofs with the other facets of sustainability. The new legal reforms and amendments in Sri Lanka could potentially be pending with findings of this study.

scholarly journals Lighting Control Including Daylight and Energy Efficiency Improvements Analysis

Energies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aniela Kaminska ◽  
Andrzej Ożadowicz
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficiency ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Experimental Tests ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Automation System ◽  
Building Automation ◽  
Total Energy Consumption ◽  
Lighting Control

Energy used for lighting is one of the major components of total energy consumption in buildings. Nowadays, buildings have a great potential to reduce their energy consumption, but to achieve this purpose additional efforts are indispensable. In this study, the need for energy savings evaluation before the implementation of lighting control algorithms for a specified building is highlighted. Therefore, experimental tests have been carried out in a university building with laboratories and other rooms, equipped with KNX building automation system. A dimmable control strategy has been investigated, dependent on daylight illuminance. Moreover, a relationship between external and internal daylight illuminance levels has been evaluated as well. Based on the experimental results, the authors proposed a method for the rough estimation of electrical energy savings. Since, according to the EN 15232 standard, Building Automation and Control Systems (BACS) play an important role in buildings’ energy efficiency improvements, the BACS efficiency factors from this standard have been used to verify the experimental results presented in the paper. The potential to reduce energy consumption from lighting in non-residential buildings by 28% for offices and 24% for educational buildings has been confirmed, but its dependence on specific building parameters has been discussed as well.

Sustainability and cost assessment of coastal vacation homes for energy retrofits

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamalesh Panthi ◽  
Kanchan Das ◽  
Tarek Abdel-Salam
Keyword(s):  
Energy Use ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Building Envelope ◽  
Energy Usage ◽  
Water Heater ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Modeling Software ◽  
Energy Use Intensity

Purpose Vacation rental homes, in general, have different energy usage characteristics than traditional residential homes mainly because of the occupancy pattern that changes on a weekly basis. These homes, predominantly larger in size, offer a greater scope for energy savings also because of the wasteful habits of their seasonal occupants. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the causes of energy inefficiencies prevalent in these homes so that appropriate retrofit choices can be offered to homeowners. Design/methodology/approach This research presents a case study of a vacation rental home whose energy consumption was investigated in depth and energy inefficiencies identified through modeling using energy modeling software, eQUEST. Simulations were performed to identify viable retrofit scenarios. Findings While improvement in the building envelope such as providing shades/overhangs on the windows, reducing infiltration and increasing insulation of the exterior wall did not show promising results for savings on energy cost, other improvements such as use of highly efficient lamps, tank-less water heater system and occupancy sensors showed viable investment options with shorter payback periods. It was also found that energy use intensity of sampled houses was about half of the average of US residential buildings, which could primarily be attributed to the seasonal nature of occupancy of these houses. Originality/value There is a dearth of literature pertaining to energy efficiency-related retrofits of coastal vacation homes. This research fills that gap to some extent by addressing this issue with an ultimate aim of assisting homeowners in retrofit decision-making.

Improving sustainability of residential homes: occupants motivation and behaviour

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 477-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick X.W. Zou ◽  
Rebecca J. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Energy Efficient ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Residential Buildings ◽  
Residential Building ◽  
Content Type ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Improvement Measures ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
High Level

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate residential occupants’ motivations and behaviour on energy savings. Energy consumption in residential buildings is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Design/methodology/approach – By using an online survey questionnaire instrument, this research collected 504 sets of responses from households in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Findings – Through statistical analysis of the data collected, this research found that construction cost and government incentive were considered as the major influencing factors on achieving energy-efficient residential building development, and the lower bills resulted from the reduced energy and water consumption were considered as the most important benefits. The research also found that many households exhibited a high level of awareness and had implemented some sustainability improvement measures. It is suggested, based on these research findings, that governments should articulate, by means of education, the rationale and benefits of sustainable home development that are identified in this research and reduce material costs and increase government incentives. Originality/value – A framework on improving residential sustainability was proposed in this paper. Stakeholders in the sustainable home supply chain could use this framework as a reference to pave the way for energy efficient home development from their perspective

Smart lighting in a historic context: a case study

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Beccali ◽  
Marina Bonomolo ◽  
Alessandra Galatioto ◽  
Emanuela Pulvirenti
Keyword(s):  
Energy Savings ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Integrated Design ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Historical Building ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Smart Lighting ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Good Energy ◽  
The City

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address a project for lighting an old town in Italy. Its originality lies in the holistic approach that aims to fulfil several objectives. One is to reduce energy consumption by using efficient lamps and advanced control systems; the second one is to make the network viable and useful for many purposes by integrating ICT devices; the third one is to provide a new identity to the older part of the city by using new technologies and design concepts; while the last one is to ensure street and pedestrian safety according to codes and standards. Design/methodology/approach The plan of the city of Bagheria and the stock of luminaires of the city are analysed. A multidisciplinary approach has been adopted in order to: analyse the existing lighting infrastructure highlighting critical areas; design a new displacement and select typologies of luminaries able to provide proper light quality and distribution; propose an aesthetic solution and technical design for relevant historical building; and to include in the design process the concept of a new multifunctional pole. Together with an analysis of social benefits, an assessment of economic costs and benefits are discussed. Findings The project allows good energy savings, meets the standard requirements and gives a relevant and strategic improvement in social and environmental management of the city. Originality/value The work provides an example of integrated design of street lighting infrastructures for urban renovation in old cities in degraded environments.

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