scholarly journals ENHANCING THE INTEGRATION OF SMART FEATURES IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS TO CONSERVE ENERGY: A FRAMEWORK

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A.A. Dilogini ◽  
◽  
P. Sridarran ◽  
G. Mahedrarajah ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Commercial Building

The commercial building sector is classified as a highly energy-intensive category in Sri Lanka. Building practitioners adopt energy-saving mechanisms to minimise energy consumption. However, the integration of smart features plays a vital role in conserving energy in commercial buildings. However, Sri Lanka lags behind in the adoption of smart features when compared to other countries. To address this problem, this study aimed to develop a framework for the better integration of smart features to minimise the energy consumption of Sri Lankan commercial buildings. This research is carried out initially by literature review, and then research has been followed by case study. Data collected is analysed through manual content analysis and computer software with the aid of NVivo 12 software. Findings revealed that smart features are the new technologies evolved in commercial buildings to conserve energy. However, building practitioners faced several issues in integrating these features within the existing buildings. Limited knowledge of management, building owners and operators, high initial cost, and lack of workforce skill were identified as main barriers to integrating smart features in Sri Lankan commercial buildings. Moreover, this research identified the possible mechanisms for the better integration of smart features in commercial buildings. For better integration, it is required to plan it at the initial design stage of buildings, select reliable contractors, and raise awareness of management and client about smart features. Finally, a framework was developed for the better integration of smart features to minimise the energy consumption of Sri Lankan commercial buildings.

scholarly journals Dynamic data processing for building energy consumption

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farid Sartipi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Air Conditioners ◽  
Smart Building ◽  
Building Management ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Given

With the growing attention to smart buildings, local governments are seeking practical ways to optimize the energy consumption of commercial buildings. An ideal smart building is capable of monitoring its own energy consumption and adjusting the operation of electric devices, being lighting and air conditioners, based on the occupant behaviour. In this study, data had been obtained from the monitoring sensors in a commercial building located in the heart of Sydney from 2013 until 2020 on a 15-minute time intervals. The data derivation and analysis are intrinsically static at the moment which makes it difficult for building management to make instantaneous decision regarding the measures to be taken for a lower energy consumption. Using data analysis and visualization tools in Tableau, this study provides detailed insights about the trends in energy consumption in the given building. The outcomes facilitate the decision making for building management and can be seen as a milestone towards a dynamic optimization protocol in a bigger picture which is introduced in the second part of this study.

The Effects of Macroeconomic Factors on the Performance of Stock Market in Sri Lanka

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 33-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shohani Upeksha Badullahewage
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Stock Market ◽  
Exchange Rates ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Market Performance ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Macroeconomic Factors ◽  
Stock Market Performance

The main objective of this research is to analyze the vital impact of macroeconomic factors on the stock market performance in Sri Lanka. All the factors which have a direct impact on the working of the emerging stock market have hereby studied. The relationship between the pivotal factors such as inflation, gross domestic product, interest rates, and exchange rates has been properly conducted with the assistance of the indexes. The results of the analysis revealed that all these factors have an inseparable impact over the performance of the stock market and Sri Lankan stock market performance has eventually over gone through many ups and downs because of them as well. It has been revealed that among all the factors that have been discussed, inflation and exchange rates have comparatively higher effects on the stock market performance. It shows a fluctuation because of the unpredictable nature of these factors. Colombo Stock Exchange has seen a tremendous change in its performance over a period for which these factors have played a prominent as well as a vital role in it its functioning.

scholarly journals Role of Social Media in Shaping Local Youth Tourists' Behaviour Across the Sri Lankan Tourism Industry

2020 ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
H. Shamini
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
The People ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The Mind

The integration of social networking and new technologies has changed the way of communication and information sharing among the people, especially of young people is a fact. As well as, the development of Social Media (SM) has conveyed important changes in the behavioural pattern of tourists. Therefore, it is very essential to understand this new influential trending among the youth tourists, in order to accelerate the tourists’ arrival and contribute to the development of Sri Lanka tourism. Therefore, this research aims at providing an insight to the Tourism Industry in Sri Lanka with regards to how social media platforms influence youth tourists’ behavior. A sample of 103 youth tourists’ response attained through online. The data obtained from the online survey were analyzed with descriptive, reliability test, mean and regression analysis. Results from the survey have identified that Social Media does influence in the youth tourists’ behaviour.  In detail, eWOM and Online reviews/comments significantly influence in the behavior of youth tourists.  And also the study confirmed that in order to attract tourists to a destination mainly revolves in the ability to convey the information to create positive images in the mind of youth tourists via social media. Thereby this study has recommended many suggestions for the Tourism and authorities. Including tourist authority should make its social media pages more interesting, appealing, informative and interactive so the customers can enjoy their social media experiences and they could spread eWOM and online reviews. And also they need to focus on how to create a positive and satisfactory image to their social media users in many other ways.

scholarly journals An exploration of the feasibility of converting the New Zealand commercial building stock to be Net Zero Energy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shaan Cory
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Energy Models ◽  
Net Zero Energy ◽  
Net Zero

This thesis explores the feasibility of converting the current New Zealand commercial building stock to Net Zero Energy (NZE). The analysis presented is grounded in real building performance and construction information. The goal was to establish results that are as realistic as possible to actual building performance. The Net Zero Energy Building (Net ZEB) concept is one of many low energy building movements that respond to the issues of climate change and energy security. The Net ZEB concept strives to reduce demand for energy and then to offset any residual energy consumption with non-CO2 emitting renewable energy technologies. The (re-)design focus for Net ZEBs is to reduce annual energy consumption to be equal to or less than any generated renewable energy. This is an important concept since approximately 40 percent of all energy and emissions worldwide are building related. If all buildings were designed and operated to be NZE, the existing energy can be used by other sectors which will increase energy security. Conversely, reducing the fossil fuel CO2 producing component of the energy consumed by buildings has the benefit of negating building’s contribution to climate change. The Net ZEB concept assumes each building is grid-connected, and balances the energy taken from the grid against the energy put back into the grid over a year. This study exploits the available synergies of the grid connection to achieve NZE for the whole building stock. Thus each individual building does not need to be NZE at the site, but they act as a community to reach NZE collectively. Furthermore, any grid-tied renewable energy does not need to be offset, only the non-renewable portion. A NZE target was calculated to determine the percentage reduction in current energy consumption needed before the current commercial building stock could be considered NZE. It was found that a 45 percent reduction in primary energy would offset all non-renewable CO2 emitting energy supply currently consumed by the New Zealand commercial building stock. Previous studies assessing whether converting an entire stock of commercial buildings to NZE is possible used prototypical building energy models. Prototypical models represent a hypothetical average building and have many assumptions about the way a building is operated. This thesis develops a method that takes a representative sample of real commercial buildings and makes calibrated energy models that can be aggregated to represent energy consumption for all commercial buildings in New Zealand. The developed calibration method makes use of as-built building information and a standardised procedure for identifying the inaccurate model inputs which need to be corrected for a building energy model to be calibrated. To further base the process in reality, a set of Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) that had been implemented in real Net ZEBs worldwide was adopted for the proposed retrofits. These ECMs were combined into Net ZEB solution sets for retrofitting the aggregated commercial building models. Optimisation of the Net ZEB solution sets was performed on hundreds of models to maximise energy savings. It took over six months for all of the optimisations to be completed. This thesis demonstrates the estimated New Zealand commercial building stock’s energy consumption based upon the calibrated energy models was robust by comparing it to an external estimate. It shows that NZE can be achieved by applying well understood Net ZEB solution sets to the New Zealand commercial building stock. 96 percent of the NZE goal is attainable just through demand reduction without the use of onsite renewable energy generation. The additional four percent of reduction required to meet NZE is easily attainable with onsite renewable generation. Another benefit is that the retrofitted commercial buildings will provide improved thermal comfort for the occupants. Having established NZE was possible, this thesis concludes with an analysis of the broader implications of achieving the NZE goal. It identifies the next step would be to design a NZE commercial building stock that reduces the stresses on the existing energy infrastructure. The Solution Set adopted was not developed with the interaction of the building and electrical grid in mind. To have a practical implementation of NZE will require costing and community prioritisation. This would be the next phase of work assessing nationwide NZE retrofit.

Key performance indicators for measuring performance of facilities management services in hotel buildings: a study from Sri Lanka

Facilities ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Miyami Dasandara ◽  
Piumi Dissanayake ◽  
Devsayura Jude Fernando
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Performance Indicators ◽  
Key Performance Indicators ◽  
Study Data ◽  
Facilities Management ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Expert Interviews ◽  
Expert Survey ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Mixed Approach

Purpose The concept of facilities management (FM) has been acknowledged as a novel avenue brought in to ensure productivity and customer satisfaction in the Sri Lankan hotel industry. Accordingly, performance measurement (PM) has become a crucial entity, where key performance indicators (KPIs) have become the most important instruments of PM in determining how well these FM services are performing. Unfortunately, nowadays, the service quality of hotel buildings has significantly retreated due to the absence of a proper PM system with relevant KPIs. Thus, the purpose of this study was to identify relevant KPIs to measure the performance of the FM services in Sri Lankan hotel buildings. Design/methodology/approach A mixed approach was used to conduct this study. Data were gathered through expert interviews and an expert survey. The expert interviews were conducted to identify the relevancy of KPIs that are discovered through literature review to the Sri Lankan context, and the expert survey was conducted to identify their level of importance. Collected data were analysed using content and statistical data analysis methods. Findings Empirical findings revealed that a PM system with relevant KPIs can be identified as a crucial requirement for FM services in hotel buildings in Sri Lanka to meet the customer needs successfully. Adequate and relevant KPIs are significantly vital for an effective PM system for FM services. Thus, ultimately, 68 most important KPIs have been captured amongst the generally identified KPIs, which can be used in developing a proper PM system to measure the performance of FM services in hotel buildings. Originality/value The previous studies have just focused on the PM in FM services in a general manner where a significant dearth in existing knowledge can be identified when it comes to exploring relevant KPIs for an effective PM system to be implemented in hotel buildings in Sri Lanka to measure the performance of FM services. Accordingly, the current study unveils the most important KPIs, which can be used in measuring the performance of FM services in hotel buildings. The study recommends the use of a proper PM system with identified KPIs by respective industry practitioners to enrich the performance of FM services in hotel buildings in Sri Lanka and thereby achieve the ultimate goals successfully.

scholarly journals Application of DMAIC to improve energy consumption in a commercial building

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Kanyinda Kabuya
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Six Sigma ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Electrical Energy ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Total Consumption ◽  
Pareto Chart ◽  
Electrical Consumption

Improving energy use in a commercial building has become the subject of great importance in organizations worldwide. Improving energy usage refers to the efforts to reduce energy consumption. Reducing energy consumption in commercial buildings can be accomplished through continuous supervision using appropriate managerial techniques. Commercial companies are required to use energy more efficiently and participate in energy improvement. This study seeks to improve electrical energy consumption in commercial buildings by Analysing the electrical data consumption and identifying the factors that contribute to high consumption using Six Sigma DMAIC (Define-Measure- Analyse-Improve-Control) problem solving methodology. A case study was used to validate the DMAIC framework. Two years of electrical consumption data of a case study done from January 2018 to December 2019 was collected and analysed. The study revealed an average increment in energy consumption of 3.9 %. The outcomes using statistical Pareto chart showed that the boiler is the highest significant energy user in the building with 38.3% due; followed by the kitchen with 24.2 %, followed by DB A and lifts with 20,1 % and the rest with 17.37 %. After the campaign of DMAIC, there was a reduction of 6 % in boiler consumption which was 2.3 % reduction of total consumption of the month for the building. Therefore, the study successfully demonstrates how Six Sigma DMAIC methodology can be applied to improve electrical consumption in a commercial building and reduce its related costs.

scholarly journals ANALYSING THE GAP BETWEEN PREDICTED AND ACTUAL OPERATIONAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN BUILDINGS: A REVIEW

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Rajithan ◽  
◽  
D. Soorige ◽  
S.D.I.A. Amarasinghe ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Energy Savings ◽  
Building Design ◽  
Energy Performance ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Energy Simulation ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Performance Gap ◽  
Operational Energy ◽  
Significant Performance

Operational energy consumption in buildings has a crucial impact on global energy consumption. Nevertheless, significant energy savings can be achieved in buildings if properly designed, constructed, and operated. Building Energy Simulation (BES) plays a vital role in the design and optimisation of buildings. BES is used to compare the cost-effectiveness of energy-conservation measures in the design stage and assess various performance optimisation measures during the operational phase. However, there is a significant ‘performance gap’ between the predicted and the actual energy performance of buildings. This gap has reduced the trust and application of the BES. This article focused on investigating BES, reasons that lead to a performance gap between predicted and actual operational energy consumption of buildings, and the ways of minimising the gap. The article employed a comprehensive literature review as the research methodology. Findings revealed that reasons such as limited understanding of the building design, the complexity of the building design, poor commissioning, occupants’ behaviour, etc., influence the energy performance gap. After that, the strategies have been identified to minimise the energy performance gap such as proper commissioning, creating general models to observe occupants’ behaviour in buildings, and using the general models for energy simulation, ensuring better construction and quality through training and education, etc. Further, the findings of this study could be implemented by practitioners in the construction industry to effectively use energy simulation applications in designing energy-efficient and sustainable buildings.

scholarly journals A FRAMEWORK TO ENHANCE THE PRACTICE OF MAINTENANCE BUDGETING IN COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS IN SRI LANKA

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Rukanya ◽  
◽  
P. Sridarran ◽  
G. Mahedrarajh ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Business Performance ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Market Condition ◽  
Maintenance Cost ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Performance Improvements ◽  
Building Maintenance

Inadequate budget control is one of the major challenges that adversely affect the maintenance of a building. The cost of plant asset maintenance of the commercial building is a larger proportion of the overall cost of operation. It is important to allocate financial resources appropriately so that, before serious damage occurs, maintenance measures can be taken. Accordingly, a well-defined maintenance budget (MB) makes it possible to recognise opportunities for creating continuous business performance improvements within the financial constraints of a company. Although required building maintenance can be carried out successfully with an adequate budget, the budget is not well defined in current industrial practice and Sri Lanka is most likely dealing with the same problem. Thus, this study aimed to develop a framework to enhance the practice of a well-defined MB for commercial buildings in Sri Lanka. The qualitative approach was adopted to address this study. A comprehensive literature review was done and five case studies were performed using ten semi-structured interviews to collect the primary data. The interviewees were selected based on their knowledge in the field of maintenance cost planning. Data were analysed through content analysis using both manual and NVivo 12 software. The research finding revealed that prime barriers of prepare an accurate MB are poor planning of maintenance work and resources, faulty maintenance, changes in country market condition, and poor financial support. The key strategies to overcome the barriers are to select the right budget method, arise awareness of top management about building maintenance and avoid faulty maintenance.

Mitigation of challenges in sustaining green certification in the Sri Lankan hotel sector

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 515-527
Author(s):  
Chamali Bandara ◽  
D.M.P.P. Dissanayake ◽  
Gayani Karunasena ◽  
Nadun Madhusanka
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Design Stage ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Hotel Sector ◽  
Social And Environmental Responsibilities ◽  
Green Certification

Purpose The successful continuation of green certification in the Sri Lankan hotel sector is vital for tourism industry as well as the economy of the country as it balances the economic interests with social and environmental responsibilities. However, it has become an issue in the Sri Lankan hospitality and tourism industry to sustain green certification due to many challenges. The prevailing situation highlights the need of exploring long-term strategies to mitigate challenges in sustaining green certification which has not been researched to date. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to propose strategies to mitigate challenges in sustaining green certification in the hotel sector in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach In total, 3 hotels were selected as cases of the study and 12 semi-structured interviews were conducted with engineers, maintenance managers and supervisors, who are responsible for sustaining green certificates at such hotels. The collected data were subjected to cross-case analysis to determine challenges in sustaining green certification. The findings were analysed with the support of the QSR.NVivo version 11.0 computer software. Findings Challenges were identified in detail under five main categories. They are technical, managerial, political and legal, environment and biological and social and cultural. Such challenges include design and construction defects, use of poor quality building and other materials, improper maintenance practices, incomplete and unclear construction documents, plans and specifications, resource limitations, insufficient budget allocations, government intervention, legal constraints, lack of user awareness and natural environmental conditions. Finally, strategies to mitigate such challenges are proposed based on empirical research findings. Research limitations/implications Only the Green Globe certified hotels in Sri Lanka were selected considering their need to renew certification annually. Further, interviewees were selected mainly focusing on the operational phase of a building. Hence, the findings were mostly limited to the perceptions and knowledge areas of selected interviewees. This can be highlighted as a primary limitation of the research, where a further study should be carried out on the perceptions of design stage professionals incorporating design stage challenges and strategies into the study. Originality/value The proposed strategies can be pursued by hoteliers to mitigate challenges in sustaining green certification, which will ultimately facilitate to balance economic interests with social and environmental responsibilities.

scholarly journals An exploration of the feasibility of converting the New Zealand commercial building stock to be Net Zero Energy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Shaan Cory
Keyword(s):  
Renewable Energy ◽  
Energy Consumption ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Commercial Buildings ◽  
Commercial Building ◽  
Zero Energy ◽  
Building Stock ◽  
Energy Models ◽  
Net Zero Energy ◽  
Net Zero

This thesis explores the feasibility of converting the current New Zealand commercial building stock to Net Zero Energy (NZE). The analysis presented is grounded in real building performance and construction information. The goal was to establish results that are as realistic as possible to actual building performance. The Net Zero Energy Building (Net ZEB) concept is one of many low energy building movements that respond to the issues of climate change and energy security. The Net ZEB concept strives to reduce demand for energy and then to offset any residual energy consumption with non-CO2 emitting renewable energy technologies. The (re-)design focus for Net ZEBs is to reduce annual energy consumption to be equal to or less than any generated renewable energy. This is an important concept since approximately 40 percent of all energy and emissions worldwide are building related. If all buildings were designed and operated to be NZE, the existing energy can be used by other sectors which will increase energy security. Conversely, reducing the fossil fuel CO2 producing component of the energy consumed by buildings has the benefit of negating building’s contribution to climate change. The Net ZEB concept assumes each building is grid-connected, and balances the energy taken from the grid against the energy put back into the grid over a year. This study exploits the available synergies of the grid connection to achieve NZE for the whole building stock. Thus each individual building does not need to be NZE at the site, but they act as a community to reach NZE collectively. Furthermore, any grid-tied renewable energy does not need to be offset, only the non-renewable portion. A NZE target was calculated to determine the percentage reduction in current energy consumption needed before the current commercial building stock could be considered NZE. It was found that a 45 percent reduction in primary energy would offset all non-renewable CO2 emitting energy supply currently consumed by the New Zealand commercial building stock. Previous studies assessing whether converting an entire stock of commercial buildings to NZE is possible used prototypical building energy models. Prototypical models represent a hypothetical average building and have many assumptions about the way a building is operated. This thesis develops a method that takes a representative sample of real commercial buildings and makes calibrated energy models that can be aggregated to represent energy consumption for all commercial buildings in New Zealand. The developed calibration method makes use of as-built building information and a standardised procedure for identifying the inaccurate model inputs which need to be corrected for a building energy model to be calibrated. To further base the process in reality, a set of Energy Conservation Measures (ECM) that had been implemented in real Net ZEBs worldwide was adopted for the proposed retrofits. These ECMs were combined into Net ZEB solution sets for retrofitting the aggregated commercial building models. Optimisation of the Net ZEB solution sets was performed on hundreds of models to maximise energy savings. It took over six months for all of the optimisations to be completed. This thesis demonstrates the estimated New Zealand commercial building stock’s energy consumption based upon the calibrated energy models was robust by comparing it to an external estimate. It shows that NZE can be achieved by applying well understood Net ZEB solution sets to the New Zealand commercial building stock. 96 percent of the NZE goal is attainable just through demand reduction without the use of onsite renewable energy generation. The additional four percent of reduction required to meet NZE is easily attainable with onsite renewable generation. Another benefit is that the retrofitted commercial buildings will provide improved thermal comfort for the occupants. Having established NZE was possible, this thesis concludes with an analysis of the broader implications of achieving the NZE goal. It identifies the next step would be to design a NZE commercial building stock that reduces the stresses on the existing energy infrastructure. The Solution Set adopted was not developed with the interaction of the building and electrical grid in mind. To have a practical implementation of NZE will require costing and community prioritisation. This would be the next phase of work assessing nationwide NZE retrofit.

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