STUDY THE NEED OF BASELINE ENERGY USE BENCH MARKING OF BUILDINGS IN DIFFERENT CLIMATE ZONES OF INDIA

The aim of research is to identify a need of a baseline energy use for benchmarking the minimum energy performance of the buildings for different climate zones of India. Its objective is to provide information and create awareness among customers on energy performance so that consumers can make informed decisions while purchasing appliances, selecting the ECMs and in creating a sustainable home. This study will help in the identification of underperforming buildings to target for efficiency improvements, identify best practices from efficient buildings, set investment priorities, verify savings and prevent snapback, share and report performance, earn recognition, continuous monitoring and implement a comprehensive management program. There are rating system available in India i.e. BEE Star Labelling program and GRIHA Baseline Energy Use to support these requirements. However, there are some limitation in the terms of Climate Zones and Standardization. The baseline energy use differs with each other on a certain parameter, which can create a misinterpretation for the building owners to rely on any standard. There is a need of knowing the current status/performance of the building as comparison to the similar type of buildings in India in respective climate zones. There is a further need to getting recognized by the authority at national level providing the status of the building energy performance. Enormous studies have been made and have suggested to follow the best Energy Conservation Measures (ECM’s) in the buildings. However, there is no portal or tool which can guide what further energy performance is needed to choose the ECMs accordingly. There is an online portal called Energy Star Portfolio Manager in USA which looks closer to the need and for the same a research has been carried out including all the stakeholders, engineers, architects, consultants to come up with the need of online benchmarking tool, accessible for all the building holders. Further, the expertise of BEE Certified Energy Auditors and Energy Managers can be helpful in the identification of this eco system of energy use benchmarking for the different climate zones of India. KEYWORDS: Energy Use; Green Buildings; Climate Zones; Energy Performance Benchmarking; Energy Star Portfolio Manager

Energy Benchmarking And Energy Saving Assessment In High-Rise Multi-Unit Residential Buildings

The purpose of energy benchmarking is to promote efficient use of energy. Knowing that the energy used by a building is excessive is the first step in making positive changes. Based on an energy benchmark, one can estimate the potential in energy and cost savings when pursuing better performance. This thesis developed weather normalized energy benchmarking of 45 gas-heated high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Toronto. The weather normalized annual energy consumption (NAC) was calculated by the PRInceton Scorekeeping Method (PRISM). The NACs are in the range from 242 to 453 kWh/m The NACs, calculated by the simple ratio weather normalization (SRWN) method and ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Management (PM) method were comparable to PRISM results. However, the SRWN method tends to overestimate the energy saving by 23% while PM underestimates it by 21%.

Energy Benchmarking And Energy Saving Assessment In High-Rise Multi-Unit Residential Buildings

The purpose of energy benchmarking is to promote efficient use of energy. Knowing that the energy used by a building is excessive is the first step in making positive changes. Based on an energy benchmark, one can estimate the potential in energy and cost savings when pursuing better performance. This thesis developed weather normalized energy benchmarking of 45 gas-heated high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs) in Toronto. The weather normalized annual energy consumption (NAC) was calculated by the PRInceton Scorekeeping Method (PRISM). The NACs are in the range from 242 to 453 kWh/m The NACs, calculated by the simple ratio weather normalization (SRWN) method and ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Management (PM) method were comparable to PRISM results. However, the SRWN method tends to overestimate the energy saving by 23% while PM underestimates it by 21%.

Does Eco-Certification Correlate with Improved Financial Performance? Evidence From a Longitudinal Study in the US Hospital Industry

Health care-based negative production externalities, such as greenhouse gas emissions, underscore the need for hospitals to implement sustainable practices. Eco-certification has been adopted by a number of providers in an attempt, for instance, to curb energy consumption. While these strategies have been evaluated with respect to cost savings, their implications pertaining to hospitals’ financial viability remain unknown. We specify a fixed-effects model to estimate the correlation between Energy Star certification and 3 different hospitals’ financial performance measures (net patient revenue, operating expenses, and operating margin) in the United States between 2000 and 2016. The Energy Star participation indicators’ parameters imply that this type of eco-certification is associated with lower net patient revenue and lower operating expenses. However, the estimated negative relationship between eco-certification and operating margin suggests that the savings in operating expenses are not enough for a hospital to achieve higher margins. These findings may indicate that undertaking sustainable practices is partially related to intangible benefits such as community reputation and highlight the importance of government policies to financially support hospitals’ investments in green practices.

Influential factors to occupy green residential building among green building occupants

Green building has been proven having higher occupancy rate than conventional building. The occupancy rate of ENERGY STAR and LEED-certified green office building are 8% to 18% higher than conventional office building. Previous research has proved that occupants prefer to occupy green office building due to various green benefits. However, most of these researches were conducted on green office building. Therefore, this study is motivated to identify the influential factors for occupants to occupy green residential building. The aim of this study is to evaluate factors that influence occupants to occupy green certified residential building. 75 questionnaires were distributed among occupants of green certified residential building namely Molek Pine 4 and Ponderosa Lakeside Apartment in Johor Bahru. The results were analysed using frequency analysis. Location and good environment quality are the most significant factors that influence occupants to occupy the green certified residential building in Johor Bahru. This research is noteworthy for property industry players especially property developer in guiding the direction of green residential building development in accordance with occupants’ and market preferences.