Use of energy retrofits to reduce the energy demand of existing office buildings

Abstract

Continuous increase of energy demand is a common issue faced by people around the globe. Meanwhile, buildings have been identified as one of the major contributors for the ever-rising energy demand of the world. Consequently, buildings nowadays are built while giving more attention to the ways of reducing building energy demand. However, the existing buildings which are expected to occupy the majority of the total building stock for many years to come, are still being operated with a higher energy demand. Accordingly, building energy retrofits are identified as an efficient approach to reduce the energy demand of the existing buildings, and the aim of this research is to study the use of energy retrofits in office buildings of Sri Lanka. The research approach was predominantly quantitative, which was followed by three case studies. A thorough literature survey was carried out to identify the prevalent retrofit techniques and the practicable enablers to enhance the use of energy retrofits. Findings of the literature survey was validated by a pilot survey before carrying out the questionnaire survey. Subsequently, three case studies were conducted to determine the costs and benefits of implemented retrofit techniques. The results of the study showed that the use of energy retrofits in Sri Lankan office buildings sector is at a lower level. Further, the case study results depicted that the selected retrofit projects have generated significant energy savings which had led to better project feasibility. It was also established that the use of energy retrofits could be enhanced by implementing the identified enablers based on the perception of the building managers.