Abstract:
The world is now experiencing a large environmental crisis, particularly buildings
contributing significantly to the problem. Hence, building energy demand has been
continuously growing in parallel with the rise in occupant energy demand. Smart
retrofitting has been highlighted as one of the most effective ways to reduce energy
consumption. However, the selection of suitable smart retrofits (SRs) has become a
challenging task, from a range of SRs. A qualitative research approach was used in this
research to identify relating to smart retrofits (SRs) for office buildings and establish
governing factors for their selection. Semi-structured expert interviews were conducted
to collect data related to SRs techniques, and content analysis was carried out to
establish governing factors for selection of each SR. Out of 18 identified SRs from
literature, fan cycling, ventilation control, and LED luminaires are the most
implemented retrofit technique during the operational stage of the office buildings in Sri
Lanka. Further, fan cycling, and ventilation controls were identified as commonly used
types. Those findings were used to develop the decision-making model. Although SRs
implementation is a comprehensive process, the recognized governing factors can be
used to select suitable forms and features of SRs based on proposed decision-making
model. This research further establishes metrics to benchmark the performance of SRs.
The proposed model and the metrics could be valuable tools for building owners and
facility managers to optimize facility operations.
