Enhancing building energy data management in Sri Lanka: barriers, enablers, and strategic pathways

Abstract

With the use of advanced technologies in the construction sector, buildings are producing numerous heterogeneous energy data, enabling more informed decision-making in energy management. However, Building Energy Data Management (BEDM) is vital to extract valuable and meaningful insights from building energy data. Therefore, several countries and energy-related institutes promote and regulate building energy data disclosure and management, aiming for energy data collection and advanced analytics for national, regional and international sustainability goals. However, Sri Lanka is still lacking research in BEDM. Therefore, this research focus to study barriers, enablers and strategies to strengthen BEDM in Sri Lanka. Along with an intensive literature review, 8 expert interviews were conducted with the qualitative approach adopted in this study. The experts were selected through a purposive sampling method to obtain more relevant insights. According to the findings, BEDM in Sri Lanka is in a primitive stage requiring considerable attention to collect and analyse building energy data for national-level energy policy formulation. Lack of consistent and accurate energy data and legislative support are the key barriers identified. Energy policies, building energy ratings and higher tariff rates were identified as key enablers in BEDM in Sri Lanka. Further, 13 strategies to promote BEDM were suggested using both literature findings and expert opinions. Introducing energy benchmarks, data disclosure laws and a centralised data collection platform were identified as promising strategies to promote BEDM. The findings of this research would be beneficial for the policy makers to develop a strategic framework to streamline BEDM in Sri Lanka.