Stakeholder involvement and influence in addressing constraints in building energy data management in Sri Lanka: a social network analysis

Abstract

With the use of advanced technologies in buildings, a large amount of building energy data is gener-ated in buildings. However, the use of building energy data for decision-making in building energy management is still limited in developing countries like Sri Lanka due to a lack of proper building energy data management. Therefore, this study aims to identify the constraints in building energy data management in Sri Lanka and to study the level of influence and involvement of stakeholders in addressing those constraints using Social Net-work Analysis (SNA). First, constraints and stakeholders related to building energy data management were identified through a literature review. Most significant constraints in the Sri Lankan context were identified through expert interviews. Subsequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted to prepare the 2-mode matrix for SNA. Degree centrality, closeness, betweenness and eigenvector were used to analyze the level of influence and involvement of stakeholders in addressing constraints. According to the findings, lack of data availability, quality and reliability is the most considerable constraint in building energy data management in Sri Lanka. However, resistance to accepting challenges is the most influential constraint. Governments, energy suppliers, energy service providers, building construction companies, researchers, regulatory authorities, property man-agement companies and certification bodies are the most influential stakeholders. Findings of this study can be used by policymakers to prepare a governance structure of stakeholders in streamlining building energy man-agement. Further, the findings enable obtaining better collaboration and coordination among stakeholders in data-driven decision-making in building energy management.