Implementing Energy Efficiency Standard in Buildings: Occupants Awareness and Challenges

There is an urgent need for the Malaysian building sector to reduce its energy consumption and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, in reaching Malaysia’s target in the reduction of 45% carbon emission by 2030 pledged to the United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change (UNFCCC). In proving Malaysia’s commitment to the United Nations, the 3rd biennial report to the UNFCCC has indicated several mitigation actions including executing the National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP), among others. NEEAP has targeted 5 key initiatives in which one of them identifies incorporating energy efficiency (EE) strategies in new buildings. Malaysian Standard MS 1525: 2019 for energy efficiency and use of renewable energy for non-residential buildings is a voluntary standard, providing the criteria and minimum standards for EE in the design of new buildings and retrofit of existing buildings. Recommended as a reference for stakeholders concerning EE in buildings, this study focuses on identifying the occupants’ awareness level and further elaborates on the challenges and strategies when the standard is imposed within their premises. The methodology applied was a quantitative study targeting employees as respondents in a city council. The findings from the questionnaire survey distributed will ascertain how the MS 1525: 2019 can help increase the level of awareness as well as identify the challenges and issues pertaining to the EE agenda and strategize the effective implementation of the standard. At the moment, EE regulation is limited and focuses on consumer consumption. Therefore, this study will propose recommendations extracted from the findings which would mainly focus on consumer awareness, towards the betterment of EE regulations in Malaysian buildings