Implementing sustainability in existing building through retrofitting measures

Abstract

Energy is part of everyday lives and often taken for granted. Daily energy usage in existing building has produced vast amount of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and this contributes to major cause of climate change. Society today has become much too dependent on electrical devices and appliances without any regard that excessive energy consumption is threat to climate change. Malaysia has been progressively contributing efforts in tackling climate change and growth rate of GHG emission through promoting sustainable living and improving energy consumption in built-environment sector. The main driver in reducing energy consumption is by retrofitting existing building stocks in Malaysia. Excessive energy consumption in existing building is related to unethical behaviour of owner/tenants as the main consumer. Retrofitting the existing building is one of possible way in improving the energy efficiency. Thus, this report aims to reflect existing building stocks in Malaysia, factors that contribute to excessive energy consumption in existing building and understanding of retrofit concept. By the end of this report, retrofitting measures to improve energy efficiency in existing building are highlighted, including case study of successful retrofitting implementation at Perdana Putra, the Prime Minister's Office in Putrajaya. Implementation of effective and affordable retrofit measures help the existing building to depend less on energy usage, which lead to reduce national energy consumption.