Post on 06-May-2018
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UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
IMPACT OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN
COMMERCIAL OFFICE BUILDINGS
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY's HEAD OFFICE AND
THE VICTORIA TOWERS BUILDINGS IN UPPER HILL.
BY
Bebora Lewis Lauzi
BB66/28917/2009
COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE AND ENGINEERING
SCHOOL OF BUILT ENVIRONMENT
DEPARTMENT OF REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT
A Research project submitted in part fulfilment for a Bachelors degree in Quantity Surveying.
Nairobi, 2013
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DECLARATION
I, BEBORA LEWIS LAUZI, hereby declare that this research project is my own work and has
not been presented for the award of a degree in any other University.
Signature
Date:
This research project has been submitted for examination with my approval as a University of
Nairobi supervisor.
Arch. Peter Njeru
Signature
Date:
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to God for this far He has brought me.
This research project would not have been possible without the support of many people; I would
like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the people who have been
instrumental in the successful completion of this project.
My greatest appreciation and thanks to my supervisor, Mr. Peter Njeru for his valuable guidance,
advise encouragement and invaluable assistance which were abundantly helpful to the successful
completion of this project.
Thanks to the building/facility managers of Victoria towers and Coca-Cola company buildings
together with the occupants of the two buildings for allowing me to access information and
collect data relevant to undertake my research project.
To the BQS class of 2013, I'm grateful for being part of this brilliant and wonderful lot with a
special tribute to, G. Ndun’gu, P. Mvoi, A. Mweha, Z. Velji, K. Mugo, and D. Mwanyalo for the
much help and support they have offered; Academic wise, social wise, the laughter and the
brotherhood and most importantly for making my four years in campus easier, bearable and
memorable.
To all my friends within and without school and to A. Christabel I salute you and say thanks for
the much support and being there for me for the four years in school.
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DEDICATION
To my family at large, thank you all for "it takes a whole village to raise a child".
To my Mum, Caroline Bebora, Nana, Joyce Bebora, Uncle, Elijah Mbega and Aunt, Rehema for
the sacrifices you made to ensure I get the best and most basic of education, for this, I will be
forever grateful and thankful to God for you ALL.
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
UNEP : United Nations Environmental Programme
HVAC : Heating Ventilation and Air-Condition
US : United States
KWH : Kilo Watt Hour
MW : Mega Watts
KIPPRA : Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis
OAPEC : Organization for Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries
ERC : Energy Regulatory Commission
EU : European Union
KENGEN : Kenya Electricity Generating Company
SPSS : Statistical Product and Service Solution
UNDP-SBCI : United Nations Development Programme or Sustainable and Climate
Initiative
BMS : Building Management System
EIA : Energy Information Administration
UPS : Uninterrupted Power Supply
CIPEC : Canadian Industry Programme for Energy Conservation
CBD : Central Business District
NCBD : Nairobi Central Business District
TSC : Teachers Service Commission
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ABSTRACT
Energy is one of the main drivers of all natural and man-made processes. Energy as a resource is
the most paramount to maintenance of life on earth and is behind all production, manufacturing,
industrial and commercial processes which have a direct impact on human lives. Energy demand
has been on the rise over the years while supply has been on a static state, the rate of increase of
demand for energy has been greater than the rate of increase of supply of energy. As a result
there has been an increase in the cost of energy.
With increase in commercial development in the Kenyan construction industry, more and more
energy is needed on the backdrop of high cost of energy. In view of this, there is need for
managing energy use in the commercial building so as to reduce the buildings energy
consumption.
The objective of this research study was to establish the relationship between energy
management and energy consumption in commercial office buildings, identify the energy aspect
that has the largest potential of reducing energy consumption in commercial office building and
identify the energy management techniques most suitable in office buildings. To achieve this
comparative study approach was adopted in Coca-Cola Company building and Victoria Towers
in upper hill.
From analysis of the data collected a positive relationship was established, artificial lighting and
telecommunication and office equipment have the largest potential in reducing energy
consumption and use automatic systems was the most suitable energy management techniques in
office buildings.
The study recommended that building owners, managers and organizations should incorporate
energy management practices, conduct periodic energy awareness and energy use training
seminars and ensure energy audits are conducted to assess the energy consumption of each
system and results of the audit made available to all building occupants.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION...................................................................................................................... ii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................................... iii
DEDICATION .........................................................................................................................iv
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................... v
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................................... vii
LIST OF TABLES ...................................................................................................................xi
LIST OF PLATES ................................................................................................................. xii
LIST OF CHARTS ............................................................................................................... xiii
CHAPTER ONE: PROBLEM STATEMENT ........................................................................ 1
1.0 Study Background. .............................................................................................................. 1
1.1.0 Problem statement ............................................................................................................ 2
1.2.0 Research Objectives ......................................................................................................... 5
1.3.0 Research Hypothesis ........................................................................................................ 6
1.4.0 Limitations of the Study ................................................................................................... 6
1.5.0 Assumptions of the Study ................................................................................................. 7
1.6.0 Significance of the Study .................................................................................................. 7
1.7.0 Research Methodology ..................................................................................................... 8
1.7.1 Sources of Data ...........................................................................................................8
1.7.2 Data Analysis and Presentation....................................................................................8
1.8.0 Definition of terms ............................................................................................................ 8
1.8.1 Energy management ....................................................................................................8
1.8.2 Primary energy sources ...............................................................................................8
1.8.3Secondary energy sources.............................................................................................9
1.8.4 Energy performance in a building ................................................................................9
1.9.0 Organization of the Study ................................................................................................ 9
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW........................................................................ 10
2.0.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 10
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2.1.0 Commercial building and how they use energy. ........................................................... 10
2.2.0 Energy use determinants in buildings ........................................................................... 15
2.2.1 Heating Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC).................................................... 16
2.2.2 Lighting .................................................................................................................... 17
2.2.2.1 Natural lighting .............................................................................................................. 18
2.2.2.2 Artificial lighting. ........................................................................................................... 19
2.2.3 Vertical transporting .................................................................................................. 20
2.2.4 Office and Telecommunications Equipments ............................................................. 21
2.2.5 Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 22
2.3.0 Energy Policy in Kenya .................................................................................................. 22
2.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 22
2.3.2 The energy (Energy Management) Regulations, 2011. ............................................... 23
2.3.3 The sessional paper No. 4 of 2004 ............................................................................. 24
2.3.4 The energy Act, 2006 ................................................................................................ 25
2.3.5 The national energy policy, of 2012 ........................................................................... 26
2.4.0 Energy Management Programmes ................................................................................ 28
2.4.1 Making commitments. ............................................................................................... 28
2.4.2 Assessment of performance. ...................................................................................... 29
2.4.3 Setting goals. ............................................................................................................. 30
2.4.4 Creation of an action plan. ......................................................................................... 30
2.4.5 Implementation of the action plan. ............................................................................. 31
2.4.6 Evaluating progress. .................................................................................................. 31
2.4.7 Recognition of Achievement ..................................................................................... 32
2.5.0 Energy Management Opportunities .............................................................................. 32
2.5.1 Lighting System ........................................................................................................ 32
2.5.2 Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC) ................................................... 33
2.5.3 Measuring, Metering and Monitoring ........................................................................ 34
2.5.4 Challenges ................................................................................................................. 35
2.5.4.1 Principle agent Barriers .................................................................................................. 36
2.5.4.2 Information or transaction cost barriers ........................................................................... 36
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2.5.4.3 Large externality cost barriers ......................................................................................... 36
CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY ............................... 38
3.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 38
3.1 Research Approach ........................................................................................................... 38
3.2 Research Process and Design ............................................................................................ 39
3.3 The Area of study .............................................................................................................. 41
3.3.1 Case study I: Coca-Cola Company head office Building. ........................................... 42
3.3.2 Case study II: Victoria Towers Building. ................................................................... 45
3.4 Sources of Data .................................................................................................................. 47
3.4.1 Primary Data ............................................................................................................. 47
3.4.2 Secondary Data ......................................................................................................... 47
3.5 Data collection ................................................................................................................... 48
3.6 Population .......................................................................................................................... 49
3.7 Data analysis and presentation ......................................................................................... 49
3.8 Sampling Design ................................................................................................................ 49
3.9 Summary ........................................................................................................................... 51
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION......................................... 52
4.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 52
4.1 Response to Questionnaires administered to the population under Study ...................... 52
4.2 Coca-Cola Building ........................................................................................................... 53
4.3 Victoria Towers ................................................................................................................. 53
4.4 Sources of energy............................................................................................................... 54
Source: Author’s analysis .................................................................................................. 55
4.5 Installed energy aspects in the office buildings ................................................................ 55
4.6 How often are energy systems maintained ....................................................................... 58
4.7 Energy management programme, energy team, energy policy and integration of energy
management objectives with the organizations objectives .................................................... 59
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4.8 Energy Audits .................................................................................................................... 59
4.9 Monitoring and control ..................................................................................................... 61
4.11 Problems experienced during the study survey.............................................................. 64
4.12 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 65
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIOND .................................. 66
5.0 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 66
5.2 Summary of the Findings .................................................................................................. 66
5.3 Hypothesis testing .............................................................................................................. 69
5.4 Recommendations Conclusions ........................................................................................ 70
5.5 Proposed Areas of Further study...................................................................................... 71
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................. xiv
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE TO BUILDING MANAGERS ................................. xviii
APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE TO BUILDING OCCUPANTS ................................ xxiii
APPENDIX 3: PERSONAL RESEARCH LETTER......................................................... xxvii
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LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: VICTORIA TOWERS ................................................................................................................................. 48 TABLE 2: COCA-COLA BUILDING ........................................................................................................................... 48 TABLE 3: RESPONSE TO QUESTIONNAIRES ADMINISTERED TO SAMPLE UNDER STUDY ............................................... 52 TABLE 4 COCA-COLA RESPONSES .......................................................................................................................... 53 TABLE 5: VICTORIA TOWERS RESPONSES ................................................................................................................ 54 TABLE 6: AGE OF THE BUILDING AND MONTHLY ENERGY BILLS ............................................................................... 57 TABLE 7: CONDUCTING ENERGY AUDITS ................................................................................................................ 59 TABLE 8: FREQUENCY OF CONDUCTING AUDITS ...................................................................................................... 60 TABLE 9: EFFECTIVENESS OF ENERGY AUDITS TO ENERGY MANAGEMENT ................................................................ 60 TABLE 10: MONITORING AND CONTROL OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION ......................................................................... 61 TABLE 11: METERING AND MONITORING ............................................................................................................... 62 TABLE 12: METHODS OF MONITORING AND CONTROL .............................................................................................. 62 TABLE 13: INSTALLED OCCUPANCY SENSORS ......................................................................................................... 62 TABLE 14: IMPACT OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT IN ENERGY CONSUMPTION ................................................................ 63
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LIST OF PLATES PLATE 1: ARIEL OBLIQUE VIEW OF THE STUDY AREA ............................................................................................... 41 PLATE 2: PICTORIAL OF COCA COLA BUILDING ....................................................................................................... 43 PLATE 3: LOCATION OF VICTORIA TOWERS ........................................................................................................ 45 PLATE 4: PICTORIAL OF VICTORIA TOWERS ............................................................................................................ 46
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LIST OF CHARTS
CHART 1: ENERGY SOURCES .................................................................................................................................. 54 CHART 2: DAILY ENERGY USE................................................................................................................................ 55 CHART 3: MOST USED ENERGY ASPECTS................................................................................................................. 56 CHART 4: BUILDING ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ........................................................... 56 CHART 5: HOW OFTEN ARE ENERGY SYSTEMS MAINTAINED .................................................................................... 58 CHART 6: IMPACT OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT IN BUILDING ENERGY CONSUMPTION .................................................. 64
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CHAPTER ONE: PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.0 Study Background.
Energy is one of the main drivers of all natural and man-made processes. Energy is most
paramount to maintenance of life on earth and is behind all production, manufacturing, industrial
and commercial processes which have a direct impact on human lives. These energy needs have
been supplied over the years by various sources including but not limited to; coal, wood, peat
and fossil fuel as the ancient sources; wind power, hydro-power, natural gas, solar power
amongst others as the modern sources which mainly produce energy inform of electricity.
The main sources of energy in Kenya are wood fuel, petroleum and electricity which account for
68 per cent, 22 per cent and 9 per cent of the total energy consumption in Kenya respectively and
other sources accounting for less than 1 per cent (Ministry of energy 2004). Electricity and
petroleum are mainly used for commercial purposes with wood fuel used for domestic purpose in
households and specifically in rural areas, petroleum fuels being the most important source of
commercial energy in Kenya.
Energy is mostly consumed in the transport, commercial and industrial sector, and the major
consumers of electricity are commercial and domestic households (Onyango, Njeri, & Munga
2011). This study is on energy as a whole which in essence is a broad and expansive topic in
relation to the energy sectors globally and in Kenya. However, the study narrows down and
focuses on electricity and petroleum sources of energy, which are the most used sources and how
best they can be utilised in commercial office buildings at an optimal cost in the backdrop of
scarcity and depletion and the health risks arising from the continued use of these energy
sources.
The use of the aforementioned energy sources throughout the industrial revolution has resulted to
depletion in volume of these sources making them scarce against the increased need for energy
in urbanisation and industrial development. In Kenya there has been a growing demand for more
energy due to increased population and economic growth. The construction industry has been on
a boom with developments due to the need for more residential houses and commercial buildings
to march up with the ever rising demand as a result of population growth.
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The main sources of energy in Kenya are petroleum products and electricity; these through their
use in the building have had a major contribution to global warming and climate change. The
United Nations Environmental Programme ((UNEP) 2009) contends that, 'buildings are
responsible for more than 40 per cent of global energy used and as much as one third of global
greenhouse gas emissions both in developed and developing countries'.
This alarming statistic calls for need to reduce the use of petroleum products and thermal
electricity, which has proven impossible as more petroleum products are being used to
supplement the ever growing demand for energy. This evident in Kenya as thermal electricity
generation has been the alternate choice to supplement the increasing energy demand with very
little efforts on use of renewable energy sources.
1.1.0 Problem statement
Energy efficiency of a building is dependent on the performance of the total building system
which according to global statistics consumes more than 40 per cent of the final energy
consumed (UNEP 2009). This trend is similar in Kenya, but with a rapid rate in increase of the
building’s energy performance associated with increased use of hydro-electric energy in almost
all energy aspects of a building Vis a vie use of renewable energy sources (wind, solar and
natural gas).
A great proportion of energy is consumed during a buildings operational phase, mainly in the
following building aspects; Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning(HVAC), water heating,
lighting, entertainment and telecommunication, with office buildings accounting for 19 per cent
of all energy consumed by buildings due to having the second largest number of buildings and
floor space (Seppo 2004).
The need for energy has increased in Kenya, and the consumption of energy has been on the rise.
Statistics indicate that the demand for energy in Kenya has gradually been increasing whilst the
supply of energy has been on a rather static state. Energy demand is projected to rise; electricity
demand is projected to increase in 2013/14 with an annual growth rate of 5.6 percent from
2003/04 which translates to an increase in the peak demand to 1421MW (Mega Watts) in
2013/14, from 821MW in 2003/04 (Ministry of energy 2004).
Electricity tariffs in Kenya have been on a rise; in 2008 it was US Cents 9.4 per kilowatt hour
(kWh). This was higher than that of South Africa US Cents 6.6 per Kwh and Egypt, US Cents 3
per KWh which are the major economies in Africa who have achieved an energy demand and
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supply balance (Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA) 2010). The
total electricity consumption registered a growth of 9 per cent from 5,754.7 Giga Watts hour
(GWh) in 2010 to 6,273.6GWh in 2011 (Kenya economic survey 2012).
It is apparent that for the foreseeable future, electricity tariffs will continue to rise due to the
erratic weather patterns caused by climate change. Kenya depends mostly on hydro-electric
energy, decrease in the amount of rainfall and prolonged draught periods has led to reduced
amount of rainfall, resulting to a decrease in generation capacity and thus making transmission
cost higher, which in turn has to be transferred to the energy consumers.
The oil crisis of 1973 and 1979 caused by a peak petroleum production in the United States of
America and the Iranian revolution respectively caused a stagnant economic growth in many
countries as oil prices raised. The imposed embargo on oil exportation to the US by the
Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) further worsened the situation by
causing an artificial fuel shortage leading to high fuel prices globally.
Kenya imports all its petroleum products, shocks in the global oil prices has a damning effect to
the economy and the cost of energy. Despite the concerted efforts by the government to regulate
the energy sector, the pump prices for petroleum products have been on a rather upward trend
due to high international prices coupled with a weakening Kenya shilling which contributed to
high prices locally (Economic survey 2012). The 2008/2012 global recession and the 2007/2008
post election violence in Kenya further worsened the situation by a sharp increase in oil prices
which in turn had its own impact to the economy as a whole.
The supply chain of petroleum products from the refinery at the Kipevu oil facility in Mombasa
is via pipeline, railway tankers or road tankers is a major setback. The pipeline is considered the
fastest and safest means of getting the products from Mombasa to the hinterland but does not get
the products to the retail outlets. This creates an incomplete supply, which, calls for the need to
have road tankers to supply the oil to retailers in a bid to complete the supply chain. This as a
result leads to high cost in transporting petroleum products to end users thus high retail prices as
evidenced by varying oil pump prices in various parts of the country. According to the Energy
Regulatory Commission (ERC) (August 2012), Maximum retail pump prices of petroleum per
litre of Super petrol; in Mombasa was Ksh.103.25; in Nairobi was Ksh.106.48; and in Nakuru
was Ksh.107.1.
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With all these stated, the demand for energy in Kenya is increasing by day due to population
growth and an increasing need of energy for commercial, industrial and transportation purposes
while the supply of energy has been on a rather static state. Buildings as part of the country’s
infrastructure and specifically commercial office buildings are being constructed as a key
element of achieving Kenya’s vision 2030.
As stated earlier, buildings consume 40 per cent of the final energy; this is expected to rise as
the numbers of buildings are increasing. In addition, the building code states out some
requirements for commercial office buildings so as to achieve a level of functionality and
comfort which have an effect to the amount of energy a building consumes.
Energy conservation and operating cost of a building is influenced by the design stage decision
(Ntaragui 1993 & Asuma 2008). The increased culture of blind importation of designs by
building designers is however rampant in Kenya. Cities in the developing world have attracted a
large assortment of western-style office and residential buildings built with little attention to the
often tropical climate in these developing countries (Flavin C 1980). He further observes that
most of the buildings require electricity-intensive mechanical cooling systems designed in the
west.
Office buildings do not utilize the design parameters on energy use, this necessitates the use of
mechanical methods of air conditioning, ventilating and lighting up building spaces during the
day. This results to unnecessary use of energy thereby increasing the energy consumption of a
building which as consequence leads to high cost of energy in the building.
Design if well incorporated can reduce energy consumption on new buildings; however, it’s
redundant on existing buildings built without the consideration of energy efficiency. Unless the
buildings are retrofitted to be energy efficient which is a very expensive and an uneconomical
exercise, energy management proves to be the best and economical alternative.
Most office buildings in Nairobi were built in the late 80’s and early 90’s without energy
efficiency aspects; therefore unless their gluttonous fuel appetites are curtailed they will continue
to consume more energy throughout their 50 plus years lifespan and increase on fuel
consumption in buildings as the number of new energy efficient office buildings represent a
small percentage compared to the existing office building stock. Rudin A (cited in Flavin C,
1980) pointed out in his analysis of 45 years of U.S energy consumption that, “when we were
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less efficient we used less energy”. In Kenya and the world over, it’s been a trend to use more
and more energy to make life better and comfortable in buildings in bid to achieve efficiency.
The design parameters on energy use (Floor area, Perimeter/Floor area ratio, and glazed area,
Height of building, perimeter and shading devices) have been proved to have a positive and a
linear relationship to energy use (Ntaragui 1993). Design can try and reduce energy use only if
it’s well articulated and incorporated during the design stage but not sufficient. Buildings whose
design and occupancy behaviours are not energy efficient and in view of the alarming rate of
increasing energy cost and energy consumption in buildings in Kenya, the highly conservative
nature of building design in the construction industry as a whole makes energy management and
need for energy efficient buildings of utmost relevance in scaling down of energy consumption
in Buildings.
According to the 2009 European Union’s (EU); Energy performance of buildings directive (cited
in, Heng 2003) asserts; “energy consumption is not affected by not just how buildings are
designed, but how they are built, commissioned, and used”. The one factor that, more than any
other determines energy consumption in a building is how it is used (Spielvogel1976). He further
argues that how it is used has more impact than the type or capacity of the energy appliances in a
building.
Energy use in buildings has been considered as a social problem rather than a technical one and
usage of energy is grounded in habits, practices and norms (Janda, 2009). In office buildings
space heating, ventilation and air conditioning, lighting, vertical transportation,
telecommunication and running other office equipments are the main uses of energy. There are
new energy efficient technology fittings to provide the stated office energy needs but according
to Spielvogel (1976), it is the people who occupy a building that place the demand on systems
that uses energy and that it is the hours of operation of the energy systems and components that
are the major determinants of energy consumption.
1.2.0 Research Objectives
This research is guided by the following objectives:-
1. Establish the relationship between energy management and energy consumption in
commercial office buildings.
2. Identify the energy aspect that has the largest potential of reducing energy consumption
in commercial office building.
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3. Identify the energy management technique most suitable in office buildings.
1.3.0 Research Hypothesis
Ho (Null hypothesis);
“Energy management practices have no effect on the energy consumption in commercial office
buildings”
HI (Alternative hypothesis)
“Energy management practices has an effect on energy consumption in commercial office
buildings”
1.4.0 Limitations of the Study
This research study like any other study has not fall short of limitations ranging from data
collection, sampling of the population and many more.
This research study has been hindered by the vast nature of the field of study; Energy, which has
a lot of sectors in it, therefore the study focused and narrowed down to the main sources of
energy in office buildings which are; Hydro-electric power, thermal power generated by Kenya
Electricity Generating Company Limited(KENGEN) and supplied by The Kenya power
company and On-site oil generated electricity in buildings used during power blackouts which
form the main energy sources in commercial office buildings in Kenya. The accuracy of the data
and views gathered from office building managers and from relevant energy reports and research
findings.
Another study limitation was associated to sampling of an appropriate sample for the study,
because of the expansive nature of upper hill commercial district in regards to office buildings
arising from the financial resources necessary to undertake this research, as a lot of certification,
licensing and movement from one office building to another and to school was required during
the research undertaking period. Therefore this study focuses on comparing the impact of energy
management in the Coca-cola Company Head Office and the Victoria Towers in Upper Hill.
The study will also be limited by the selection of office buildings from all commercial buildings
in the area of study, knowing hospitals, shopping mall and many more falls under this category
of commercial buildings. The rationale behind the choice of upper hill is; majority of the
buildings are put up for office use. Nevertheless, with the various building uses, the researcher
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has tried to minimize on the effects of the aforementioned limitations to ensure that the research
findings will be purely on merit and not biased.
1.5.0 Assumptions of the Study
This researcher has made some assumptions to increase the chance of the study to be relevant
and objective centred. These assumptions to be made are;
1. All buildings in this area of study use hydro-electricity and thermal oil generated energy
for day to day functions.
2. Supply of energy in the area of study is expected to be constant without electricity
outages; in case of an outage there are backup generators to supplement the hydro
electricity.
3. All data to be collected the different interviewees will be assumed to be up to date, true
and accurate.
4. There is a need to reduce energy consumption in commercial office buildings.
1.6.0 Significance of the Study
This study seeks to establish the relationship between a building energy consumption pattern,
building energy aspects and how energy management can be adopted in office buildings to play
as an ex-checker in the amount of energy consumed and as a consequence reduce the building’s
energy consumption levels.
The study findings will assists building managers, landlords and tenants to understand how a
building consumes energy through the activities that the buildings occupants undertake on a
daily basis and how well the energy use can be managed and optimized in order to achieve
energy efficiency in office buildings.
The study also seeks to identify the energy management techniques and practices available, their
applicability to each building energy aspect and the importance of energy management tools are
to building managers, landlords and tenants of both existing and new office buildings.
Although studies reflects that up to 90 percent of all energy consumed in a building is
determined at the design stage of construction (Watson, D 1979), the total potential for
improvement is limited in the scope of existing office buildings forming the majority of
buildings in the study area and the occupants behaviour towards energy use.
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1.7.0 Research Methodology
1.7.1 Sources of Data
This study employs both primary and secondary methods of data collection.
The study is based on a sample of two office buildings. The primary data will be collected using
survey questionnaire to both office building managers and occupants. The survey questionnaires
are submitted to the respective respondent and then collected at a later agreed date for analysis.
Energy consumption data is obtained from the two building managers.
Secondary data on energy demand and supply in Kenya and the energy consumption in office
buildings will be obtained from books, unpublished thesis, journals, news paper articles and
unpublished online resources.
1.7.2 Data Analysis and Presentation
The study will make use of the available data analysis and presentation tools. The SPSS-PC
statistical analysis programme and Microsoft Excel are used to analyse the data.
The descriptive and inferential analysis is employed to the sample data collected from the field
study with presentation done inform of simple pie charts, histogram, distribution diagrams and
bar graphs. The descriptive analysis of data is dedicated to finding and determining the mean,
maximum, minimum and the modes for all independent and dependent variables of the samples
collected.
1.8.0 Definition of terms
1.8.1 Energy management
This is a term that has a number of meanings, but the researcher mainly concerned with the one
that relates to saving energy in businesses, public-sector/government organizations, office
buildings and homes.
This is the process of monitoring, controlling, and conserving energy in a building or
organization.
1.8.2 Primary energy sources
This is the gross calorific value of fossil fuels, coal, oils, and natural gas or the equivalent of
nuclear and hydro-electricity.
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1.8.3Secondary energy sources
This is the energy which is contained in coal, gas, coke, electricity or any other form of energy
manufactured from primary energy source.
1.8.4 Energy performance in a building
This refers to the amount of energy consumed, or estimated to be consumed, to meet the demand
of energy required with the standard use of the building. This may amount to other things
including the energy aspects; lighting, hot water heating, cooling, ventilation or lighting.
1.9.0 Organization of the Study
This study is organized in five chapters;
Chapter one briefly introduces the background of the study, states out the problem, study
objectives, the research hypothesis and limitations of the study, assumptions made in the study,
significance of the study and the methodology employed to the study.
The second chapter discusses theoretical literature and framework of the study, provides a review
of the studies of office building energy performance. Energy demand and supply is discussed,
energy use in buildings by different building energy aspects, energy management policy and the
management techniques applicable in buildings.
The third chapter discuses the research design and methodology adopted in the research study,
includes a brief introduction to the chapter, the research approach and research process and
design adopted, a review of the area of study, the sources of data, the data collected, the
population and a brief of how data will be analysed and presented.
The fourth chapter sets out the data analysis and its presentation using both descriptive and
inferential statistics analysis. The fifth chapter discusses the conclusions and recommendations
based on the research findings of this study.
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CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.0.0 Introduction
This chapter excels to provide a critical and an in-depth review of how commercial office
buildings use energy on day-to-day functions, the various building energy aspects that determine
the amount of energy a building consumes and the extent to which building occupants impose
demand for energy as opposed to energy design aspects. The chapter further reviews the various
energy policies in Kenya and energy management techniques available, their applicability to the
various ways commercial office buildings use energy and how best the techniques can be used
on the local scenario.
2.1.0 Commercial building and how they use energy.
Commercial buildings include all buildings put to use for both public and private office use,
retail and wholesale shops, hotels and motels, hospitals and nursing homes, schools and colleges,
warehouses, recreational, cultural and other institutions and are mainly used by utility companies
and include the “commercial customer” class (Dublin1976).
Waide, Thorne & Hinge (2007) reiterates that the commercial building sector includes a wide
range of buildings, from high rise office and hotel buildings in city centres to large shopping
malls, to small buildings spread out throughout the periphery of the cities and towns.
According to the U.S Department of energy (2008), the commercial sector is heterogeneous than
the residential building, encompassing hospitals, schools, offices, houses of worship, lodging,
and the retail sector with its box stores, enclosed malls, strip malls, grocery stores and fast food
sit-down restaurants. It further stresses that each of these commercial sub-sectors is unique in its
market structure, energy use, and intensity, and in the set of decision makers involved in design
and construction projects and that the two largest energy-using sectors are offices and retail.
Making buildings energy efficient has been on the agenda of many energy experts, construction
industry players and stakeholders on the backdrop of high costs of energy as a result of
inadequate and unreliable supply of energy. The building sector is the largest consumer of
energy globally, consumes approximately 40% of total energy (UNEP 2009). In the last two
decades global energy consumption has grown dramatically by 49% and the current prediction
shows a global annual increasing trend of averagely 2% in energy consumption (Perez-Lombardi
11
et al 2008). In the building sector, residential buildings consume the largest portion, followed by
the commercial buildings and then industrial buildings.
The massive growth of new commercial buildings, more specifically office buildings and the
inefficiencies of the existing building stoke, has exerted pressure on the demand for more energy
thereby causing an imbalance in the supply-demand chain and as a consequence the prices of
energy tariffs has been rising gradually over time. Commercial office buildings are mostly high
rise buildings with the energy requirements within the building increasing with time as stated
earlier due to the shift from manufacturing to service and the greater need for comfort in the
offices which results to use of mechanical systems to compensate the less selective performance
of the skin.
The energy consumption during the operational phase of a building depends on a wider range of
interrelated factors, United Nations Development programme for Sustainable and Climate
Initiative (UNDP-SBCI 2009) points out; climate and location, level of demand, supply and
source of energy, function and use of the building, building design and construction materials
and the level of income and behaviour of its occupants as the main factors. Stein (1976)
identifies physical design solutions and the methods of which the building is put to use for are
the main factors that determine energy consumption.
Energy use in commercial buildings is complex to understand due to the wide range factors,
some being the varying building uses, ownership, variations of size and complexity of energy
factors and to some extent the location of a building evidenced by the fact that commercial
buildings in the rural areas typically are simple and use less energy as compared to commercial
buildings in urban and metropolitan areas.
In urban areas and cities in Kenya there are similar kind of activities carried out on an equally
effective or ineffective way in commercial buildings that have been built more than 50 years
apart with very little consideration on design for energy use, therefore the gluttonous nature of
the old buildings is still being tolerated.
Different building types have characteristic energy consumption patterns regardless of the
design, façade and materials used for construction and there exist an even wider difference in
energy consumption for buildings within the commercial buildings sub-sector. Hospitals for
example tend to use more energy as compared to commercial office buildings, particularly
because of the functions the building is put to use for and the operational period. Hospitals
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operate on a 24 hour basis daily and commercial office buildings are mostly used during the day,
a maximum of 16 hours a day (Stein, 1976).
According to Spielvogel (1976), how energy is used is; the one factor that more than any other
factor determines energy consumption of a building; has more impact than the type or capacity
of the Heating, ventilation and Air-conditioning system (HVAC), boilers, chillers, energy source,
how much glass, insulation and lighting a building has. He further argues that the people who
occupy the building are the ones imposing the demand on the systems that uses energy, hours of
operation of the systems and components that are the major determinants of energy consumption,
which means it is what runs most of the time and typically at full load.
Spielvogel (1976) further points out that comparison on the basis of installed capacities of
HVAC, lighting, Vertical transportation and office and telecommunication equipments can be
misleading because, the quantity of energy used is not necessarily to either design load of
installed equipments capacities. Most energy use in buildings occurs when outdoor temperatures
are moderate meaning the electrical and mechanical systems used in buildings operate at half
load most of the time. These systems are designed to be efficient when operating at full load.
Most of the times moderate weather conditions prevail, thereby most of the energy is consumed
during this condition, with only a small fraction of energy used during extreme weather
conditions.
Building designers and building owners are mainly concerned with the efficiency of the
mechanical and electrical installations are during extremes, Watson (1976). The extremes occur
in a very short time during the year that the designer and the owners concerns of mechanical
efficiency at extremes results to wastage of energy. Energy waste in the building sector has
obvious economic impact to mostly building owners and beyond, it has aggravates indirect
health and environmental borne costs to the future generation (UNDP-SBCI, 2009).
Most building occupants have little or no information about the energy saving potentials of the
building they live in or occupy, if available there is always a tendency of or the “DON'TCARE”
attitude amongst building users specifically in commercial office building used by companies
and organizations and that it is not the individual who will bear the energy cost but the
organization one is working for. Most commercial buildings are managed centrally through
Building Management Systems (BMS) and the employers pay the bills. The occupants are not
involved and aware of the consequences of their behaviours.
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Ideally the BMS should be capable of communicating with the occupants in sustainable
commercial buildings, question about their comfort levels and adjust the systems configuration
based on their preferences. There are some situations and circumstances where the occupant
comfort contradicts with the goal of reducing building energy consumption, and modification of
occupant’s energy related behaviours may increase building's energy efficiency. Farrokh et al
(2012) in his papers states that BMS should have the capability of providing building occupants
with energy related information and any suggestion s that can result to building energy
consumption.
The importance of good husbandry is it in residential buildings and homes or in commercial
buildings and at workplace has been amply and overly demonstrated. Courtney (1976) affirms
that in many instances significant energy saving can be done with little or no change in the
environmental and at a little cost, other than the building user paying cautious attention to
avoiding wasteful uses of energy. In the context, considerable importance to the dissemination of
more, and above all better, information to energy consumers is attached to.
Energy use is very important enough to be considered as much as a criterion in the space
allocation and organization of a building during design. This means much attention is paid to
spaces that have only part time use or occupancy which include, in commercial buildings;
boardrooms, staircases, wash-rooms and spaces used around the clock which are; computer
rooms, offices and lobbies.
Designers always assume that energy consumption behaviours of occupants will always be
rationale. The designers may design the building envelope or the shell to be energy efficient in
regard to the thermal properties of the building's outer shell. Improvements made to the
windows, walls, ceilings and roof of commercial buildings reduce the energy consumption of a
building, but without putting into consideration the behaviour of occupants energy use, all efforts
are in futile. Waide, Thorne & Hinge (2007) argue that, energy performance in the commercial
sector often focuses on improving the efficiency of the cooling, heating or lighting equipments.
However, optimising these systems depends on the thermal properties of a buildings outer shell.
The materials selected by the designer for the building envelope have an influence on the energy
consumption of a building. Materials used for the walls, windows and roofs have a huge impact
on how much energy a building will consume for the sole purpose of cooling during hot seasons
and heating during cold seasons.
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Waide, Thorne & Hinge (2007) observes that many commercial office buildings are constructed
with steel, which can dramatically increase the thermal conductivity of a building's shell without
proper insulation.
On average, thermal conductivity and air infiltration through the walls account for 21% of the
total heat losses from commercial buildings during heating months. Although insulation upgrades
can save considerable energy at a relatively low cost, many building owners tend to focus on
equipments upgrade (Waide, Thorne & Hinge 2007).
Waide, Thorne & Hinge (2007) continues to observe that, windows are a major factor in
commercial energy use, responsible for 22% of a building's total heat loss in winter and 32% of
cooling loads from solar heat gains in the summer. The materials used in windows have a
considerable effect on the amount of energy used in cooling and heating. Use of reflective or
tinted glass reduces the solar heat gain related to windows, use of spectrally selective glass which
allows greater use of day lighting techniques can cut down on the electric lighting needs, thereby
reducing both electricity use and cooling cost.
However, research studies show that occupants are not always satisfied with the performance of
the building systems and the predefined design set points do not guarantee that the occupant
comfort and that energy efficiency will be met (Corgnati et al 2009, Wagner et al 2007 & Kwak
et al 2011).
According to Halfway & Froese (2005), occupant’s behaviour is defined as a collection of
factors such as activities and preferences, and that dynamic occupant’s behaviour and
preferences are not taken to account in the operation of current building systems. And due to the
complexity and diversity of the behavioural patterns, the influence of the occupant’s behaviour is
considered only in simulation of typical occupant activities such as control of sun-shading
devices.
There has been a development in comfort control strategy based on inclusive design; the user's
preferences and their behaviour are becoming central in the building services control strategy.
Wim Zelier (2000) affirms that synergy between end-user and building is the ultimate in the
intelligent comfort control concept. He further says the new comfort control technology is based
on the use of the latest development in agent technology and can further reduce energy
consumption of buildings while at the same time improve individual comfort.
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There has been an increased use of artificial lighting, mechanical air-conditioning and ventilation
in commercial buildings as a result of improved efficiency through the increased use of
computers and telecommunication devices and better comfort preferences in commercial office
buildings. There has been a misunderstanding and misconceptions about indoor comfort and
energy use, most office users are not aware of the fact that they can influence the energy use of a
building, therefore the behaviours of building occupants need to be taken into account as it is
responsible for almost half of the outcome of planned energy reduction (Claeson, 2005).
In the study area little effort has been made to incorporate the building user into the building
system control strategy in offices, and the energy consequence’s of the user behaviour are not
accounted for. According to Clements-Croome (1997) the control systems should not only
improve energy performance of the building, but also offer benefits to users; building operators,
occupants and workers. He further asserts that comfort management should be linked with
improving energy efficiency and that individual comfort management makes it possible to
optimize comfort, energy efficiency and costs.
Many research efforts have been focused on sustainable practices to reduce energy consumption
in buildings, Kavulya et al (2012). Clements-Croome (1997) then states that the general vision
for sustainable building is an intelligent building, which is responsive to the requirements of the
occupants, environment and society by being functional and productive for occupants and
sustainable in terms of energy consumption. To achieve the level of performance for the
buildings proposed by Clements-Croome (1997), the interactions between the building and its
occupants requires some sort of monitoring and control by using the obtained information for
improving the performance and quality of new and existing buildings.
2.2.0 Energy use determinants in buildings
It has been estimated that as much as 30% of the energy consumed in office buildings is wasted
(Waide, Thorne & Hinge 2007). This statistic suggests a significant opportunity for energy use
reduction and cost savings through cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities. To help
identify the best opportunities, both from the perspective of the building owner and the utility, it
is important to examine how, where and when energy is used and the savings likely to occur.
Most of the energy used in buildings is consumed by the equipments that transform fuel or
electricity to end uses on which the demand is imposed by the building users. Building envelope;
in commercial buildings, building types are generally more “load dominated” than “skin
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dominated,” in that buildings total energy use is less dependent on the climatic conditions and
building envelope characteristics than on equipments loads in the building (Waide, Thorne &
Hinge 2007).
These equipments includes those used for;-
1. Heating , Ventilation and Air-conditioning,
2. Lighting,
3. Vertical Transportation,
4. Office and telecommunication equipments.
2.2.1 Heating Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC)
Air-conditioning means the full mechanical control of internal environment to maintain specified
conditions for a certain purpose. The objective may be to provide thermally comfortable
temperature, humidity, air cleanliness, and freshness for the users of the building or it may be to
satisfy operational conditions for machinery or processes (Chadderton 1997).
According to Van Straaten (1967), ventilation is generally the replacement of stale air by fresh or
outside air. He says satisfactory ventilation, however, means much more than this as it must
provide a refreshing, healthy and comfortable atmosphere.
Design for natural ventilation may result to decrease in energy consumption by eliminating the
use of cooling systems, but with the changing trend, modern buildings are better sealed against
random infiltration of outdoor air, the trend towards the increasing proportion of the building's
heat loss which has to account for natural infiltration is continuing (Keith Moss 2007).
In Kenya most of the modern building designs are blindly imported from developed countries
making the designs inappropriate and incompatible with the tropical climate Kenya experiences.
There has been an extensive use of glazed wall curtain with non operable windows for aesthetics,
(evident in Victoria towers building) but then increasing energy consumption through use of
mechanical cooling systems.
Baruch (1994) stresses that there is no point in applying passive cooling systems in a hot climate
to a building that does not have an appropriate design for that climate; this necessitates the need
for mechanical cooling systems. Research by Baruch (1994) shows that cooling requires about
14% of energy in buildings to remove internally generated heat, from equipments and the
occupants therefore design to improve thermal performance of external wall alone does not
produce large savings as a HVAC system will still be needed to offset the heat generated.
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Over the years HVAC systems have been used increasingly to achieve comfort in buildings, this
result to increased consumption of energy leading to high costs of energy. As architects have
simplified façades of buildings, complex HVAC systems have become or are extensively used to
compensate the less selective performance of the skin.
HVAC systems significantly increase energy consumption levels in the building. Research has
shown that 30% of the energy consumed in offices in warm climates is used in air conditioning
(Baruch 1976, cited in Ntaragui1993). Ntarangui (1993, pg 24) points out that, air-conditioning
will play a more dominant role in future buildings due to increased pollution, office automation
and the rise in the required internal environmental standards.
2.2.2 Lighting
According to the Architect’s journal of information library; 4th January 1967 (cited in Asuma
2008) light and sight are two words that rhyme and work together, and one is meaningless
without the other. Human beings need light to see, but light can nevertheless be an end to itself;
there must be something to light up.
The chamber's twentieth century dictionary (1970) defines Light as; the agency by which objects
are rendered visible; electromagnetic radiation capable of producing visual sensation; that from
which it precedes, as the sun, the lamp.
Light is basically used for seeing or visual purposes in buildings and helps occupants to
distinguish impression of space, form, surface or texture and colour. Light concentration or
intensity, colour and texture are the main factors highly considered to enable building occupants
undertake their activities and the building spaces functions their desired functions (Sage2008).
Residential buildings and commercial buildings require different light qualities for occupants to
achieve comfort. In office buildings, lighting quality must be appropriate to the task of an office
setting.
According to Waide, Thorne & Hinge (2007, page 62), most commercial spaces depend on
several types of lighting, including ambient lighting, task lighting, architectural “mood” lighting,
or display lighting. They further stress that the tabular fluorescent lamps are the most common
variety used in commercial buildings, from offices and retail stores, to churches, schools and
hospitals.
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To understand lighting clearly the following sub-topics are discussed in length;
2.2.2.1 Natural lighting
This is a form of energy that is emitted from the solar system in form of radiation rays that reach
the earth's surface and is abundant and free. Despite natural lighting being a free and an abundant
“commodity”, the admission of natural light to buildings may have great impact on how much
energy is used to supplement where it is not sufficient for undertaking particular tasks in
buildings. The use of natural light in buildings is mostly referred to as day lighting admitted to
buildings and specifically office buildings through windows, doors and other forms of external
openings.
Designing for day lighting is based on the ratio of the required amount of indoor to outdoor
illumination; this is expressed as the daylight factor (Ntarangui1993). According to the Local
Government adoptive by-laws (Building code), clause 166 (1968), every public building shall be
provided with adequate means of lighting and ventilation to a standard not less than that
prescribed for a domestic building.
As stated earlier, external windows and doors are the main paths through which daylight is
admitted into a building for task performance, however, Owens, (cited in Ntarangui 1993)
decried the design philosophy that windows are not intended to provide daylight for task lighting
but rather as a psychological link of occupants with the exterior space which also provides
quality to the interior, this philosophy would result to deep plan offices that require artificial
lighting and ventilation.
The design for use of natural lighting in commercial buildings works best in plans that are less
than 5 metres deep (Building code 1968). Due to the economies of scale and planning
regulations, though recommended shallow plans are not popular in the study area and mostly
deep plans are, which necessitates use of artificial lighting as opposed to use of day lighting.
Use of day lighting has some implication also on the energy consumption of a building.
Evidently in Kenya with the recently finished commercial building projects, there is an extensive
use of glazed wall curtains to achieve optimum utilization of natural lighting which results to
overheating due to lack of ventilation mechanisms.
This as a results leads to need for mechanical air-conditioning systems to achieve internal
working comfort for occupants. Use of selective reflecting and thicker glass materials could
however reduce a considerable amount of energy used to offset internal heat.
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2.2.2.2 Artificial lighting.
This is the use of electrical energy to light up spaces in buildings and its need for task
performance in commercial office building cannot be over emphasised. Lighting quality must be
appropriate to the tasks of modern office buildings. Artificial lighting used to supplement
insufficient natural lighting plays an important role in the productivity of an organizations
workforce (Waide, Thorne & Hinge 2007).
Use of artificial lighting and lack of natural lighting in commercial buildings through the lighting
system is said to consume approximately 40% of the total energy consumed in a building,
slightly more than the air-conditioning system (Cooperation for Development in Africa (CDA),
cited in Ntarangui1993). It is with this high consumption levels that much attention and focus has
been directed to buildings lighting system due to the high potential to save energy, subsequently
reduce energy consumption and result to low costs of energy.
Since lighting is such a significant end use, and the heat generated by lighting in commercial
buildings must be removed by air-conditioning systems, much attention has been given to
commercial lighting efficiency. Significant steps have been taken towards more efficient lighting
systems and products such as electronic ballast and more efficacious lamps (Asuma 2008). But
with trends towards higher artificial lighting levels and greater percentages of total floor space lit
leads to higher levels and therefore, lighting energy use continues to grow.
Excess heat emitted by interior light fixtures is responsible for 42% of a commercial building's
required cooling load (Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2005, cited in Waide, Thorne &
Hinge 2007). Therefore use of high energy efficiency lighting fixtures reduces electricity
consumption from both lighting and cooling. Reduction of the lighting load in office building
results to a considerable reduction in energy consumption in the building, but this may prove
elusive if the usage patterns and behaviours of the building occupants are not put into
consideration.
Kenya experiences long hours of daylight which if well incorporated into the building’s design
will result to a huge decrease on electric energy required for lighting. Evidenced by most
commercial buildings within the country, most designers fail to realize the full potential of
natural daylight, thus necessitating the need for electrical light fittings. Despite the design failure,
commercial buildings occupants tend to use artificial lighting even when there is enough daylight
to perform tasks in the building.
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2.2.3 Vertical transporting
There are two modes of transportation in buildings; vertical and horizontal transportation. The
most common and most used is the vertical transportation, which in commercial buildings is by
form of staircases, ramps, escalators and lifts. Horizontal transportation can be achieved through
use of traveltors which are like conveyor belts but for use by facility users and are mainly used in
buildings with a big and wide span plans, very common in airports. This form of transportation
(horizontal and by traveltors) is not common in Kenyan commercial buildings and therefore will
not form part of this discussion.
The most used modes of vertical transportation in commercial buildings in Kenya are the stairs,
lifts, and ramps for users with physical disability, with escalators gaining popularity in recently
constructed commercial buildings. Escalators are mostly used in malls with little use in office
buildings and when used they a limited to up to the second floor of a building due to some
limiting factors including the space escalators occupy making them uneconomical.
Staircases do not directly consume energy but indirectly influences the energy consumption of a
building. A well designed staircase reduces the amount of energy needed as it helps in ventilating
the building through the stack effect and in short buildings, where according to the planning
regulations under Cap 514 (enclosure and position of lifts), clause 137 sub-clause 5, of the
building code (1968), in domestic and public buildings, where a floor is more than 42 feet above
adjacent ground level, a lift shall be provided.
In short commercial buildings without lifts installed, the energy consumption is considerably low
compared to a building with lifts installed for vertical transportation. Elevators or lifts are
estimated to use about 5% of the energy in a standard office building, although the energy use is
relatively small, lifts as vertical transportation systems are currently unregulated, though the
systems can be made efficient (Energy design resources E-news 2010).
Use of advanced elevator systems can save energy by using destination control software to
optimize the pattern of passengers’ pick-up and drop-off, the software seeks to minimise both the
distance travelled and the number of stops to minimise the energy used and improve service
(Energy design resources E-news 2010). Further points out that, advanced systems can direct
passengers headed to the same floor to enter the same lift as dispatch decisions are made at the
building lobby by the riders as they enter different floors they wish the software can also learn
from the daily traffic flow in an elevator to better tailor future dispatch.
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2.2.4 Office and Telecommunications Equipments
These includes personal computers, their monitors to match the expected flow, internet servers,
Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS), printers and photo-copiers, scanners, display screen, fax
machines, multifunction devices and some miscellaneous equipments.
Due to the increased need for efficiency and improved production in organizations both private
and public, there has been an increase in the use of more and more electrical equipments in office
building which increases a building's energy consumption. In addition to the direct impact upon
electricity consumption, office and telecommunication equipments have an impact on the
buildings energy consumption, inform of the heat dissipated by use of the equipments which
affect the buildings cooling and heating loads.
Studies by Judy et al (2004) show that since 1980’s there have been continual growth in the
market for electronic office equipments, particularly personal computers and monitors.
According to 2003 projection by the American department of energy, annual energy use by
personal computers is expected to grow by 3% per year, and energy use among other types of
office equipments is expected to grow by 4.2%, this growth is in spite of improvements in energy
efficiency, which were expected to be offset by the continuing penetration of new technologies
and greater use of office equipments.
In office buildings many a times users tend to leave on office equipments when not in use, such
as shared and networked devices, therefore most of the equipments idle more than they are
active. Judy et al (2004) points out that office equipments reduces energy uses primary through
power management in which equipment is factory enabled to automatically turn off or enter low
power after some period of inactivity usually 15 to 30 minutes. She further points that office
equipment have a large market share, but the percentage that is actually power managed is lower
for several reasons.
Power management is sometimes delayed or disabled by users, administrators, or even software
updates that change the factory settings in the interface, in addition, some network and
computing environments effectively prevent Power management from functioning.
According to Judy (2004), research paper to accurately estimate energy savings attributable to
the Energy Star programme, and target future efforts, current data are needed on the extent to
which each type of office equipment is turned off or successfully enters low power mode when
idle.
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2.2.5 Conclusions
As earlier stated, buildings consume 40% of the total global energy through the various uses and
tasks undertaken in buildings. According to Watson D (1976) as much as one half of this energy
could be saved by proper building design, construction and use management.
According to Spielvogel (1976), how energy is used is; the one factor that more than any other
factor determines energy consumption of a building; has more impact than the type or capacity
of the HVAC system, boilers, chillers, energy source, how much glass, insulation and lighting a
building has. He further argues that the people who occupy the building are the ones imposing
the demand on the systems that uses energy, hours of operation of the systems and components
that are the major determinants of energy consumption, which means it is what runs most of the
time and typically at full load.
Much that has been discussed shows that the human or occupants behaviour in a building
imposes the demand for energy in a building, and that the way that the occupants’ uses energy
determines the amount of energy a building consumes. The time a particular energy consumption
aspect is operated stands out to be contributing to the amount of energy a building consumes.
The fact that the behaviour of the occupants and the time of operation of building's energy
aspects can be changed through control and management, provides a good opportunity for the
practice energy management in commercial office buildings regardless of the design
2.3.0 Energy Policy in Kenya
2.3.1 Introduction
The energy sector is governed by a number of statutes, with the adoption of the Kenya vision
2030 which is the current development blue print for Kenya from 2008 – 2030. The vision relies
on three important pillars of economic, social and political development to transform the country
into “a newly industrialising, middle income country providing a high quality of life to all its
citizens in a clean and secure environment (Vision 2030 dossier). This therefore calls for the
need to review all pieces of legislation so as to align them to the vision and the newly
promulgated constitution.
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The current policies and legislations in the energy sector are;
1. The Energy, (Energy Management) Regulations, 2011 by the Energy regulatory
Commission (ERC).
2. Sessional paper No. 4, 2004 which is the main guide for the sector.
3. Energy Act No. 12, which was enacted in 2006.
4. National Energy Policy, Enacted May 2012.
5. Geothermal resource Act, No. 12 enacted in 1982.
6. Petroleum Exploration and production Act. Chapter 308; laws of Kenya.
7. Petroleum development Fund Act, enacted in 1991, for the establishment of a petroleum
development fund and the imposition of a petroleum development levy.
This study however discusses the first four in depth in bid to shade a clear picture of what the
government stands for in relation to energy, and energy management.
2.3.2 The energy (Energy Management) Regulations, 2011.
These regulations apply to the owner or occupier of industrial, commercial and institutional
facilities using any form of energy. The regulations states;
The owner or occupier of the designated facility shall have an energy management policy which
shall have a minimum requirement as provided in the first schedule, the schedule states;
An energy management shall include;
A commitment to improve energy efficiency and conservation,
A commitment to comply with the Act and these regulations,
A commitment to provide resource necessary to achieve energy efficiency and
conservation,
Commitment to establish, and implement a strategic plan for energy efficiency, and
conservation,
A Commitment to train staff so as to ensure competence in energy efficiency and
conservation,
The owner or occupier of the designated facility shall ensure that the policy is
endorsed by the top management.
The owner or the occupier of the designated facility shall ensure that the policy is
communicated to all staff.
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The owner or occupier of the designated facility shall file the energy management policy with
the commission for approval before implementation. The owner or occupier of every designated
facility shall designate an energy officer who shall be responsible for the development and
implementation of energy efficiency and conservation. The owner or occupier of a designated
facility shall maintain records of information for a minimum of period five years from the date of
occupation of the facility, which shall include:-
Monthly and annual electricity, fuel and water consumption, Monthly production data or
occupancy level, Up to date building plan, infrastructure plans and floor area, the energy
report shall contain, as a minimum, the items provided in the second schedule.
On energy audits, the regulation stipulates;
Every designated facility shall undertake an energy audit at least once every three years.
An energy audit shall be undertaken by a licensed energy auditor or energy audit firm.
The energy audit report shall contain, as a minimum, the items provided in the Second
Schedule.
The Commission shall acknowledge receipt of any submitted energy audit report within
thirty days.
If the Commission is dissatisfied with any Energy Report submitted to it, it may require the
owner or occupier of a facility, at his own cost, to engage an independent energy auditor to
undertake an energy audit. The Owner or Occupier shall appoint the independent auditor
from a list of not less than five (5) auditors recommended by the Commission.
An energy auditor shall execute a quality assurance declaration form on completion of an
energy audit as provided in the Third Schedule.
2.3.3 The sessional paper No. 4 of 2004
The overall national development objectives of the government of Kenya are accelerate
economic growth and rising productivity of all sectors, equitable distribution of national income,
alleviation of poverty through provisions of basic needs, enhanced agricultural production,
industrialisation, accelerated employed creation and improved rural-urban balance. The extent to
which these national objectives can be realised is if the quality energy services are made
available in sustainable, cost effective and affordable manner to all sectors of the economy.
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The first attempt to prepare a sessional paper on energy was made in 1987, to among other
things, mitigate the adverse effects of oil importation on the domestic economy and balance of
payments and the need for consistent policy on energy to ensure security of supply, efficient but
affordable pricing and accelerated development of indigenous resources. New challenges
associated with liberalisation of the economy in the 1990's, including worsening balance of
payments, economic stagnation, rising population, rising poverty, electricity rationing and
outages,, dwindling official development assistance called for a new energy sector development
strategy based on prudent integrated policies consistent with the broader government policies on
socio-economic development.
The broad objective of the energy policy is to ensure adequate, quality, cost effective and
affordable supply of energy to meet development needs. The specific objectives of this sessional
paper are similar to those of the National energy policy (2012) which was a review of this
Sessional paper (2004).
2.3.4 The energy Act, 2006
This act provides for the formulation of the Energy Regulation Commission (ERC) which is a
body incorporated with perpetual succession and a common seal. The commission's object and
functions as outlined in the Energy Act, (2006) are as follows;
Regulate; importation, exploration, generation, transmission, distribution, supply and use of
electrical energy; importation, exploration, transportation, refining, storage and sale of
petroleum and petroleum products; production, distribution, supply and use of renewable and
other forms of energy.
Protect the interest of customers, investor and other interested stakeholders.
Maintain a list of accredited energy auditors as may be prescribed,
Monitor; ensure implementation of, and the observance of principles of fair competition in
the energy sector, in coordination with other statutory authorities,
Collect and maintain energy data,
Prepare indicative national energy plan
Perform any other function that is indicative or consequential to its functions under this Act
or any other written law.
The commission if further empowered under the Act, to;
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Formulate, enforce and review environmental, health, safety and quality standards for the
energy sector;
Enforce and review regulations, codes and standards for the energy sector;
Prescribe the requirements for accreditation of persons with appropriate skills to check
accuracy of energy meters installed in residential, commercial or industrial premises;
Examine and approve meters used or intended to be used for ascertaining the quantity of
energy;
Prescribe the manner and intervals of time within which the energy audit shall be conducted;
These powers are but a few those are relevant to this research study and have an impact on the
topic under investigation.
2.3.5 The national energy policy, of 2012
This was drafted and enacted after the launch of the Vision 2030 in 2008 and the inauguration of
the new constitution of Kenya in 2010. This was out of necessity to review the Sessional paper,
No. 4 of 2004 to align it with the vision and the constitution. The energy sector is facing some
challenges including; improvement of the quality, quantity and reliability of energy supply; High
initial capital outlay and the long lead times from feasibility studies to development of energy
infrastructure; mobilising adequate financial resources to undertake massive investment in the
power sector, high cost of energy, low per capita incomes and low levels of industrialisation
(Ministry of energy 2012).
Successful implementation of this policy requires all stakeholders to play their role effectively,
keeping in mind the need to make the dream of affordable quality energy to all Kenyans a reality.
In order to ensure timely implementation of the policies, programmes and projects to the plan,
the ministry of energy has put in place mechanism to monitor progress of implementation and
take any required remedial action. An integrated energy sector management system is set up to
cover the ministry headquarters an all parastatals under it to facilitate online transmission of
information Ministry of energy, (2012).
A further state, the ministry in change of energy provides leadership, oversight guidance and
policy directions in the implementation of this policy. The ministry in view of achieving the
targets ensures that managers in parastatals within the sector not only signs performance contract
but also ensures that parastatals are prudently managed. The private sector and commercial
buildings are also bound to this by extension.
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Top in the agenda of this policy is diversity in the energy sector and attainment of energy
efficiency in all sectors that consumes energy. The policies and strategies that are relevant to the
research topic include:
Require buildings to incorporate energy efficiency and conservation measures,
Introduction of, the green design concept in buildings which includes, solar heating, natural
lighting, ventilation, and open office design among others,
Promote development of standards and codes of practice on energy efficiency, management
and conservation.
Develop standards and codes of practice on cost effective and efficient energy use.
The overall energy policy objective according to The Ministry of energy (2012), National energy
policy, is to ensure affordable, sustainable and reliable supply to meet national and county
development needs while protecting and conserving the environment. Specifically these are to:
Utilize energy as a tool to accelerate economic empowerment for the National and County
Government, as well as urban and rural development,
Improve access to quality, reliable and affordable energy services.
Promote development of indigenous energy resources
Promote energy efficiency and conservation.
Promote energy research, development, training and local manufacture of energy plant,
equipment, appliances and materials.
Promote diversification of energy supply sources to ensure supply security
Generate at least 70% of electricity from clean or renewable resources and build the
infrastructure necessary to transmit that electricity.
Waide, Thorne & Hinge (2007) points out that there may be changes in design and invention of
energy efficient equipments, but all is in vein if the user is not upbeat on how to use particular
equipments. Further argues, attention has been focused to changing new buildings through
policies, which obligates building occupants and owners to ensure that energy management and
efficiency are incorporated in organisation's goals. Much is not done to the existing building
stock due to the inherent perceived difficulties in improving energy performance; policies are
enacted to legally obligate both the occupants and owners. Better energy management, cost
effective upgrades of energy using equipments and building fabric refurbishments are among the
suggested solutions stated in the energy policies discussed earlier.
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2.4.0 Energy Management Programmes
Energy should be viewed as any other valuable raw material resource to run a business in an
organization not as an overhead and part of business maintenance and need to be managed well
in order to increase the business profitability, competitiveness and to mitigate the seriousness of
the impacts Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC), (2002)).
CIPEC (2002) then observes that, all organisations can save energy by applying the same sound
management principles and techniques they use elsewhere in the business for key resources such
as raw materials and labour, then follows to state that management practices must include full
managerial accountability for energy use and that management of energy consumption and costs
eliminates waste and brings in ongoing, cumulative savings.
“Energy is essential, that is given, without it no company or organization would be in business,
thus all businesses must manage energy to an extent, if only to ensure its availability. Beyond
that basic need, decisions relative to energy options and opportunities will depend on how
significant the cost and environmental effects of energy are to business operations, broader
business strategy and positioning considerations and for some new market opportunities”
(Bennet & Whiting, September, 2005)
Further states, from the departments to the boardroom, businesses are more focused on managing
energy than at any other time in recent decades. Energy is increasingly seen as a strategic
business concern.
The following are pointed out to be the guideline for energy management programmes;
2.4.1 Making commitments.
“Energy management must be a matter of concern to everybody in the company before it can
succeed. Without strong, sustained and visible support of the company’s top management, the
energy management program is doomed to fail. Employees will apply their best efforts to the
program only when they see that their supervisors are fully committed. Hence, it is crucial that
top management rally to the cause and provide full support and enthusiastic participation.
Because the program involves everybody, the support of union officials should be secured very
early on “(CIPEC 2002).
This will involve the establishment of an energy team or an energy department in case of an
organization owned building, headed by a director who should not necessarily be an energy
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expert but should demonstrate a high level of understanding of how energy management can help
the organization its financial goals and objectives. As a director, the manager is expected to
coordinate and direct the overall energy programme, act as the contact person for senior
management, increase the visibility of energy management within the organization, draft in
consultation with the team an energy policy, secure sufficient resources for the implementation
of the programme, ensure accountability, commitment from core parts of the organisation and
measure, track, evaluate, and communicate results.
2.4.2 Assessment of performance.
This is the periodic process of evaluating energy use for all major energy aspects and functions
in the building and establishing a baseline for measuring future results of efficiency. The
assessment can be done annually and mostly include; data gathering and tracking, to establish the
basics of how, where, and when energy is being used, which helps in the establishment of
baselines on regards to energy consumption. This forms a basis on which the energy
performance of a building can be benchmarked against some required standards, either by the
energy policies or by the building regulations regarding energy performance of a building or
better to compare performance of similar buildings, US Department of Defence (2005).
An analysis of the data collected is conducted to determine the building energy use trends, which
helps the building or organisation energy management team to better understand the factors that
affect energy consumption and therefore formulate steps to be taken which are necessary to
reduce energy consumption in the building or organization. Assessment of performance is not
complete without a technical assessment and an audit of the various energy aspects in a building
is complete.
According to CIPEC (2002), an audit is a systematic, documented verification process of
objectively obtaining and evaluating audit evidence, in conformance with the audit criteria and
followed by communication of the results to the client. The client could be the building managers
or the organisation general manager to whom the audit report will be presented to for action.
Energy audits evaluate current energy usage and assist building owners and managers in
determining the best locations to incorporate energy saving measures. The primary purpose is to
determine how to reduce energy consumption and energy costs, US Department of Defence
(2005). Then it follows and states, an energy audit should answer the following questions;
How much energy of each type is being used?
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How much does the energy cost?
What is the energy being used for?
What opportunities exist for reducing energy use of cost?
2.4.3 Setting goals.
This involves the determination of the scope, estimation of the potential for improvement, and
establishment of the goals. These goals should be in sync with the main organization goals so
that at no point in time will the energy management goals conflict with the organizational goals.
The goals would include reduction of energy consumption in the building; reduce energy costs,
creation of awareness within the building on the best way each occupant can participate in
energy consumption.
That an energy audit has already been conducted, the energy management team would be in a
position to state short-term and long-term goals based on the audit report. The goals can
therefore be presented in form of percentage reduction in consumption and cost. In setting up the
energy goals there has to certainly be due consideration to business needs of the organisation or
building occupants, and priorities should be set-out clearly.
2.4.4 Creation of an action plan.
This step involves the definition of technical steps and targets, determine the roles to be played
by each team member, and the resources provided by the organisation for the sole purpose of
energy management. CIPEC (2002) observes, an action plan should contain identification of
personnel and their responsibilities, the specific tasks, their area and timing and also indicate the
specific resource requirements and time-lines for individual project and their stages.
The action plan should take into considerations to the business needs of an organisation and plan
for achievable targets which will act as a motivation to the employees and building occupants.
Seeing the targets of an energy management programme being achieved and progress made in
attainment of the energy programme objectives act as a moral boost to both managers,
employees and occupants of a building in believing and participating actively in the energy
management programme, this leads to a successful energy management programmes and
therefore result to reduced amount of energy consumed in the building.
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2.4.5 Implementation of the action plan.
This includes creation of a communication plan, raising awareness within a building to the
building occupants, building capacity within the energy management team and the building
users, motivate, track and monitor all progressive activities of the energy team. The purpose of
communication and rising of awareness and training programmes are important in achieving and
sustaining energy efficient operations at the equipment installation level. The purpose of an
energy awareness programme is to publicize energy management goals, disseminate information
on energy management and energy management techniques and emphasise energy management
at all command levels (US Department of Defence 2005).
US Department of Defence (2005) stresses that awareness works through publicity and training,
and that there is no substitute for a well -trained, competent, and dedicated energy management
team and a network of aware, conscientious building managers. Awareness through training
helps in building the capacity of the energy team ensuring confidence in energy management.
Training helps building occupants to understand the importance of the of energy management
programmes and the information is necessary to the occupants in making informed decisions and
also as an opportunity for getting occupants feedback and evaluations.
Many organisations have found out that informed employees are more likely to contribute ideas,
operate equipments properly and following procedures, helping to guarantee that capital
investments in energy management will realize their potential and that a well executed awareness
campaign should optimally result in heightened personal interest and willingness of people to get
involved (CIPEC 2002).
2.4.6 Evaluating progress.
This includes measuring of the results and reviewing of the action plan. Without a keen and a
vigilant attention to energy management, the gains could fade away and the effort could
integrate, to make the new energy management measures stick, a sustained attention has to be
ensured to the implemented project until the measure has become a well-entrenched routine
(CIPEC 2002).
Once a target has been met on a sustained basis over a period of time, a review has to be made, if
it is successful it becomes the new standard and a new target can be set. Communication of the
results is crucial in fostering the sense that everybody is part of the energy management effort.
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Regular reports taken from the monitored data encourage building occupants and organisation
employees by showing them that they are progressing towards their goal (CIPEC 2002).
2.4.7 Recognition of Achievement
Providing a platform for internal recognition within the organisation or among the building
occupants and users and an external recognition from third parties like the energy regulation
commission through energy management rewards provides validation of the energy management
programme in an organization or building and also provides satisfaction to those involved. This
step is often overlooked yet very important segment of the programme, as people crave and value
recognition.
According to the CIPEC (2002) celebrating success is a motivational tool that also brings
psychological closure of the project and that an achievement of a target should be celebrated as a
milestone on the way to a continual improvement of energy management in a building or
organisation.
2.5.0 Energy Management Opportunities
2.5.1 Lighting System
Lighting technology has produced many recent developments in energy-use reduction, many
industries have upgraded their lighting systems and lighting manufacturers have brought more
efficient products into the market. However, in most commercial office buildings lighting
systems still present significant opportunities to reduce costs. According to CIPEC (2002) the
first step in reducing electricity cost related to lighting is to survey the building to find out
whether the lighting equipments in each building are appropriate for the work there and whether
they are the most energy-efficient type available in the market for the particular task.
The CIPEC (2002) states that; lighting surveys often reveals the following energy management
opportunities which are most applicable to commercial buildings in Kenya;
1. Lights left on in unoccupied building space; stresses that, even the most efficient lights
waste a lot of energy when left on unnecessarily. The best way of ensuring that lights are
turned off when they are not used and needed is by developing the occupants’ sense of
responsibility so that they take care of the turning off unused lights. Another viable
solution to be installation of timers, photocells, and occupancy sensors or better
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integrating the lighting system into an energy management control system if available in
the building.
2. Over-lit Areas; CIPEC (2002) argues, lighting requirements vary widely within a
building, and a reduction in general area lighting combined with an increase in
workstation lighting often increases occupants comfort while decreasing electricity costs.
There are building spaces that have more lighting than is required to perform a particular
task, therefore removal of some lights or installing dimming systems is most
recommended. Also, when removing lamps in areas lit with fluorescent tube and high
intensity discharge fixtures, advisable to ensure that the ballasts are disconnected, as they
consume electricity even when the bulbs are removed. Dimming systems can also be used
in building spaces where several types of activities take place; this reduces energy
consumed and therefore reduces energy costs.
3. Obsolete lighting equipments; This entails updating a buildings lighting system with
most recent energy efficient equipments with changing technology, which is usually cost
effective. This is a form of retrofitting considered to improve the overall energy
efficiency of the facility and at the same time comply with the energy management
regulations and general energy policies.
4. Dirty lamps, lenses and light-reflecting surfaces; This may be as a result of grease or
dust deposits on the lighting fixtures which reduces the amount of light that reaches some
parts of the building space, the reduction could be as much as 30%, therefore lighting
fixtures should be cleaned often, especially when installed in greasy, dusty or smoky
building locations and when they are part of the HVAC system (CIPEC 2002).
2.5.2 Heating, Ventilation and Air-conditioning (HVAC)
Buildings are served by many different types of HVAC systems, both for human comfort and to
meet process requirements Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC),
(2002). An energy management programme for a HVAC system should according to CIPEC,
(2002) begin with an assessment of the established HVAC systems to determine their type,
function and operation procedures. This assessment helps to identify areas of energy waste and
opportunities to improve efficiency.
The variation of HVAC systems is widely from plant to plant, performance improvements and
energy cost savings will also vary, and Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation
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(CIPEC), (2002) outlines three important factors that determine the energy use of a HVAC
system
Required indoor thermal and air quality,
Internal heat generation from lighting and office and telecommunication equipments,
Design layout of the building.
Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC), (2002) proposes the following
energy management opportunities for HVAC systems;
Installation of self regulating controls for the system,
Interconnect the controls for spaces with separate heating and cooling systems to prevent
simultaneous heating and cooling,
Installation of load analysers in the control of multi-zone and dual duct systems to optimise
hot and cold deck temperatures,
Install time clocks to shut down the air system or switch to 100 percent recirculation when
the space served is unoccupied.
Install control interlocks to shut down heating or cooling system pumps when no output is
required.
Install economizer controls on the central air handling system to use outdoor air to replace
air-conditioning when appropriate.
Consider installing variable-speed drives to centrifugal chillers – savings of up to 40 percent
versus conventional chillers may be possible.
Provide lockable covers on automatic controls and thermostats to prevent unauthorized
adjustment or tampering.
2.5.3 Measuring, Metering and Monitoring
Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation(CIPEC), (2002) suggests that;
“Measurement is the first step that leads to control and improvement, if you cannot measure
something, you cannot understand it , if you cannot understand it, then you cannot control it and
you cannot improve it and a measurement has a real meaning only if it is compared to a
standard”.
Metering of energy consuming equipments should make a priority, so that, the operators keeps
equipments running at peak efficiency and detect diminishing energy efficiency. For
measurement to be meaningful, it must be combined with monitoring, Measuring, Metering and
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Monitoring various flows of energy and materials in a building are essential for reducing energy
consumption in a building, Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation(CIPEC),
(2002). According to The Canadian Industry Program for Energy Conservation (CIPEC), (2002),
Measuring, Metering and monitoring have the following benefits in buildings;
Produces process information, such as temperature, pressure and quantity in building which
assists in development of standards.
Helps in setting up new standards of performance and operation targets,
Determines energy performance for comparison when evaluating the progress of energy
consumption in the building,
Day-to-day management and correlation of unacceptable performance which entails the
achievement of consistency of operations,
Exposes the misuse of energy in a building and facilitate decision making related to
improving energy operations,
Help in Planning for future energy management initiatives, and communication of progress
made in energy efficiency performance, simulating involvement and boosting energy
awareness among organisation employees in a building.
Assist in the justification of new plant and equipment purchases, modifications and
integration of the data output into a computerised energy management systems in the
building.
Energy management requires the data collected through measuring and metering to be accurate
and reliable so as to ensure ease in monitoring. Energy management opportunities are founded
through regular instruments calibration and maintenance programmes, record keeping, analysis
and follow-up, acquisition of new measuring and monitoring equipment and replacement of
pneumatic controls with direct digital controls Canadian Industry Program for Energy
Conservation(CIPEC), (2002).
2.5.4 Challenges
The potential for reduce energy consumption through energy management in the existing
building sector is large and the opportunities for capturing saving through increase adoption of
new and under-utilized technologies and energy management practices are established.
Nevertheless, cost effective investment in energy efficiency improvements are often ignored by
36
businesses or organisations, governments and individual energy consumers, Paul Waide et al
(2007).
According to Paul Waide et al (2007), there are a number of barriers responsible for the
widespread underinvestment in energy management and efficiency in existing buildings. These
barriers include;
Principal agent barriers
Information or transaction barriers
Externality cost barriers
Other barriers and economic forces
2.5.4.1 Principle agent Barriers
Paul Waide et al (2007) points that, In the existing building sector, Principle agent Barriers are
common in lease properties where a split incentive exists between the landlord or owner's agent;
who purchases or specifies what energy consuming equipments will be installed in the building ,
and the tenant; who typically pays the utility bills. He further contends that, this issue arises in
both commercial leasing market and in rental housing, similarly a split incentive exists for home
owners and businesses that do not expect to hold a property long enough to realize the full
financial benefit of an investment in energy management and efficiency measures.
2.5.4.2 Information or transaction cost barriers
According to Paul Waide et al ((2007) information or transaction cost barriers arise when the
consumer lacks sufficient information or expertise to make purchasing decision that optimize
their overall cost and energy savings. The asymmetry of information available to the consumer
versus other market actors can create confusion and distrust thereby discouraging the adoption of
new technologies, practices and services.
2.5.4.3 Large externality cost barriers
He goes on stating that, the large environmental and health impacts associated with energy
production and transmission lead to large externality cost barriers, such that the price of energy
does not reflect its true cost to the society. This, despite the policies and regulations governing
the energy sector in Kenya, is very common and has a huge impact when considering the
benefits accruing from reduced energy consumption.
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Paul Waide et al ((2007) observes that, several characteristics of the building sector results in
other barriers and economic forces that impede the adoption of coat-effective energy
management and efficiency measures. Points out; the fragmented building industry which makes
the identification of an appropriate contractor(s) needed to provide services like retrofitting that
can improve a building energy performance to be very difficult; Institutional practices and
organizational structures of organizations in commercial office buildings can inhibit investment
in energy management and energy efficiency projects.
The process of approving capital and non-capital (operations and maintenance) projects, the
methods of crediting energy cost savings within the organization, the level at which the decision
was made, and the financial criteria used to judge the projects, all have an impact in the decision
making process and can result in missed opportunities to invest in cost-effective energy
management and energy efficiency projects.
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CHAPTER THREE: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.0 Introduction
This chapter lays down the procedure that was used in the research study. This chapter discusses
the area of study, the population, the sampling design, data collection and analysis methods. It’s
from this data collected that informed conclusions, recommendations and objectives fulfilment is
done. This chapter helps to gain familiarity to energy management in buildings, gain new
insights into the impacts energy management has, and to portray accurately the characteristic of
commercial office buildings energy consumption by discussing energy practices in the two
buildings (Coca-Cola company head office building and the Victoria Towers building).
According to Kumar Ranjit 2005, research is a process of collecting, analysing and interpreting
information to answer questions. To qualify as a research, the process must have certain
characteristics; as far as possible it must be controlled, rigorous, systematic, valid and verifiable,
empirical and critical. Research is a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on
a specific topic, (Kothari C.R., 2004).
Research is an academic activity and as much as the term should be used in a technical sense,
Clifford Woody 1924, states that; research comprises defining and redefining problems,
formulating hypothesis or suggested solutions; collecting, organising and evaluating data,
making deductions and reaching conclusions and at last carefully testing the conclusions to
determine whether they fit the formulated hypothesis.
3.1 Research Approach
The study investigated and described upper hill commercial district and compared the two
commercial offices building in this area so as to find out if energy management practices have
been adopted in the buildings and the impact the practices have on the consumption of the
buildings. The research approach adopted in this study was qualitative research. According to
Kothari C, R (2004) qualitative approach to research is concerned to the subjective assessment of
attitudes, opinions and behaviour. He further argues; research in such a situation is a function of
the researcher's insights and impressions, which generates results either in non-quantitative form
or in the form which is not subjected to rigorous quantitative analysis.
The research methods or techniques adopted in this research are surveys, observations,
questionnaires for both primary and secondary data collection. The study hugely adopts the
39
questionnaire as the primary method of data collection with the general assumption that all the
respondents to whom the questionnaire was administered to were of sound mind, literate and
understand their unique and important part they play in the success of the research though their
responses are subjective.
3.2 Research Process and Design
According to Kothari C.R 2004, research design is the arrangement of conditions for collection
and analysis of data in a manner that aims to combine relevance to the research with economy in
procedure. The topic under investigation is unique despite there being a lot of research work
undertaken regarding buildings and their energy consumption. Topics like; The impact of design
parameters on energy consumption in office buildings ( T.N., Ntarangui, 1993) and Influence of
building design on running cost of lighting in office buildings (Asuma R. Isoe, 2008) have been
researched. This study seek to add a body of knowledge on the widely researched energy field in
analysing the impacts energy management has on the energy consumption in commercial office
buildings.
From the review of the available literature on energy consumption in buildings, one thing stands
out; the need to reduce energy consumption in buildings amid rising energy costs. Design may
reduce the consumption, but the occupant's behaviour turns out to be a major setback. Therefore
necessitating the need for managing the way occupants use energy in buildings as it turns out that
building occupants impose the demand for energy in buildings regardless the building design.
How best building occupants use energy and the impact it has on building's energy consumption
is the main focus of the research study.
Research process consists of a series of actions and steps deemed necessary and important to
effectively carry out research and the desired sequence of the steps. The steps do not necessarily
follow each other in any specific order and the researcher has to be constantly anticipating at
each step in the research process the requirement of the subsequent step (Kothari C.R., 2004). He
further outlines the order of various steps deemed to be useful procedural guidelines regarding
the research process: formulating the research problem; developing the hypothesis; extensive
literature review; preparing the research design; determining sample design; collecting the data;
execution of the project; analysis of data; hypothesis testing; generalisation and interpretation;
and finally preparation of the report or presentation of the results.
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There are two types of research problems; those which relate to states of nature and those which
relate to relationship between variables (Kothari C.R., 2004, pg12). This study adopted the latter
type and seeks to establish the relationship between energy management practice in buildings
and the impact it has on energy consumption of commercial office buildings in the backdrop of
high energy costs in Kenya. The problem statement then provided the basis for the objectives the
research seeks to accomplish, the kind of data collected and techniques used making sure they all
stayed relevant to the research problem.
Development of the working hypothesis played an important role in the research. The research
hypothesis was developed through discussions with my supervisor and fellow students,
examination of data and records on energy consumption and energy management, review of
similar studies and it was based on the objectives this project is seeking to obtain a solution. The
next step after development of the hypothesis is the literature review. This was done after the
research supervisor approved the research problem and the hypothesis. The literature review was
done extensively on topics pertaining commercial buildings energy use trends, energy
consumption determinants in buildings, the available energy management policies in Kenya and
the energy management programmes.
The literature review was done through abstracting and indexing journals, published and
unpublished biographies, academic journals energy conference proceedings, government reports
and books related to the research study and mainly focused to solving the problem and relevant
to achieving the objectives of the study. Preparation of the research design follows, and involved
stating the conceptual structure within which the research was conducted, this facilitated the
provision for the collection of relevant evidence in a most timely and economic way. The
purpose happened to be an accurate description of a situation or an association between variables
which was the suitable design to minimise bias and maximise the reliability of the data collected
and analysed.
Preparation of research design and determining the research methodology and process is
followed by the sample design determination.
Collection of data is the sixth step which is widely discussed in chapter four and briefly in this
chapter in the adjoining sub titles. Execution of the project, analysis of data, hypothesis testing
done after the analysis of the collected data, generalisation and interpretation of what is deduced
41
from the hypothesis testing step and preparation of the report of what was done are done
successively and are discussed in the next chapters.
3.3 The Area of study
Before the data is collected and an analysis is done, a brief background introduction of the area
of study is essential. This provides an opportunity to describe the characteristics and issues
related to the topic under investigation for a better understanding of the subject matter.
Upper hill is located 4.5 kilometres by road west of the central business district of Nairobi city.
Upper hill was originally a residential area of the city during the colonial times. During the late
1990's and early 2000's there was change of use of the area as land became scarce and
exorbitantly expensive in the central Business District (CBD), businesses relocated to upper hill
where land and office space were more readily available and less expensive.
Plate 1: Ariel oblique view of the study area
Source: Google Images
Upper hill was predominantly an upper-middle class residential area with many old houses
occupying 1 to 2 acres of land, most of these residential parcels of land are being converted for
commercial use through the change of user permit from the city council. Today it is characterised
with neat, organized rows of high-rise buildings housing blue-chip local and multinational
42
companies. Upper hill is home to several regional and local companies’ headquarters; the
Standard Chartered Bank, Equity Bank, World Bank, City Bank, Price-water Coopers, IFC,
Coca-Cola among others have built their headquarters. Administratively, upper hill is under the
Nairobi Central Business district (NCBD)
3.3.1 Case study I: Coca-Cola Company head office Building.
Coca-Cola company head office is located in upper hill area in Nairobi along Kilimanjaro
avenue off Mara road and sits on a four(4) acres piece of land and was constructed at a cost of
Ksh. 700 million ($10 million), construction of the building was commissioned in July 2007 and
complete in August 2008. Coca-Cola office building is surrounded by various commercial office
building, Japanese Embassy building to the north, Geminia insurance plaza building to the east,
Teachers Service Commission (TSC) building to the south and The Old Mutual Building to the
west.
The building design was derived from the Coca-Cola brand ribbon and boasts of many features
that make it a unique building that is inspiring. The features include; solar heating, rain water
harvesting, power conservation devices and a green garden that acts as a recreation area. The
building houses the company's regional offices and is the headquarters of 39 African countries
with an average of 100 employees (Immaculate Karambu, (October 17, 2011)).
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Plate 2: Pictorial of Coca cola building
Source: Google images
The building is with no doubt designed to be energy efficient. The clear and thick window
glazing that allow more natural light and less heat into the building, the sun shading devices, the
sky views admitting natural light into all circulation spaces and the roof top garden which serves
as a heat sink during hot weather are but a few of the energy design elements utilized in the
building to minimise energy consumption.
But that's not all, despite the energy efficient design; the building has incorporated a Building
Management System to manage all building systems with the energy system included. With the
building management system in place and the motion sensors installed to regulate the amount of
electricity consumed including the lighting systems near windows which are fitted with photo
sensors to enable the lighting fittings to switch off automatically once they detect enough
external lighting during the day is evidence that the organisation aims at further reduce the
amount of energy consumed.
The motion sensors and the photo cell automatic control are installed to ensure that lighting is
restricted to the rooms with occupants which makes it ideal for controlling electricity use at night
and during the weekends when according to the environmental and occupational safety manager
an occupancy of just about 15 employees out of the total 100 are on duty and no need of lighting
up the whole building...the installation of the automatic lighting control systems ensures that it
44
eliminates the chances of leaving the lights on when not in use and during the night. The building
also has some solar panels fitted on the roof and the solar system is used only for heating water
for the kitchen for making tea and warming food for the staff as no food is cooked within the
building (Immaculate Karambu, (October 17, 2011)).
The building is served by a backup generator and solar panels as secondary sources of energy
with electricity being the primary source. There is an elevator installed that serves the ground,
first, second and third floors of the building with the ground floor parking completely lit by
natural means. The building has incorporated an open office system with few partitions half the
floor to ceiling clearance and energy saving fluorescent ballast light fittings used light up all the
building spaces.
Base on the discussion in the preceding paragraphs, it is evident that the design for energy
efficiency helps in reducing the amount of energy consumed in the Coca-Cola building but it is
not the ultimate solution to ensuring efficient and low energy consumption. The most
outstanding factor that determines the energy consumption of a building is the energy use
behaviour or culture of the building occupants.
Therefore, this makes energy management through management of the occupants’ energy use
behaviours of utmost relevance in reducing the energy consumption in the building, and whereby
training, awareness campaigns and manual control is not possible, automatic control systems are
installed to aid and ensure that energy is used when required.
45
3.3.2 Case study II: Victoria Towers Building.
Victoria Towers is located in upper hill area in Nairobi along Kilimanjaro Avenue, off Mara road right opposite Upper hill secondary school.
Plate 3: Location of Victoria towers
Source: Google maps
The building is owned and managed by the Victoria bank limited with an in-house building manager and there is on a daily basis a building care taker who ensures that every system and service runs smoothly and in-case of system breakdown, the maintenance team is commissioned to undertake maintenance exercise.
This information was obtained during the second reconnaissance visit to the building by the
researcher, and observed that the building has a triangular kind of shape viewed from side
elevation, with a cylindrical centre tower, making the building's upper floors smaller in floor
space compared to the lower floors. The building has a total of 10 floors with a mezzanine floor
between ground and second floor, an attic floor above the 10th floor, one basement parking and
up to the 8th floor having two wings; north and south wings.
The building houses a total of 16 organisations all on lease hold tenancy basis and the building
was not fully occupied during the research undertaking (fourth, seventh, and eighth floors were
partly occupied) therefore the reason behind the 16 organisations as opposed to 20 when the
building is fully occupied.
46
Plate 4: Pictorial of Victoria towers
Source: Author’s Photography
The building design is of a triangular shape as described before and has blue tinted glass wall
curtains all around with the front lobby lit by natural lighting from roof fan light. Despite
adequate light penetrating the lobby, for the four visits the researcher did, all the artificial
lighting system were on and no one bothered to switch off.
The main sources of energy in the building are electricity from the main national grid and an on-
site backup generator that is used when there are power outages. The building design to some
extent is energy efficient as the original office partitioned space of each office are well lit
naturally, but the introduction of different partitions by the various organisations has resulted to
dark office spaces necessitating the need for artificial lighting system. The building has no
Building Energy Management System (BMS) installed to control and manage therefore making
the energy system under no form of management.
The building has two lifts serving the whole building and two escalators serving the mezzanine
floor that operate throughout the day and according to the Building manager there is no time the
vertical transportation system is controlled in any way except it is switched off after the caretaker
confirms that all building occupants are out. The various organisations occupying the building as
noted from the second reconnaissance visit are given the freedom to install and fit their desired
47
furnishings and energy systems therefore making the energy aspects installed in the common
area different from those in individual offices.
The building lacks any form of control regarding energy use, with the energy bills inclusive in
the rent inform of a service charge, the individual organisation use energy as they wish for as
many indicated during my reconnaissance visits that for the fact they are paying their monthly
rent, they are justified to use energy that is available in the building in the way they wish to.
The Victoria bank who are the landlords and owners of the building in their part have failed to
instil some sort of responsibility in terms of how tenants use energy and furthermore there are no
automatic and even manual controls to check on wasteful use of energy. The reason underlying
the above statement is the manager faces hard time and it is tiresome to control hoe each
organisation uses energy, instead the landlord increases or charge high rent so as to compensate
for the high energy cost.
3.4 Sources of Data
3.4.1 Primary Data
The primary data for this project was gathered through questionnaires administered to building
or facility managers and building occupants. In the Coca-cola offices the occupants included the
employees of the organization and in the Victoria Towers; occupants included employees of
several organisations on lease hold tenancy in the building. Observation and interviews were also
used as another source of primary data through two reconnaissance visits undertaken to
familiarize oneself with the study area and focus. The questionnaires were given to respondents
at one visit and collected at a subsequent visit so as to give the respondents adequate time to
answer the questions at their free time due most of the respondents were busy.
3.4.2 Secondary Data
Relevant books, published and unpublished research projects, thesis, energy journal, Acts of
parliament, and internet sources formed secondary data. The advantage of secondary data is it
has a pre-established degree of validity and reliability, which requires no re-examination by a
researcher who is re-using the data. Therefore, the secondary data analysis spared and saved a
considerable amount of time which could be unrealistic for any individual to collect on their own
(Robson, 2002 as cited in Bwire S.P, 2008). .
48
3.5 Data collection
The most fundamental and key source of data collection was an observation check-list that was
used in obtaining the first hand information if the building managers and occupants had energy
management programmes incorporated and whether the energy management practices were part
of the building users culture and its effect to energy consumption. Therefore the reconnaissance
turned out to have been useful in observing various features that were relevant to the research.
The researcher intends to use the number of organisations occupying the buildings and the
number of employees each organisation has so as to be able to calculate and obtain the perfect
sample for the whole population. The information was tabulated as below:-
Table 1: Victoria Towers
Name of Organisation Floor Wing Number of Employees
Star Times Kenya Ground North & south 33
Ashtiva &Co. Advocates Ground North 10
Micro-Scan Technologies Ground North 6
Victoria Bank Mezzanine North & south 15
Nathan Claire consulting 1 North 3
CCS Kenya 1 North 8
3M 2 South 5
SGS Kenya 3 & 4 North & South 25
Transaction payment Solution 5 North 5
Engen Kenya 4 South 15
Mike Johns Software’s 5 South 10
Pace power Africa Limited 6 North 20
Protea Polymers 6 North 11
Neptune 7 South 20
Tamarind Translators 9 North/South 4
Act Serve 10 North/South 13
Table 2: Coca-Cola Building
Name of Organisation Number of floors Number of Employees
Coca-Cola Company Africa Limited 2 100
49
3.6 Population
The population target in this research is the occupants of in the two commercial buildings, The
Coca-Cola company offices and The Victoria Towers in upper hill commercial business district.
The research concentrated on the building managers and occupants of the two buildings in an
effort to understand how energy is used, how energy use is managed and if the building
occupants were aware of the impact their energy use behaviours had to the overall energy
consumption of the respective buildings.
The Coca-Cola Company had a total of 100 employees and the Victoria Towers Building had a
total of 16 organisations cumulatively 203 employees, making the total population of 303
building occupants from which the sample was derived.
3.7 Data analysis and presentation
The analysis of data requires a number of closely related operations such as establishment of
categories, the application of these categories to raw data through coding, tabulating and then
drawing statistical inferences (Kothari C.R., 2004).
Analysis of the collected data was analysed using SPSS (Statistical Product and Service
Solution) programme that provides simple summaries of the sample and the observations that
were made. The summaries included quantitative, meaning summary of statistics and Visual,
meaning simple-to-understand graphs. For ease of understanding and interpretation by users the
researcher opted for the use of simple tools of data presentation which included percentages,
graphs, tables and charts.
3.8 Sampling Design
A sample design is a definite plan for obtaining a sample from a given population, it refers to the
technique or procedure the researcher adopts in selecting items for the sample. Sample design
may as well lay down the number of items to be included in the sample such as, the size of the
sample and is always determined before data collection (Kothari C.R., 2004).
In this research, a probabilistic sampling method was adopted, whereby every unit of the
population or universe was given an equal chance of inclusion to the sample. This was to ensure
that the units forming the sample are entirely based on probability and provide a basis of
measuring the degree of error or significance of the results obtained from the sample, which
according to Kothari C.R., (2004)
50
Brings out the superiority of the probabilistic or random sampling design has over the deliberate
or non-probabilistic sampling design. He further contends that random sampling ensures the law
of statistical regularity which states “If on an average the sample chosen is a random one, the
sample will have the same composition and characteristics as the universe” and this is the reason
why random sampling is considered as the best technique of selecting representative sample.
In order to obtain a reasonable and a representative sample size for the research, a confidence
level of 95% of the targeted population was assumed and that the response achieved from the
sample would be within a significant level of 5% either positive of negative. The formula
adopted for determining the sample size from a population of 303 commercial office building
occupants is a state below;
푛 = . . .( ) . .
N=size of accessible population
n=sample size
Q=1-P
P=sample proportion assuming a confidence level of 95% of target population
e=acceptable error (=0.05 since the estimate should be within 5% of the true
Value
Z=value of standard variant at a given confidence level and worked out using
Normal distribution curves taken here as 1.96
(Chava Frankfort.N and David Nachmias 1996 (as cited in Anthony M.M (2008))
푛 =1.96 × 0.95 × 0.05 × 303
0.05 (303− 1) + 1.96 × 0.95 × 0.05 = 58.8
Using the above formula the sample size (n) was found to be 58 commercial office building
occupants and managers whereby the researcher equally allocated an equal number of
respondents in the Coca-cola company regional head office and the Victoria Towers buildings. A
total of 29 questionnaires for each building were prepared and administered to 1 building
manager and 28 building occupants in each building so as to ensure that equal chances of
comparison between the two buildings.
51
3.9 Summary
This chapter has explored the available research methodologies, the research approach, the
research process and design, discussed the study area and population in depth. The study
dwelled into comparing the two case studies in regards to energy use and management.
52
CHAPTER FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION
4.0 Introduction
The study sought to investigate the impacts of energy management on energy consumption in
commercial office buildings. To achieve this, the researcher sought to undertake a comparative
study of the Coca-Cola company head office and the Victoria Towers buildings in upper hill. The
aim of the study was to establish the relationship that exists between energy management and the
energy consumption in commercial office buildings. The data collected was closely analyzed in
comparison with the literature review discussing the various energy management opportunities
and how the two buildings utilize these opportunities.
A total of 58 Questionnaires were administered to the respondents consisting of 56 building
occupants and 2 building managers in the two buildings, but 44 questionnaires from 42 building
occupants and 2 building managers were collected and analysed. The reason to the turnout was
as a result of lack of correspondence from some respondents who were not present on the first
and second collection of the questionnaires and as time was not on the researchers side, therefore
the data analysis and presentation was based on the returned questionnaires, oral interview
during the researcher’s visits to the buildings, researcher's observation and other secondary data
collected during the research period.
4.1 Response to Questionnaires administered to the population under Study
The following is a tabulation of the overall response obtained from the two buildings
Table 3: Response to questionnaires administered to sample under study
Respondents Total respondents Responses Percentage turnout
Building occupants 56 42 75%
Building manager 2 2 100%
Total 58 44 75.9
Source: Field Survey, April 2013
The response from the two building managers was a 100% and from the occupants in the two
building was at 75%.
Mugenda and Mugenda (1999) states that; while administering questionnaires, a response rate of
53
50% is adequate for analysis and reporting, 60% is a good response while 70% and above is very
good.
All the respondents to whom questionnaires were administered to in the Coca-Cola building
were owner occupants while 92.7% of the respondents in the Victoria towers building were
tenant occupiers and 7.3% of the respondents were owner occupants. In the Coca-Cola company
building all the occupants were familiar to the energy consumption aspects installed in the
building and were aware of the various energy systems and how control on energy consumption
was being undertaken by the organization and the energy team as a whole.
4.2 Coca-Cola Building
Table 4 Coca-Cola responses
Respondents Respondents Number of responses Percentage response
Building Occupants 28 20 71.4 %
Building Managers 1 1 100 %
Totals 29 21 72.4%
Source: Field survey, April 2013
From table 4, above, the response from Coca-Cola building was at 71.4% from building
occupants and at 100% from the building manager and the overall response from the building
was at 72.4% making it a very good response for analysis.
4.3 Victoria Towers
The occupants of Victoria towers building on the contrary were not aware of the consumption of
the various energy aspects in the building, the irony is, most of the building occupants and
organizations use their desired energy fittings and that their energy bills are included in their
rental charges, therefore the energy capacities and usage of the fittings (light fittings, air-
conditioning, and telecommunication and office equipments) are not their concern.
54
Table 5: Victoria towers responses
Respondents Total respondents Responses Percentage response
Building occupants 28 22 78.6%
Building managers 1 1 100%
Totals 29 23 79.3%
Source: Field Survey, April 2013
4.4 Sources of energy
From the two buildings, analysis of the sources of energy as answered by the energy managers
depicted that amongst the three sources in each building, electricity and generator are the most
used sources at 100% with solar energy used in the Coca Cola building at 50% response and at
0% from Victoria towers.
Chart 1: Energy sources
Source: Author’s analysis
Then the building managers selected the energy source that is mostly used on a daily basis for
the day -to-day functioning of the building. The highest used energy source was electricity at
80% and 70% in Victoria towers and Coca-Cola Company building respectively. Generator
follows second at 20% in both buildings with the reason being the periodic power blackouts
experienced in Nairobi and finally Solar was at 0% and 10% in Victoria towers and Coca-Cola
building respectively the reason being, Coca-Cola Company uses solar energy for heating water
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Electricity( frm national grid
Generator Solar
energy sources
Victoria Towers
Coca-Cola
55
for the kitchen for making tea and warming food for the staff as no food is cooked within the
building while in the Victoria towers, no solar is installed and used.
Chart 2: Daily energy use
Source: Author’s analysis
4.5 Installed energy aspects in the office buildings
From the building managers response the energy aspects installed in the two buildings were,
Artificial lighting, Telecommunication and office equipments, and vertical transportation in both
buildings at 100% with air-conditioning and ventilation at 50%,both having been installed in
the Victoria towers. Heating had 0%; the reason being both buildings had no heating equipments
installed.
From the building occupants response based on the energy aspects in the two buildings, the most
used energy aspects were artificial lighting and telecommunication and office equipments with
ventilation and air-conditioning most used by a section of occupants in Victoria towers the
rationale being occupants in Victoria towers have the liberty to install their desired energy
aspects so long as they pay the set rent.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
electricitydaily percentage use
Generator daily use Solar daily use
80%
20%
0%
70%
20%
10%
Daily energy use
Victoria towers Coca-Cola Building
56
Chart 3: Most used energy aspects
Source: Author’s analysis
Chart 4: Building energy consumption and management practices
Source: Author’s analysis
52%
0%18.60%
9.30%0%
52%48%
0% 0% 0% 0%
48%
0%
100%81.40%
90.70%100%
0%
Most used energy aspectVictoria towers Coca-Cola company building N/A
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
48.80%
48.80%
48.80%
48.80%
48.80%
48.80%
51.20%
51.20%
51.10%
51.10%
51.10%
51.10%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Monthly energy consumption
Energy manager/team for building energy …
Participation energy awarenes/training
Automatic switching off when not in use
Installation of occupancy sensors in intermittent …
Maintenance of energy systems
Building energy consumption and management practices
No Coca-Cola company building No Victoria towers
Yes Coca-Cola company building Yes Victoria towers
57
In both buildings the occupant respondents were not aware of the monthly energy consumption;
this was as a result of the involvement of building managers fully in the payment of the energy
bills.
In the Coca-Cola building, occupants were not aware of the exact monthly energy consumption,
but they were aware of the trends on energy use on the basis of the statistics of energy
consumption communicated to all occupants after every four months after an energy audit has
been carried out on all energy using aspects of the building.
Victoria towers building occupants were totally unaware of the trends and exact energy
consumption of the building as each organization in the building paid rental charges including all
service charges without the knowledge of how much energy cost monthly.
The response on whether or not there were occupancy sensor’s installed, automatic switching off
of un-used energy fittings, participation in energy awareness and training, and existence of an
energy manager and an energy team in the two buildings. 21 respondents from the Coca-Cola
building answered YES for all the questions while those in Victoria towers while all 22
respondents from Victoria towers building answered NO for all the mentioned questions.
Table 6: Age of the building and monthly energy bills
Name of Building Age of Building Monthly electricity Bills Total
250,001-500,000 More than 500,000
Coca Cola building 1-5 years 1 0 1
Victoria towers 11-15 years 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
From table 6 above, response from the two building managers show that energy consumed in the
Victoria towers and Coca-Cola Company building was on the range of above 500,000 Kenya
shillings and 250,001 – 500,000 Kenya shillings in the two buildings respectively. From the
Coca-Cola building, the consumption was on average as the bills were not consistent but there
has at no time having had a monthly energy bill of above 500,000 Kenya shillings.
58
From this, the researcher forms the basis of comparison between the two buildings based on the
varying energy consumption and the energy management practices in place in both buildings.
4.6 How often are energy systems maintained
Chart 5: How often are energy systems maintained
Source: Author’s analysis
Figure 4.5 shows the response from respondents in the two buildings and how each of the
Occupants answered the question; how often are energy systems maintained? From the Victoria
towers, the respondents were answering based on the different organization housed in the
building as each organization installs energy aspects of their desire and need; therefore, each
organization maintains the various energy aspects in the organization with differing schedules.
In Coca-Cola building the respondents had differing responses not sure of the schedule of
maintenance of the energy installations as some maintenance was on emergency purposes and
some were done on a routine basis.
2%
26%
14%
9%14%
19%
16%0%
How often are energy systems maint ained
Victoria towers Very often
Victoria towers Always
Victoria towers Sometimes
Victoria towers N/A
Coca-Cola Very often
Coca-Cola Always
Coca-Cola Sometimes
Coca-Cola N/A
59
4.7 Energy management programme, energy team, energy policy and integration of energy
management objectives with the organizations objectives
The two building managers’ responses were differing;
In the Victoria building there was no energy management programme, no energy team in place,
had no energy policy and there being no energy management commitment there was no
integration of energy management objectives with the organisations objectives. The reason to
this was; different organisations are housed in this building and that no organisation had the
knowledge of their monthly energy costs apart from the monthly rent they paid to the landlord.
While in the Coca-Cola Company building the response was positive that there was an energy
management programme in which the organisation management and the organisation employees
were aware of the existence of the programme and that there was an energy team constituted to
oversee how energy is used and advise the top management on energy expenses and how it could
be minimised. Very evident was that there was a synergy between the energy team and the
organisation management making the energy management objectives part of the organisation
backed by the effort of the organisation management to incorporate solar energy in the building
for heating water for the kitchen, for making tea and warming food for the staff as no food is
cooked within the building.
4.8 Energy Audits
Table 7: Conducting energy audits
Name of Building Conducting energy audits Total
Yes No
Coca Cola building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
60
Table 8: Frequency of conducting audits
Name of building If yes, How often Total
Biannually N/A
Coca Cola building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
Table 9: Effectiveness of energy audits to energy management
Name of building Effectiveness of energy audits to energy
management
Total
5 N/A
Coca Cola building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
This question was directed to the building managers being the people best placed to be aware of
when audits are conducted and backed by questions of whether or not building occupants have
participated in energy awareness and training during their stay in the building. Responses from
the building occupants in the two buildings showed t hat in Victoria building there has never
been an energy training and awareness campaign done and no one from their responses had
participated in either of the two while in Coca-Cola company building occupants response
showed they have participated in an energy awareness and training on how to use energy
consuming equipments in the building.
From the managers, the response was that in Victoria building no energy audits had been
conducted, while the response from the Coca-Cola building energy audits have been conducted
biannually with the results of the audit presented to the energy team and the organization
61
management then the results and the outcome of the audit communicated to the building
occupants.
The manager respondents were then asked to give an opinion on how effective the energy audits
are to energy management. The building manager of Victoria towers was unable to answer this
question as it was invalid to the building while the Coca-Cola Company Building manager
ranked the effectiveness of energy audit at 5 on a scale of 5 as he argued that it’s from the
outcome and results of the audits where the energy team and the management evaluates
achievements based on the goals set, if the goals are not attained, a review is undertaken to
establish the cause of missing the target and after this new goals are set with a clear knowledge
to overcome the prior challenges in energy management.
4.9 Monitoring and control
Table 10: Monitoring and control of energy consumption
Name of building Do you monitor and control energy consumption Total
Yes No
Coca Cola building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
Response from building managers on monitoring and controlling of energy trends in energy
consumption was aimed at revealing if at all there is any effort by the building owner and
occupants in tracking the energy consumption trends of a particular building for the purpose of
data collection and possible strategizing on how to minimize energy and selection of a
benchmark based on the energy consumption trends. Monitoring and controlling as functions of
management are very essential in determining whether or not management is undertaken in an
organization to ensure that all plans are on track, therefore in energy management the two
functions are as important as are in organization management.
62
Table 11: Metering and Monitoring
Name of building Sub-metering and monitoring Total
Yes No
Coca Cola building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
In Victoria towers there was no sub-meters and monitoring systems in place to measure the
major energy operated elements while there was sub-meters installed for each installation to
check and track the consumption in the Coca-Cola company building from day the of installation
to when there is need to replace the particular system. Sub-metering helps building managers in
determining the amount of energy each energy system consumes so as to be able to control the
consumption and seek for possible ways of reducing the systems energy consumption
Table 12: methods of monitoring and control
Name of the building If yes, what are the methods Total
Automatically N/A
Coca Cola building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
Table 13: Installed occupancy sensors
Name of Building Installed occupancy sensors Total
Yes No
Coca Cola Building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
63
From table 13, the method of monitoring in Coca-Cola building was automatic monitoring. The
reason of its adoption is that it is effective and efficient in controlling compared to manual
controlling. Manual control and monitoring system has flaws as it is dependent on someone to
control, therefore in situations whereby the person in-charge forgets, then the system consumes
energy until the person or someone turns it off. Manual control and monitoring is also tiresome
and expensive to operate therefore Coca-Cola building manager prefers automatic control as it
senses when a system is idles for long and therefore switch it off or turn to a standby mode.
Response on installed occupancy sensors was as shown on table 4.12. Coca-Cola building has
photovoltaic sensor installed close to all windows to switch off and on light fitting when there is
enough or deficient natural lighting into a particular building space to perform a function and
motion sensors in all intermittent used building space like the boardroom and washroom to
switch on when there is motion into the space and off when there is no motion in the building
space. This was evident to the researcher during one of the visit to the building. The reception
and staircase lobby were lit naturally with all ceiling pendulum suspended lighting fittings were
off.
4.10 Impact of energy management in the energy consumption of the building
Table 14: Impact of energy management in energy consumption
Name of Building Impact of energy management in energy
consumption in buildings
Total
Yes N/A
Coca Cola Building 1 0 1
Victoria towers 0 1 1
Total 1 1 2
Source: Author’s analysis
On the response to the question; according to the manager’s deductions and convictions whether
or not the practice of energy management has reduced energy consumption in the buildings?
From the fact that in Victoria building there was no practice of energy management this question
was Not Applicable to the manager. The manager in Coca-Cola building answered positively that
from the practice of energy management energy consumption of the building has considerably
reduced. This proves that energy management minimizes amount of energy consumed in a
building.
64
Chart 6: Impact of energy management in building energy consumption
Source: Author’s analysis
From figure 4.6 above, energy management has a positive impact according to the responses of
21 occupants of Victoria towers building and 21 occupants of Coca-Cola Company building with
only 1 occupant in Victoria towers choosing the no change option. From this response, it was
evident that energy management in whatever level it is practiced has the capability of having a
positive impact which is reduction of energy consumption as out of the 42 building occupants
respondents at 97.6% in both buildings with only 1 building occupants respondent at 2.4%
contempt that energy management has no change in energy consumption of a building.
Despite lack of energy management in Victoria towers building, after a brief explanation on what
energy management is all about 95.5% of the respondents of the building were of the opinion
that energy management had a positive impact on energy consumption in a building.
4.11 Problems experienced during the study survey
1. There were a lot of bureaucracies involved in approvals for carrying out the research
in both buildings as the contents of the study had to be cleared by the building owners
for Victoria towers and by the Company’s top management for Coca-Cola building ,
this resulted to delays in completion of the research.
2. Some respondents failed to respond to some questions which led to insufficient
information for the research.
0.00%
10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
40.00%
50.00%
60.00%
positive (+) Negative (-) No change
impact of energy managemment on energy consumption
Impact of energy management in building energy consumption
Victoria towers
Coca-Cola building
65
3. Some respondents were busy with very tight schedule and were not able to answer the
questionnaires and return them for analysis despite the persistence by the researcher.
4.12 Summary
This chapter entailed the analysis and presentation of data collected from the field and most
importantly the hypothesis testing for the research. From the data collected, it was evident that in
Coca-Cola Company building energy management was practiced while in Victoria towers
building there was no traces whatsoever of energy management practice though most of the
building occupants were of the opinion that energy management has a positive impact in a
building s energy consumption.
The research hypothesis that “Energy management practices have no effect on the energy
consumption in commercial office buildings” was strongly rejected based on the data collected
and analysed during the research.
66
CHAPTER FIVE: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIOND
5.0 Introduction
The study is to investigate the impact of energy management on energy consumption in
commercial office buildings using a comparative approach of the Coca-Cola Company head
office and the Victoria Towers in upper hill. After discussing the data collected, analysing and
presentation of the data, this chapter tries to state the relationship and support the findings of the
previous chapter have to the research hypothesis and the objectives of the study.
5.2 Summary of the Findings
The findings from this study on the impact of energy management on energy consumption in
commercial office buildings are summarized below:
It was found that electricity and generator are the most used sources of energy at 100% according
to the building manager respondents in both buildings. The highest used energy source on a daily
basis was electricity at 80% and 70% in Victoria towers and Coca-Cola Company building
respectively, generator follow second at 20% in both buildings and solar at 0% and 10% in the
two building respectively.
Artificial lighting, telecommunication and office equipments, and Vertical transportation was at
100% in buildings, air-conditioning and ventilation at 50% both in Victoria towers, heating was
at 0% according to the response from the building managers. The building occupant’s response
on the energy aspect in the two buildings revealed that artificial lighting and telecommunication
and office equipments were the most used in both buildings with ventilation and air-conditioning
being most used by a section of occupants in Victoria towers.
In both buildings all occupant respondents were not aware of the monthly energy consumption
and the response on the installation of occupancy sensors, automatic switching off of un-used
energy fittings, participation in energy awareness and training, and existence of an energy
manager and an energy team in the two buildings, 21 respondents from Coca-Cola building
answered YES for all questions while 22 respondents from Victoria towers answered NO.
Monthly energy consumption was found to be above 500,000 Kenya shillings in Victoria towers
and 250,001 – 500,000 Kenya shillings in Coca –Cola Company building.
67
Response on the frequency of maintenance of energy systems in both buildings was as follows;
in Coca-Cola building, 14% chose Very often option, 19% chose always option, 16% chose
Sometimes option and 0% chose the N/A (Not Applicable) option. In Victoria towers, 2% chose
Very often option, 26% chose always option, 14% chose sometimes option and 9% chose N/A
option.
There was no energy management programme, no energy team in place, no energy policy and
lacked integration of energy management objectives with the organisations objectives in Victoria
towers while in Coca-Cola Company building the response was positive, there was an energy
management programme, energy team in constituted by the organisation management and all
energy objectives were integrated with the organisations objectives and all employees of the
organization were aware of the energy objective set by the energy team.
Responses on whether energy audits are conducted in the buildings, the frequency at which
energy audits are conducted, communication of energy reports and the effectiveness of energy
audits to energy management, Victoria towers revealed that all the occupants had never
participated or witness an energy audit during their stay in the building while the occupants in
Coca-Cola Company building showed that they have participate in at least an energy awareness
training and witnessed an energy audit being conducted in the various energy installations in the
building.
On the effectiveness of the energy audits are to energy management, the building manager of
Victoria towers was unable to answer this question as to him it was invalid while the Coca-Cola
company building manager ranked the effectiveness of audits to energy management at 5 on a
scale of 5.
Response on monitoring of energy of energy was positive in coca-cola building and negative in
Victoria towers. There was sub- metering and monitoring systems to measure the major energy
operated elements in coca-cola building and none in Victoria towers. There was automatic
control in monitoring and occupancy sensors in coca-cola company building while in Victoria
towers there was no control at all and there were no occupancy sensors installed.
Finally, the response on the impact of energy management in the energy consumption of the
building was based on the manager’s deductions on the practice of energy management in the
68
building. The questions was not applicable to the Victoria towers manager but surprisingly
despite lack of an energy management practice in the building, 95.5% of occupants in the
building were of the opinion that energy management has a positive impact on energy
consumption.
Coca-cola building manager supported that energy management practice in the building has
considerably reduced energy consumption in the building. The occupant respondents in the
building were of the opinion that energy management has a positive impact on energy
consumption. This response makes a total of 97.6% of all occupants in the two building who
chose the positive option.
Despite the practice of energy management in the two buildings, there some underlying factors
that support the outcome of the study;
The gross floor areas of the buildings were different with a total of 40,000 square feet in Coca-
Cola building and approximately 110,500 square feet in Victoria towers. The difference in floor
area contributes to the high energy consumption in Victoria towers compared to Coca-Cola
Company building.
The type occupancy of the buildings was different where, in Victoria towers all occupants except
Victoria bank Ltd were tenant occupants while in Coca-Cola Company building; all occupants
were owner occupants, therefore making control of energy use easier as opposed to Victoria
towers. The occupancy levels and the hours of operations in the two buildings favoured the
outcome of the study. Based on the size and number of organizations in Victoria towers, there
were more occupants and most organizations operated into the night as opposed to Coca-Cola
Company building where operations in the building close by 5:30 p.m.
The design elements of the two buildings also could have played part in the results of the
findings. The presence of two elevators and two escalators in Victoria towers and only one
elevator in Coca-Cola Company building could have led to the high energy consumption due to
vertical transportation in Victoria towers and low energy consumption in Coca-Cola Company
building.
69
The complete blue tint glazing envelope, lack of sun shading devices and artificial lighting of all
circulation spaces in Victoria towers compared to large, clear and thick glass windows,
incorporation of multiple sun shading devices and use of daylight in almost all circulation spaces
through use of skylights may have resulted to more energy consumption to offset heat gains in
Victoria towers and less energy to offset the same in Coca cola Company building.
5.3 Hypothesis testing
The research hypotheses for this study were,
Ho (Null hypothesis);
“Energy management practices have no effect on the energy consumption in commercial office
buildings”
HI (Alternative hypothesis)
“Energy management practices has an effect on energy consumption in commercial office
buildings”
From the data analysis of the information collected during the field survey reveals that 100% of
the building managers affirmed that energy management practice reduces energy consumption in
commercial office buildings while 97.6% of the building occupants admitted that energy
management had a positive impact on the energy consumption in commercial building and more
specifically office buildings.
This therefore rejects and disapproves the research null hypothesis calling for the adoption and
acceptance of the alternative hypothesis furthermore has a positive effect which in this context is
reduction of the energy consumption.
In bid to staying relevant, with the objectives of the study set-out on the onset of this study it is
relevant to review on whether or not the study achieved the objectives. The first objective was to
establish the relationship between energy management and the energy consumption in
commercial office buildings.
The analysis of the information collected during the study revealed that there is a positive
relationship between energy management and energy consumption in commercial office building
at 97.6% from all building occupants. Identifying the energy aspect that has the largest potential
of reducing energy consumption in commercial office building, from the analysis of the most
70
used energy aspect or systems in a building was artificial lighting and Telecommunication and
office equipments which happened to be the most used at 52% and 48% respectively in both
buildings.
On the objective of identifying the energy management techniques most suitable in office
building was identified to be automatic control and monitoring as it is difficult to perform
manually reason being human beings are bound to make mistakes which in energy management
would result to wastage of energy.
5.4 Recommendations Conclusions
The recommendations offered here are inferred and in line with the findings obtained from the
study, therefore the researcher wishes to propose the following recommendations regarding the
Impact of energy management in commercial office buildings.
Commercial office building owners, managers and organizations on rent or on lease should
incorporate energy management practices in the buildings and ensure that all building occupants
and employees for the organisations are involved in the day -to-day management of the energy
they use. This is in accordance to the research results that proved that energy management helps
in reduction of energy consumption in commercial office buildings and it is only if every
occupant is involved in the practice. This is in the backdrop of the ever rising energy prices in
Kenya.
The building managers, owners and organizations in the building should conduct periodic energy
use and energy management awareness and training seminars for all occupants and by extension
building users. Training and awareness helps in reduction of energy consumption as occupants
would be informed on better way of using the energy systems in the building and ensure there is
no wastage of energy.
Ensure that energy audits are carried out to assess the energy consumption levels of all energy
systems in the building and the results and the report of an energy audit be made available to all
building occupants to be in a position to know where there can be improvements in regard to
reduction of energy use.
71
Each commercial building should form an energy team headed by an energy manager which will
be responsible in formulation of the building’s energy policy and objectives and ensure that the
team obtains support from the organization or various organizations top management and that the
energy team objectives marry with the organisations objectives.
Commercial office buildings should ensure that artificial lighting; telecommunication and office
equipments are well managed as they are the most used energy aspects in commercial office
buildings and therefore have the best chances and opportunities of reducing energy consumption.
Furthermore, each energy aspect in a commercial building should be metered separately to
ensure that there is data collected on energy consumption to help track changes. Alternative
sources of energy like solar energy can also be used for the most used energy aspects in the bid
to reduce energy dependency on the conventional sources of energy whose prices have been on
the rise overtime.
5.5 Proposed Areas of Further study
i. An investigation of the cost benefits that can be attained from outsourcing energy
management services in a building compared to the in-house energy management system.
ii. Effectiveness of National energy management policies and the effects on National
energy consumption
iii. A comparative study on the impact of energy management between two buildings owned
and fully occupied by the organization employees.
xiv
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xviii
APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE TO BUILDING MANAGERS UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
AN INVESTIGATION TO THE IMPACT OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT ON ENERGY
CONSUMPTION IN COMMERCIAL OFFICE BUILDINGS
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY HEAD OFFICE AND
THE VICTORIA TOWERS IN UPPER HILL
INSTRUCTIONS: PLEASE CHECK (TICK) IN THE BOX OF THE ANSWER YOU
CHOOSE, OR STATE IN WORDS WHERE REQUIRED.
QUESTIONNAIRE TO BUILDING MANAGERS
PART A. GENERAL INFORMATION
Please fill in the following:-
1. Name of the building..................................................................................................
2. Age of the building......................................................................................................
3. Ownership of the building..........................................................................................
Government [ ]
Parastatal [ ]
Private [ ]
4. Who manages the building..........................................................................................?
Government [ ]
Parastatal [ ]
Private [ ]
Owner [ ]
5. If private, what is the name of the managing firm.....................................................?
xix
PART B. DETAILED INFORMATION
6. What are the current sources of energy in the building?
Electricity (from the national grid) [ ]
Generator [ ]
Solar [ ]
Others please specify.............................................................................................................
7. Please rank the usage of the above choices on a daily basis in percentages
Electricity (from the national grid) [ ]
Generator [ ]
Solar [ ]
8. Generally, which of the following building energy aspects are being used or are installed
in the building?
Artificial Lighting [ ]
Heating [ ]
Ventilation [ ]
Air-conditioning [ ]
Vertical transportation (Lifts & Escalators) [ ]
Telecommunication and Office Equipments [ ]
Others please specify.............................................................................................................
9. On average, what is the monthly electricity and fuel consumption energy bill of the
building?
Less than 50,000 [ ]
50,000 – 100,000 [ ]
100,000 – 250,000 [ ]
250,000 – 500,000 [ ]
xx
More than 500,000 [ ]
10. Is there an energy management programme for the building or the organisation?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
11. Does the organisation or building have an energy team?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
12. Is there an energy policy in place for the building or organization?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
13. Are the energy management objectives integrated into the organizations objectives?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
14. Have energy audits been conducted in the building?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
15. If yes, how often is the audit conducted?
Monthly [ ]
After every three (3) months [ ]
After every six (6) months [ ]
Annually [ ]
xxi
Biannually [ ]
16. Have the results of the audits been communicated to the building occupants?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
17. In your own opinion, on a scale of 5, how effective were the audits to energy
management?
1 [ ]
2 [ ]
3 [ ]
4 [ ]
5 [ ]
18. Do you monitor and control trends in energy consumption?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
19. Are sub-meters or monitoring systems in place to measure the major energy operated
elements (lighting, heating, ventilation and Air-conditioning and Telecommunication and
office equipments?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
20. If yes, what are the methods of monitoring employed?
Manually [ ]
Automatically [ ]
xxii
21. Have occupancy sensors been used or installed in all intermittent occupied
spaces(Conference rooms, private offices, Wash-rooms, staircase)
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
22. From your own deduction, has the practice of energy management in the building
reduced energy consumption?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
xxiii
APPENDIX 2: QUESTIONNAIRE TO BUILDING OCCUPANTS
UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI
AN INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF ENERGY MANAGEMENT ON ENERGY
CONSUMPTION IN COMMERCIAL OFFICE BUILDINGS
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COCA-COLA COMPANY HEAD OFFICE AND
THE VICTORIA TOWERS IN UPPER HILL
INSTRUCTIONS: PLEASE CHECK (TICK) IN THE BOX OF THE ANSWER YOU
CHOOSE, OR STATE IN WORDS WHERE REQUIRED.
QUESTIONNAIRE TO BUILDING OCCUPANTS
Please fill in the following:-
1. Name of the building.....................................................................................
2. Name of the Organisation.............................................................................
3. How long have you been an occupant of the building?
1-2 years [ ]
2-3 years [ ]
3-4years [ ]
4-5 years [ ]
More than five (5) years [ ]
4. What are the current sources of energy in the building?
Electricity (from the national grid) [ ]
Generator [ ]
Solar [ ]
xxiv
5. Which of the following building energy aspects do you mostly use on a daily basis in the
building?
Artificial Lighting [ ]
Heating [ ]
Ventilation [ ]
Air-conditioning [ ]
Vertical transportation [ ]
Telecommunication and Office Equipment [ ]
6. Are you aware of the monthly cost of energy consumed in the building?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
7. If yes, on average how much is it?
Less than 50,000 [ ]
50,000 – 100,000 [ ]
100,000 – 250,000 [ ]
250,000 – 500,000 [ ]
More than 500,000 [ ]
8. Is there an energy manager or an energy team accountable for overall energy
consumption management?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
xxv
9. Have you participated in an energy use awareness or training for the building?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
10. If yes, has the awareness campaign been helpful in changing the way building
users/occupants use energy?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
11. Are energy consuming systems in the building turned off automatically when not used?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
12. Have occupancy sensors been used or installed in all intermittent occupied
spaces(Conference rooms, private offices, Wash-rooms, staircase)
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
13. Are energy systems in the building maintained?
Yes [ ]
No [ ]
14. If yes, how often is it done?
Very often [ ]
Always [ ]
Hardly [ ]
Sometimes [ ]
xxvi
15. In your own judgment, what impact does energy management have on the energy
consumption of the building?
Positive (+) [ ]
Negative (-) [ ]
No change [ ]
xxvii
APPENDIX 3: PERSONAL RESEARCH LETTER
University of Nairobi
College of architecture and engineering
School of the built environment
Department of real estate and construction management
Questionnaire to building occupants and managers
P.O BOX 30197 – 00100,
NAIROBI, KENYA.
Confidentiality Clause:
I am a fourth year student at the University of Nairobi pursuing a Bachelor s in Quantity
Surveying undertaking a research on “AN INVESTIGATION TO THE IMPACT OF ENERGY
MANAGEMENT ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN COMMERCIAL OFFICE BUILDINGS,
A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE COCA COLA COMPANY HEAD OFFICE AND THE
VICTORIA TOWERS IN UPPER HILL”. The information given in this questionnaire shall be
treated as confidential and will be used solely for the research purpose.
Kindly assist I in my endeavour by filling in the questionnaire attached.
Your assistance will be highly appreciated.
Yours Sincerely
Bebora Lewis Lauzi,
Phone: 0733-680-695,
Email: lauzilws1@gmail.com.