Abstract

In the past decades, the rapid development of building energy efficiency technologies in the world has gradually deepened people’s recognition on this concept in Malaysia, a fast developing economy in the tropical zone. The rapid growth of energy use has raised concerns over problems in supply world wide. This has caused the exhaustion of energy resources and severe environmental impacts such as depletion of ozone layer, global warming, and climate change. Efficient use of energy plays an essential role in minimizing energy usage and carbon dioxide emissions. Having in mind the aim to quantify the current building energy efficiency status in selected buildings and to seek for opportunities to obtain continuing improvement in building energy performance, two case studies consisting of site visits, documentation reviews, questionnaire surveys, and interviews were conducted and the results revealed remarkable insufficiencies in energy efficiency in the studied buildings. Various aspects in improving energy efficiency and renewable energy applications in tropical buildings have been recommended based on the research findings.

Key words: Building energy efficiency, continuing improvement, case study, building energy performance.