The headquarters of the Malaysian Energy Commission in Putrajaya is one of the most accredited buildings in the Green Building Index (GBI). One of the novelity of Diamond buildings is their lower BEI performance compared to other office buildings. This study was conducted to look at the comparative use of Diamond building energy and conventional office buildings. The question from this study is how energy consumption is used in Diamond building and conventional office building and what are the steps taken by both buildings to save energy. The objectives of the study were to identify energy consumption in the diamond building and conventional office buildings and to identify energy saving measures in both office buildings. Therefore, this study examines the use of qualitative methods as the primary source for data acquisition. Respondents consisted of 2 experienced and knowledgeable people in the the building being studied. The results of this study found that generally the energy consumption for these two buildings are from the use of air conditioning, electrical and electronic equipment and mechanical equipment and what distinguishes these two buildings is the system used to operate the equipment. The energy management involves monitoring energy consumption, consumer discretion in selecting appropriate equipment, the knowledge of clients, architects, engineers and contractors on architecture and sustainable construction and cooperation of building occupants. This study can provide inspiration and benchmarks for other buildings in the management of energy consumption in the building and measures to reduce energy consumption. The data and information collected may be used by facility managers, building supervisors, technicians and related members as reference.
This study was designed to explore the perception of stakeholders on solid waste policy governance in Malaysia. A total of 500 respondents were selected through random stratified sampling. The data of this study were collected via questionnaire distribution and were analysed by applying descriptive statistical analysis (mean, standard deviation and percentage) and inferential statistical analysis (t-test, correlation and stepwise multiple regression). The results of the study show that the perception of respondents on governance factors was varied, depending on the socio-demographic attributes of the respondents. Bivariate analysis reveals that all the policy governance factors are strong and positively connected to good governance elements practiced in solid waste policy implementation. However, multi regression model shows only three policy governance factors, namely resources management, policy implementation system and staff's competency significantly influence good governance practice of the stakeholders.
Ineffective design of a facilities is one of the factors that challenge the execution of activities supported by facilities management (FM). Designers and clients are not usually interested in FM service considerations during design stage because they think they are saving money. However, ineffective design has cause issues during the post-occupancy activities of a facilities. Without any denial, integration of FM considerations in design stage is a challenging task. Therefore, the objectives of this research are to identify the challenges of integrating FM consideration during building design stage and to suggest potential approaches to improve the integration of FM considerations in building design. The scope of this research is involves FM contractor in Selangor. Quantitative method was adopted by distributing a questionnaire survey to the FM contractor. In this research, data being collected was analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 22.0. The results show that the most significant challenges is related to FM challenges category namely FM is still immature in Malaysia and knowledge transfer from FM to the design are still poor. The most significant potential approaches suggested is designers and clients should get the FM on board early during design stage. In conclusion, this research is important as one of the steps to improve the integration of FM considerations in design stage of a construction project.
The National recycling programme has been launched in the year 1993 and then re-launched in the year 2000; however, the recycling rate is at a very low level in Malaysia. The solid waste generation has been increasing due to population growth, rapid growth of economy, urbanization and changes in lifestyle. Hence solid waste management is challenging in Malaysia. Currently, most of the solid wastes are disposed in landfills as it is one of the cheaper and easier methods in Malaysia. However, the landfills have reached a maximum and critical level due to high volume of solid waste generation. Meanwhile, most of the landfills are open dumping sites, which has caused environmental pollution. New landfill sites are difficult to identify as they have been rejected by the local community, such as the Bukit Payong landfill. Nevertheless, recycling is the most convenient method to reduce the solid waste disposal in landfills. Many recycling programmes have been conducted to achieve the recycling target, including the mandatory waste segregation at source programme. Many researchers have studied the failure in sustainability of recycling programmes aimed to increase the recycling rate in Malaysia. Therefore, this research paper is based on the conceptual framework findings from the literature review of recycling programmes and aims to develop a recycling programme based on integration approaches of good governance practices, functions of management, and the PDCA concept. The integration approaches of good governance practices, functions of management and PDCA concept will be used in recycling programme formulation. All stakeholders shall be involved in the recycling programmes formulation at each stage of planning, implementation, monitoring, and improvement. The continuous improvement cycle shall be practiced in the recycling programmes for sustainability. This framework of recycling programme formulation will act as a guideline for other environmental programmes in Malaysia.
Article history: Background: Nowadays, policy for solid waste management has become one of crucial policy in many countries. The performance of solid waste management has become a bench mark of sustainability for certain countries. Moreover, solid waste management is one of pivotal indicators to assess quality of l ife index that developed by United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). In Malaysia, the policy for solid waste management has experienced changes since 1988. The modification and improvement of solid waste management policy in Malaysia has given an opportunity towards sustainability. This article has reviewed t he concept of public policy. The concept of public policy would give comprehension regarding the issues and conflicts that related. Besides that, this article also has r eviewed the United Nations perspective of public policy for solid waste management. Moreover, the significant of public policy for solid waste management has discussed in this ar ticle to give an insight towards sustainable solid waste management in the future.
Abstract Flooding is not an uncommon phenomenon that occurs yearly in Malaysia. In fact, in the last few decades, the event of floods in Malaysia has become a disaster and has negatively impacted human wellbeing. Disaster Resilience Education (DRE) is one of the initiatives to prepare the community towards the unpredictable event of a disaster, including the flood. Therefore, this study will explore the Disaster Resilience Education (DRE) programmes that have been conducted in a secondary school at Tanah Merah, Kelantan. A questionnaire was adopted as the research instrument to collect data from respondents. A total of 200 respondents which consisted of students, teachers, and administrative staffs, had participated in this study. The stratified sampling approach was applied in this study to select the respondents. Descriptive and inferential analysis were executed to explore the DRE programmes that had been conducted, in order to identify the school’s community awareness on DRE and the factors that influence the school’s community awareness. This study has revealed that there is a minimal number of DRE programmes that have been conducted by the school. However, the awareness level of the school community on DRE is good. This study has found that different socio-demographic factors have a significant influence on the school’s community awareness on DRE. Therefore, the finding from this study is crucial for the local authority and government, to enhance the resilience programme in school.
This article investigated the impact of e-audit on the performance of public organizations in Oman as well as the relationships between e-audit and performance.This paper also looked at computer activities, e-audit, its advantages, related research, and how well it works to improve organizational performance.Additionally, this study used questionnaires and surveys to collect data before studying and analyzing the results.To explore the relationship between independent variables (E-Audit) and dependent factors (Performance) in research that was planned and evaluated using software that was analyzed as part of a theoretical framework, structural modelling was used.To examine the suppositional correlations, these results were analyzed using several data paths using SPSS and the Smart-PLS technique.The results also showed a substantial and favorable relationship between E-Audit performance and that of Oman's public organizations.
Over the past decade in particular, sustainable development has become an important aspect of the construction industries. There are many ways in which sustainability issues can be incorporated in to the design, construction, operation and deconstruction of buildings. Importantly sustainability represents the link between society and built environment professionals. In relation to that, this study involves a look at the human outlook and interaction with sustainability. In this study, the focus will be aimed on the role of the Local Governments and how they play their roles and affect the industry. Therefore, this study intend to look into the sustainable development. Another intended study is to provide an in-depth and better understanding the strength and weaknesses and other relevant factors that promote or hinder the Sustainable Development. This study is to contribute to the enrichment of knowledge on the role of Local Governments in Sustainable Development. Therefore, this research seeks to find out whether sustainable development is being practiced and seeks to find out what is happening with respect to issues of what, how and why things are being done with the development of Sustainable Development in building globally and in Malaysia in general.
This paper probes into the major barriers of adopting sustainable materials for the construction industry that has caused significant impacts to the environment, social, and economic aspects. The results reveal that main barriers resist the construction practitioners in adopting sustainable materials are due to the high initial expenses, which also refer their affordability. To maintain such a balance between environment, social, and economic aspect in construction industry, it requires the cooperation between construction stakeholders and intervention of the government sectors in adopting sustainable materials.
Incomplete combustion of organic and fossil fuel produced a mixture of hazardous air pollutants including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Abundance of PAHs occurrence in the atmosphere can be accumulated into vegetation. This research measures the concentration of PAHs collected in 8 selected species of plants to study the different composition of PAHs in different species of plant leaves to discover the ability of plants to absorb PAHs from the atmosphere. The study is concentrated on 3 toll station along PLUS' North-South Expressway in Johor for 6 months. Samples were extracted with ultrasonic agitation in dichloromethane and fractionated according to polarity before submitted to gas chromatography - mass spectrometry analysis to determine the concentration of PAHs. From the series of experiments, it shows that the plant leaves samples from highway roadside air contains various types of PAHs. There are also presence of PAHs of car exhaust characteristics such as phenanthrene, fluorene, and pyrene. Plant leaves have the ability to absorb the organic pollutant to facilitate the removal or reduce the pollutants from the atmosphere
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