Recent trends on organizational energy reduction policies and best practices in South-East Asia

Abstract Reports show that 40% of global carbon emissions come from energy consumed in buildings, so organizations around the world continuously seek ways to reduce their buildings energy consumption. Research identifies three main approaches; Retrofitting, the use of Low Carbon Buildings (LCB), and implementing Energy Management Systems (EMS). However, other factors could affect the success of these approaches; climate and local weather, building types, social acceptance, and implementation. This paper reviews and evaluates 50 reports on these implementations, and uses that evaluation to identify the most effective approach to reduce buildings carbon footprint. In this evaluation, authors used the reported success rate (in reducing carbon footprint) as key parameter, they then cross-checked this with origin of reports (country, climate region), building type, and implementation thoroughness. This allowed the authors to identify not only the best approach, but also understand the impact of these other factors on the reported success rate. Retrofitting was implemented the most (58%) but with varying success (2% to 49% reductions), this variation is attributed to the current state of the buildings and the level/method of retrofitting applied. LCB showed the highest reductions as energy saving measures were preplanned before building construction, this however limits LCB to new and planned buildings. Even though EMS showed results comparable to Retrofitting and required a fraction of the costs/effort, only 14% implemented it, this is an indication of the level of social awareness in the region on the need to reduce carbon footprint and its impact on the world’s climate.