Design for Energy Efficiency in Buildings

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 1
DESIGN FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS
INVESTIGATION OF PERFORMANCE GAP FACTORS OF ENERGY EFFICIENT
BUILDINGS IN UAE
(NONDOMESTIC BUILDINGS)
By (Student Name)
Professor (tutor name)
School (University)
Location
Date

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 2
Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Research approach and methods..................................................................................................3
2.1 Cross-sectional survey design................................................................................................6
2.2 Correlational and experimental study....................................................................................8
2.2.1 Field measurements........................................................................................................9
2.2.2 Method of calculation...................................................................................................10
2.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................10
3. Research phases.........................................................................................................................11
4. Limitations and ethical consideration........................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15
Appendices....................................................................................................................................18
Appendix 1:...............................................................................................................................18
Appendix 2:...............................................................................................................................20
Appendix 3:...............................................................................................................................22

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 3
1. Introduction
This study evaluates different options in terms of research methods and processes to identify the
most suitable one for this study. As the topic concerns with the factors causing gap in energy
efficiency in the nondomestic buildings in the United Arab Emirates, both socio-cultural and
strategic design factors need to be evaluated to identify the problem and suggest the solution.
Therefore, survey along with experiment would be used for investigating the issue. This study
proposes a research plan to find the causes as well as solutions to the identified issue of gap in
energy efficiency in the Green Built (DM certified) building in UAE.
2. Research approach and methods
This research aims to identify the factors that affect the level of energy efficiency in the
nondomestic buildings in the United Arab Emirates causing a significant gap between the energy
spent and the performance achieved through the consumption of the energy. It is an applied
social psychology research (Thibaut, 2017). It aims to acquire understanding of the (i) habits of
the users of nondomestic buildings affecting their energy efficiency, (ii) technological gaps
contributing to performance gap and (iii) design ideas and strategies that could be recommended
to minimize the gap. To acquire desired knowledge and solution quantitative approach has been
chosen for the study as it would avail numerical result that would quantify the variables, which
would be useful in understanding correlation between them (Bernard, 2017). While a qualitative
study would have ensured rich and in-depth understanding of the determinants of individual
behaviour and their consequences it could not provide a quantifiable relationship between the
independent and the dependent variables (Brannen, 2017).

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 4
Figure 1: Study constructs
(Source: created by student)
Along with the survey of the samples representative of the agents of the companies responsible
for the energy consumption pattern and the consumers of the nondomestic buildings, an
experiment would also be conducted to evaluate the potential recommendations identified
through the analysis of the survey responses and theoretical knowledge (Greenfield and Greener,
2016). While result of the survey would help in providing a generalizable understanding of the
Dependent variable
Energy efficiency
Energy performance
gap
Independent variable
Consumption behavior
Technology
Strategic design
Monitoring system
Mediating variable
Consumpti
on habit
Technological and
robotic strategies
and design
Moderating variable
Consumer’s
age, culture,
knowledge
Technological
and robotic
knowledge

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 5
issue result it is also a preferred research option due to its wide applicability and low cost.
Closed-ended multiple choice questions targeted to investigate the effect of each independent
variables such as consumption behaviour, strategic design, technology and monitoring system on
energy efficiency of the nondomestic buildings of the UAE would help in verifying or refuting
the theories studied in the secondary literature. Studies have claimed that user-centered tactics to
modify the occupant’s behaviour might help in solving the issue of energy efficiency (Lin,
Afshari and Azar, 2018). This theory might be verified and further developed through the
research. On the other hand, experiment in form of the computer simulation modeling would
help in assessing the tactics that could come out as the potential solution as a result of the survey
analysis. Hence this is a quantitative study that aims to use experimental measures to investigate
the factors affecting energy efficiency and provide substantial solutions to the issues identified.
This research would utilize measures such as survey and experiment to a) find a cultural
understanding of the manner in which the occupants behave and how they can adapt to better
strategic practices that could leverage energy efficiency without triggering the consequences like
the performance gap, and b) adopt tactics to present comprehensible outcome in form of building
performance through computer simulation modeling. To elucidate the effectiveness of the
proposed research methods in achievement of research objectives, the objectives are linked with
the proposed methods in the following manner:
1. To identify the social and cultural habits of building users
 Behavioral outcomes of the consumers would be measured through the responses
acquired through survey

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 6
2. To determine how the robotic and technological strategies, used in the buildings, affect energy
efficiency
 Responses of the functional and executive designenrs of the companies would be used to
quantify the relation between technology and energy efficiency
3. To establish a framework of determined social and cultural habits, of users, for technological
strategies in nondomestic buildings
 Consequences of cultural determinant on the energy consumption of the occupants would
be identified through the responses of the occupants and verified through the responses of
the functional and executive designers
4. Based on the findings as per above plan, potential solutions would be identified
5. The identified solutions would be evaluated through computer simulation modeling
experiment and most potent solution recognised through the experiment would be recommended
to minimize the energy efficiency gap.
2.1 Cross-sectional survey design
A cross-sectional survey design would be used for this study as it would allow the research to
assess information collected from a range of respondents in a particular time (Nardi, 2018).
Though, unlike the longitudinal survey it cannot record the change in behaviour or experience of
the respondents concerning a research variable it is more effective in establishing relationship
between the variables in a given time (Caruana et al. 2015). This research aims to understand
the determinants of energy efficiency gap in UAE from two different perspectives. Therefore,
questionnaire would be distributed among two primary groups. 150 functional and executive