A review on the factors influencing energy efficiency of mosque buildings

Mosques are external load dominated buildings that are characterized by their intermittent and varying occupancy schedules. Most mosques employ some form of mechanical heating/cooling system in order to maintain suitable thermal comfort conditions for the users during prayer times. Due to the unique spatial characteristics and occupancy patterns of mosques, these systems are often found to be energy-intensive which impacts the overall energy efficiency of the building. The inefficiency in mosque energy usage has been typically attributed to the poor thermal performance of the buildings along with unsuitable operational strategies for the occupancy schedule of mosques. This paper reviews contemporary literature on mosque energy usage with an aim of identifying the factors that influence the energy efficiency of mosque buildings. Findings from the literature have been categorized according to different parameters of the building design as well as design and operational strategies of the heating/cooling systems. Discussion on the common practice and best practice has also been done with respect to thermal comfort standards and requirements. In addition to that, this paper compares and critically evaluates the studies that have aimed at reducing energy consumption and improving energy efficiency in mosques. Findings from multiple research suggest that as much as half of the energy usage can be reduced with the optimization of building design and operational strategies of mosques. The review of contemporary literature provides valuable insights into mosque energy usage patterns and identifies the important aspects to be considered in reducing energy consumption in mosque buildings. Through this literature review, numerous research gaps have been identified that may be pivotal in designing energy efficient mosques. Based on those, future potential research prospects have also been suggested

The Development of a Preliminary Design for a TidalEnergy Plant

Renewable energy sources are considered a part of the future of energy production in Malaysia. The main objectives of this research are to append a new energy extraction technique that harvests energy from tides and to develop a preliminary design for a tidal energy plant at Kuching Barrage. Knowing the diameter of the turbine, the dimensions of the powerhouse are achieved in conjunction with site conditions. The centerline should be at least below the low water tide so that the tide is at all times guaranteed to be submerged. Based on this, the powerhouse has a 24.61m length, is about 100m in distance across, and its elevation is 36.39m. The construction is located downstream and the centerline habitation at -1.15 and below LSD. The calculated tidal energy plant is comprised of four bulb-type turbines installed at each barrage gate. The bulb-type turbine blades would face the sea site with 11.32m length of the draft tube. This study detailed feasibility study can be implemented

A literature review on the improvement strategies of passive design for the roofing system of the modern house in a hot and humid climate region

Increase of indoor temperature compared with outdoor temperature is a major concern in modern house design.Occupants suffer from this uncomfortable condition because of overheating indoor temperature.Poor passive design causes heat to be trapped, which influences the rise in indoor temperature.The upper part, which covers the area of the roof, is the most critical part of the house that is exposed to heat caused by high solar radiation and high emissivity levels.During daytime, the roof accumulates heat, which increases the indoor temperature and affects the comfort level of the occupants.To maintain the indoor temperature within the comfort level, most house designs usually depend on mechanical means by using fans or air conditioning systems.The dependence on a mechanical ventilation system could lead to additional costs for its installation, operation, and maintenance. Thus, this study concentrates on reviews on passive design and suggests recommendations for future developments.New proposals or strategies are proposed to improve the current passive design through ventilated and cool roof systems. It is possible to achieve the comfort level inside a house throughout the day by reducing the transmitted heat into the indoor environment and eliminating the internal hot air.These recommendations could become attractive strategies in providing a comfortable indoor temperature to the occupants as well as in minimizing energy consumption

Performance of Low Cost Alternative Radiant Cooling Panel in Malaysia

Radiant panel cooling is still considered uncommon in Malaysia due to unavailability of local manufacturers with limited architects or engineers who are familiar in the system. The initial construction cost for radiant cooling system may be higher than air system and not forgetting the need for a smaller supplementary air system to dehumidify the air to avoid condensation which is an inherited problem of the system in hot and humid region. Promotion and public awareness is lacking in the country and very much dependable on government demonstration program of green technology application where only a few governments owned building having such system. With the aim of long term energy and cost saving this study looks into the development of custom design and locally assembled low cost radiant cooling panel and how its performance in comparison to its overseas and more expensive counterpart could help in provide alternative cheaper building cooling system. Custom build cooling panels with selected materials were constructed and tested to find out its cooling capacity. Finite Element Method (FEM) software was used to establish a design chart to assist in the design and sizing of the alternative radiant panel for Malaysian residential house. The experiment shows that cooling performance in term of mean surface temperature and its cooling capacity is almost identical to its overseas counterpart. Use of cooling radiant panel with free night cooling of water as its chill water supply shows a significant energy saving potential while at the same time provide an acceptable room thermal comfort. Given the local made product having similar performance and suits local condition the technology could grow and be applied with confidence.       Â

A Passive Malaysian Residential Building With A Hydronic Radiator

This paper presents a study to find a ‘green’ alternative to the conventional air conditioner seen on the walls of many residential buildings in Malaysia. EnergyPlus®, the official building simulation software of the US Department of Energy, is used to model a row of four units of modern low cost terrace housing, end walls facing East and West to minimize exposure to the sun’s ray. The high altitude of the tropical sun heats the metallic roofs to above 60°C during the day and the attic is naturally cooled by outdoor air infiltration through effective leakage area of 2342m2 per unit. Insulation of R-value 2.5 (m2.K)/W is added above the ceilings. Simulations are run with outdoor dry bulb temperatures that are exceeded, on average, by 0.4% (35 hours) in a year, for Kuching, in East Malaysia. Typical meteorological year data shows that the maximum nightly temperatures in Kuching are about 25°C and in West Malaysian cities with World Meteorological Organisation stations are about 26°C. When radiative heat loss to the dark night sky is included, water can be cooled to 25°C. Preliminary simulations verify that beam solar radiation enters through the windows, and external window shades lower the maximum indoor temperature in the hottest West end unit, unoccupied, by 0.6°C to 30.5°C. Night cooled water circulated to a hydronic radiator, then lowers the maximum ‘well-mixed’ operative temperature of the unit, occupied, to below 30.2°C. The indoor air is stratified to a hotter upper and a lower cooler layer, and the occupant’s environment is comfortable with air speeds of 0.8m/s

Performance of Low Cost Alternative Radiant Cooling Panel in Malaysia

Radiant panel cooling is still considered uncommon in Malaysia due to unavailability of local manufacturers with limited architects or engineers who are familiar in the system. The initial construction cost for radiant cooling system may be higher than air system and not forgetting the need for a smaller supplementary air system to dehumidify the air to avoid condensation which is an inherited problem of the system in hot and humid region. Promotion and public awareness is lacking in the country and very much dependable on government demonstration program of green technology application where only a few governments owned building having such system. With the aim of long term energy and cost saving this study looks into the development of custom design and locally assembled low cost radiant cooling panel and how its performance in comparison to its overseas and more expensive counterpart could help in provide alternative cheaper building cooling system. Custom build cooling panels with selected materials were constructed and tested to find out its cooling capacity. Finite Element Method (FEM) software was used to establish a design chart to assist in the design and sizing of the alternative radiant panel for Malaysian residential house. The experiment shows that cooling performance in term of mean surface temperature and its cooling capacity is almost identical to its overseas counterpart. Use of cooling radiant panel with free night cooling of water as its chill water supply shows a significant energy saving potential while at the same time provide an acceptable room thermal comfort. Given the local made product having similar performance and suits local condition the technology could grow and be applied with confidence.       

Night Cooled Radiant Cooling Panel for Sustainable Building Cooling Mode in Malaysia

Night air temperature in Malaysia is generally about 23°C and is a potential source of heat sink to dissipate heat gain from a building. A thermal storage tank was used to store a certain quantity of water and was passively cooled during the night using the pitched roof as a heat exchanger to chill the water to as low as 22°C. The free cooling of water was then used as a cooling medium to cool the modular radiant cooling panel during the day time when the outdoor temperature exceeds 30°C. The experiment shows that the system was able to maintain an indoor temperature of less than 28°C when the outdoor temperature peaked to nearly 34°C while providing acceptable thermal comfort with certain controlled air movement. The use of the hydronic radiant cooling panel with free night cooled water as its coolant is proven to have signifcant energy saving potential of up to 85% while at the same time provide an acceptable room thermal comfort which meets the international standard criteria such as the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55

Functional Attachment in Kuching Riverfront Promenade, Sarawak - Malaysia

The relationship between people and certain places can stimulate the sense of place, this process is recognized as place attachment. Place attachment also indicates the relationship between physical image and its function, through this process the sense of a place can be established. These concepts focus on the physical elements and activities together with the meanings influenced by users that will create the identity and the meaning of the place. Allowing for this issue, the research examines the functional attachment which will affect the level of attachment in Kuching Riverfront Promenade (KRP), a popular public space among local people. By using indirect method to simplify common patterns and human-specific patterns of the place, this research covers subject of place attachment. Questionnaire survey were led to a certain area of the promenade with an overall of 165 respondents and 18 stall operators were interviewed. The findings point out that the respondents have a strong association with the local environment and designate the importance of place as economics’ dependence and recreational place. The level of functional attachment to KRP is between level 1 to level 4. Measuring at level 4 involves a higher commitment in loyalty, goals and obedience to the environment

Nocturnal Cooling of Water as Free Cooling Source for Building Indoor Radiant Cooling in Malaysian Climate

Normally mechanical chiller supplies chill water temperature at a higher operating temperature to charge a radiant cooling system in building. Other source of cooling is possible since the operating temperature for radiant cooling is limited by the air dew point temperature. This study investigates cooling of water through long wave radiation to the night sky in Kuching Sarawak, Malaysia and utilise this water for radiant cooling purpose. Mathematical model were developed to predict the cooling power of the nocturnal cooling over typical metal roof and was compared to an experimental data. The measurement from the test model verified the predicted data and a yearly potential from nocturnal cooling in this region was established. The amount of cooled water generated from this night cooling system was also calculated. Results showed that an average of 73 W/m2 nocturnal cooling power is possible in this region