Indoor thermal comfort in university classroom: a case of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

The student spends the majority of their time in the classroom to participate in the learning and teaching session. Recently, there are plenty of issues reported from the building occupants due to poor thermal comfort in the building. A poor indoor thermal could lead to Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), unproductive and unhappy occupants. A conducive indoor thermal environment, on the other hand, helps the occupants to perform well, such as increasing their ability to focus, become more productive and not easily get an illness. This study aims to investigate the indoor thermal comfort level of classrooms in a university. Empirical data were collected from field observation which was held in two sessions (morning and evening) in February 2019 in 40 classrooms. The results showed that 70 % of the classrooms have complied with the existing standard of air temperature and 85 % of the classrooms have complied with the standard of relative humidity. All of the classrooms were recorded with a higher level of air velocity as required in the standard. The findings of this study can provide a guide for facilities manager to improve the indoor thermal comfort level in the classroom and increase awareness among building users on the importance of conducive indoor thermal comfort

A measurement model of occupant well-being for Malaysian office building

The condition of indoor environment is becoming progressively crucial because inadequate indoor conditions in office building can create risks to occupant well-being such as adverse health effects, productivity loss and higher rate of absenteeism. This has led to the development of various assessment tools dealing with this issue. However, most of existing assessment tools focused on the environmental protection and economic growth of building, while the importance of social aspect such as occupant well-being has been scarcely emphasized. This study aims to develop a measurement model of occupant well-being for Malaysian office building. Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) is utilized to assign the weight of four criteria of occupant well-being and fifteen associated indoor environmental parameters for computing the measurement model of occupant well-being for Malaysian office building. The measurement model, which have been driven from an AHP weighting process found that Occupant Health scores the highest priority (35.5%) in computing the measurement model of occupant well-being for Malaysian office building, followed by Occupant Comfort, Occupant Safety and Occupant Adaptation respectively. This study makes a methodological contribution by developing a novel approach that is applicable to monitor the performance of indoor environment in Malaysian office building context to improve occupant well-being

Energy Management in Public Higher Education Institutions in Ghana

This paper investigates the implementation of energy management key practices in six public higher education institutions in Ghana in order to identify the existence of potential to save energy. Data for this research was obtained through questionnaire based on an energy management assessment measurement tool involving heads of estates/property and maintenance departments of the studied institutions. Total of 45 key practices adapted from previous studies has been used to assess the implementation of energy management in the respective institutions in Ghana. The study revealed that implementation of energy management key practices was generally low across all the phases. Six key practices - informing of the reasons/need for energy management, motivation, conducting economic analyses, tracking and targeting energy usage and key energy use groups, and reviewing building drawings and equipment specification - were not implementad by any institution. The key practices that were implemented quite well in the planning, implementation and monitoring phase respectively were: ‘gaining top management commitment’ and ‘providing sufficient tools’; improving sufficiency of electrical appliances’; and ‘advising on energy matters’. The findings from the study has shown that energy management is an untapped potential to reduce electricity cost in higher education institutions (HEIs) in Ghana. Keywords: Energy, energy management; energy management key practices; higher education institutions, Ghana

Do green features increase housing value in Malaysia?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the perception of valuers towards the contribution of green features in residential property valuation. The concept of green housing was designed to reduce the negative impacts on the environment and humans. The cost of green housing is higher than the conventional building and is reflected in the selling price, which is further enhanced by the increasing demand for green buildings in the housing market. Such a scenario could be a challenge to the valuers when they carry out a valuation on housing with green features, as there is a lack of information to guide valuers. Design/methodology/approach – This study used a quantitative research method. A comprehensive review of the international green rating tools was carried out to ascertain the relative green features in residential buildings. There are 14 green features identified and grouped into four main categories. A total of 147 valid responses were collected by an online platform and face-to-face distribution among licensed valuers in Malaysia. Findings – The result confirmed that the 14 green features are contributing to the residential property valuation with a reasonable range of adjustment from 2.0% to 6.5%. Originality/value – The understanding of the range of adjustment for each green feature may provide a guide to the valuer in determining the range of adjustment based on green features associated with residential property in Malaysia. The findings contribute ideas and options to the future development of residential projects by taking into consideration the specific green features that potentially lead to environmental sustainability and building value

SUSTAINABLE URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE AND COMMUNITY SATISFACTION: A CASE IN MARINA PARKCITY SARAWAK

The coastal region of Miri is undergoing rapid development along the urbanization process promoted by the oil field's discovery. Growing demand for infrastructure is a great challenge to achieve sustainability in urban growth, social climate, and the environmental domain. It was mandatory to examine the community satisfaction towards the urban infrastructure provided as they are the main user of such infrastructure. This study aims to determine the significance of sustainable urban infrastructure indicators in influencing community satisfaction towards the infrastructure provided in the coastal reclamation in Marina ParkCity, Sarawak. A total of five (5) indicators of sustainable urban infrastructure and its associated indicators ascertained from the literature review was examined through an online questionnaire survey. Convenience sampling is adopted resulting in a total of 421 valid responses was collected and analysed through PLS-SEM Path Analysis assisted by SmartPLS 3.0 software. The findings show that sustainable urban infrastructure that provides social benefit has a significant effect on community satisfaction. The result of the present study will be useful to policymakers, urban planners, and developers to design a better blueprint that can enhance the development of the urban infrastructure of the coastal reclamation region

Preferred Neighborhood Projects Among Millennials: Yes, In My Backyard

The millennial generation, Gen Y and Gen Z, have different residential preferences compared to the previous generation. This study aims to understand the millennial’s preferences towards the type of project development and their willingness to pay for the premium towards the preferred type of development to be built in their neighborhood. A total of 407 responses were collected through online survey and analyzed by using relative important index and frequency analysis. The results imply that millennials prefer recreational park, police booth, community garden, transit station and feeder bus route to be built within their neighborhood. Nevertheless, millennials are more willing to pay for the transit station, followed by educational institution, recreational park, police booth, and integrated public transport terminal. This study will help planners, developers, and the local authority to understand the preferences among the millennials, thus matching with relevant development to enhance liveability and better marketability of their residential project

The relationship of Malaysian REITs’ portfolio and its financial performance

Malaysian real estate investment trust (M-REITs) starts since 2006, is different in term of its properties’ holding in portfolio and this resulted a poor response from institutional investors. Thus, this study aims to examine the relationship of M-REITs properties portfolio and its financial performance. A ten year data had been employed and correlation analysis is adopted. This study reveals that property portfolio allocation in commercial mall had significant correlation relationship with M-REITs’ size of market capitalization in such property market value analysis (r: 0.94) and property holding percentage (r: 0.63). Meanwhile, allocation in industrial building also show to have significant correlation relationship with dividend and total return index (TRI). Similarly, with property portfolio allocation in hotel and resort significant correlation relationship with M-REITs’ size of market capitalization which are (r: 0.49). However, both commercial mall and industrial building had insignificant correlation relationship with M-REITs’ financial performance such as dividend per unit (DPU), dividend yield (DY) and total return index (TRI). On the other hand property portfolio allocation in industrial building showed a contradict result in which they have insignificantcorrelation relationship with M-REITs’ size of market capitalization, yet had significant correlation relationship with DPU, DY and TRI. This study reveal that the bigger portfolio allocation on commercial mall as well as hotel and resort property were unable to generate sufficient return to M-REITs, and issue on the ethical of M-REITs property acquisition warrant special attention in future. Yet, there were few insignificant correlations among property type allocation of M-REITs, in which this might indicates that potential diversification for maximize the return and minimize the risk which M-REITs could offers

Classroom illuminance: a case in Malaysian university

Lighting is an important requirement for people to support their daily activities. Building users in Malaysia commonly rely on artificial lights in the building. However, improper use of artificial light in the room will lead to negative impacts on the occupants' health, comfort and productivity. This study investigates the light levels of the classroom in university. A total of 61 samples were collected and compared to Malaysian Standard 1525:2007, the illuminance for the classroom. The observation was conducted in two sessions a day using lux meter. The results showed that 62% of the classrooms have good illuminance, which complies to the existing requirement of illuminance in Malaysia's classroom, within the range of 300-500lx. The findings of this study provide an overview of the existing illuminance in the classroom in university and serve as a reference to the management for their efforts to improve the indoor environment quality and the student's well-being

Energy management key practices for universities in Malaysia

Energy management is essential to ensure the efficient energy usage, cut energy cost and improve environmental quality. However, without the list of phases and key practices of energy management, the facilities manager fails to implement energy management effectively. This has been confirmed through a preliminary study. In realizing that, the objectives of this research were to identify phases of energy management for universities in Malaysia and key practices of energy management for universities in Malaysia. The scope of this research is 29 public and private universities in Malaysia. The respondents of this research covers energy experts, facilities managers, and departments responsible for energy management in the universities. This study was conducted in four different stages, namely: preliminary study, literature review, expert review, and questionnaire surveys. Preliminary study was conducted to identify the issues of the study. The list of energy management phases and key practices was ascertained through literature search. Then, the list was reviewed by energy experts on its relevance in context of energy management and whether the key practices were appropriately distributed among the phases. The questionnaire was developed based on the revised list of energy management phases and key practices from expert review. Then, the questionnaire survey was conducted throughout the universities in Malaysia. Descriptive analyses were carried out to analyze the data gathered, including frequency analysis, mean analysis, and standard deviation. The results of the study indicate that there were three phases (Planning, Implementing, Monitoring and Evaluation) and 47 key practices of energy management. To show their degree of importance, the identified key practices were ranked accordingly to their mean values

Factors affecting energy conservation behaviour of students in Malaysian universities

This study focuses on promoting energy conservation using the behavioural approach. Globally, various energy issues such as the depletion of energy resources, degradation of the ecosystem, rise in energy prices, and increase in the world population, which lead to a higher energy demand, are causing a threat and leading to an unsustainable energy future. Among the immediate routes to minimize the adverse impacts of the energy threats and contribute to a sustainable energy future is the reduction of the energy consumption by promoting energy conservation behaviour. The scope of this study is Malaysian universities, which comprise thousands of building blocks equipped with massive facilities that consume a huge amount of energy. Three objectives to be achieved were established. The first objective is to propose key determinants and social marketing mix strategies to promote energy conservation behaviour. This is followed by the second objective of examining the causal relationship of the identified key determinants of energy conservation behaviour and the third objective of investigating the preferred combination of social marketing mix strategies to promote energy conservation behaviour. The first objective is achieved through the synthesis of theories and concepts in the literature review. For objective two and objective three, a questionnaire survey was conducted among students in five selected universities in Malaysia, which involved 2,000 respondents. The data collected for the second objective are analysed using structural equation modelling and the third objective is achieved using conjoint analysis. Three key determinants were found significant to predict energy conservation behaviour that are attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control. Choice-based conjoint analysis identified a mix of five social marketing strategies to promote energy conservation behaviour that are product, price, place, promotion, and post-purchase maintenance