Impact of solar shading geometry on building energy use in hot humid climates with special reference to Malaysia

External solar shading devices can substantially reduce the cooling load of buildings and large energy savings can be achieved. Hence, intercepting the radiant heat wave before penetrating to the internal environment through envelope openings is the main criterion in designing solar shading. In hot and humid climate, one draw back of using shading devices is the risk to reduce daylight level thus increases in use of artificial lighting. Therefore it is important to understand the magnitude of energy consumption for cooling and lighting when shading devices are adapted in order to analyze optimum shading as energy conservation option in high-rise office buildings. In other words, little is known about the relationship between energy use and external horizontal shading device geometry. In an attempt to elucidate these complex relationships, a simple experiment of an office room is carried out using dynamic computer simulation program eQUEST- 3 (DOE 2.2). The study indicated depth of the external horizontal overhang can be manipulated to obtain an optimum energy use in high-rise buildings. The results showed that correlation between overhang depth and energy is an important aspect compared to correlation between overhang depth with building cooling loads and daylight level, especially in tropical climate conditions

The influence of the appearance of work positions on the occurrence of eye symptoms in office buildings

This study examines the relationship of occupants perception of appearance of their work positions in commercial offices on the occurrence of eye symptoms.The study was carried out in collaboration with the health hazards in buildings research group also known as the LINK programme. Three office buildings with uniform lighting were selected from the LINK programme for investigation. They are Pearl Assurance Building in Cardiff, ODA Building in London, and the Sapphire Building in Reading. The survey was conducted in 1995 over a period of 2 months. In each case study, employees were selected randomly and asked to complete a questionnaire over the period of a given week. A month after the questionaires were completed, physical lighting measurements were made in the relevant offices.The study concludes that; i. the occurrences of eye symptom are related to the occupants perception of the appearance from the work position. The mean analysis shows that occupants with better perception of the appearance from the work position experience fewer eye symptom occurrences. ii. the number of eye symptoms that an occupant experiences does not vary significantly with the occupants orientation with respect to the window, iii. the perception of appearance from the work position does not vary significantly with the occupants orientation with respect to the window, iv. occupants in work positions facing the windows do not have a significantly better perception of their work positions appearance, v. occupants seated facing window do not have a significantly better physicallight attributes, vi. occupants in work positions facing the windows do not have significantly fewer symptom occurrences. vii. the appearance from the work position is not influenced by the physical lighting attributes.In essence, this study concludes that any work position can be satisfactory. The requirement for a satisfactory work position is a good light pattern which projects good perception of the appearance of the field of view, resulting in fewer occurrences of eye symptoms

Kajian perbandingan secara komprehensif ke atas pelajar bumiputera lepasan SPM berbanding pelajar lepasan sijil matrikulasi yang mengikuti kursus pengajian di UTM

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) telah memulakan sesi pengambilan pelajar daripada pelbagai asas kemasukan iaitu Lepasan Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM), Lepasan Sijil Matrikulasi dan Lepasan Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia (STPM) pada Semester I Sesi 2002/2003. Lantaran itu, satu tinjauan telah dibuat dalam menentukan samada langkah yang telah diambil adalah benar-benar tepat atau memerlukan pembaikan dalam pengambilan pelajar pelbagai asas kemasukan ini.Oleh kerana majoriti kumpulan pelajar yang terlibat dalam sesi kemasukan kali ini adalah di kalangan Pelajar Lepasan SPM dan Lepasan Sijil matrikulasi, maka kumpulan ini telah dipilih untuk dilihat sejauh manakah prestasi mereka dalam mengharungi sesi pembelajaran di universiti dan ia lebih mengkhusus kepada ‘survival’ pelajar bumiputera itu sendiri. Walaubagaimanapun, seiringan dengan kemasukan kumpulan pelajar ini, satu aspek yang turut perlu diberi perhatian adalah pemantauan pencapaian akademik mereka dalam persepsi pemilihan kemasukan berasaskan sistem meritokrasi. Oleh kerana sistem meritokrasi ini mementingkan siapa yang benar-benar layak sahaja akan mendapat tempat di institusi pengajian tinggi, maka sekali lagi dalam kes ini, mereka sekali lagi dipilih untuk dilihat samada adakah kumpulan pelajar yang berjaya mendapat tempat ini telah menggunakan peluang yang diperolehi oleh mereka sebaik mungkin dan sejauh manakah prestasi mereka selama ini