Energy footprint of selective commercial buildings in Dhaka

Abstract

The demand for energy has risen astronomically over generations and as of today, efficient use of energy becomes a major concern. The built environment is responsible for 40% of the global energy demand [1]. Changes have been made to make buildings more energy efficient. Understanding the use of energy in buildings requires an insight into the amounts of energy consumed and their ways of consumption. The most feasible technique to obtain such level of understanding would be to perform an Energy Audit. The objective of this dissertation is to obtain a clear understanding of energy efficiency in buildings and specifically in commercial buildings, to find out the energy loss, provide methods and techniques to compensate the loss and to present an energy audit tool. The study aims to establish the fact that electrical energy use in commercial buildings in Dhaka are quite inefficient and the consumption of electrical energy can be significantly reduced up to 8%-15% energy reduction in electrical equipment and up to 28%-45% in lighting by replacing them with more efficient components.