Analyzing Energy Efficiency Factors of Residential Towers using fuzzy AHP: A case from India

Abstract

Increasing population, rising cost of energy bills and non-availability of housing land in cities has necessitated the need to build high rise residential towers for living purposes. As these towers are operational throughout the year, the energy consumed for maintenance and operation of such buildings is huge. Attaining building energy efficiency is a significant step towards conserving energy and minimizing the cost of utility bills. To achieve this factors that lead to energy efficient operations and maintenance of the residential towers must be found and prioritized. This research work is one such case study conducted on residential towers in South India, to find the energy efficiency factors in a building and prioritizing them according to their relative importance. The results showed that Building energy administration, energy Audits and Building Automation system are among the top factors that can highly influence the energy consumption pattern in a building. The Analysis is conducted using fuzzy AHP methodology and validated through sensitivity analysis. Further the paper also discusses the results and provides managerial application as a roadmap for energy efficiency in buildings