Evaluating building energy performance of an academic building. Case study: CEDAT new building.

Abstract

Buildings consume energy to produce acceptable indoor environment conditions such as thermal, visual, and auditory however the built environment contributes about 40% of energy use and 50% of carbon emissions into the environment. Uganda faces the difficulty of resolving environmental issues without jeopardizing economic progress as a developing country. The majority of the technologies in use are extremely energy-intensive, inefficient, and polluting (Okello et al., 2013). University facilities on the other hand are part of public buildings which are known to have large numbers of occupants using the buildings for their various activities. Usually, various departments of a university frequently occupy various areas of the same building (across several floors). All these activities bring about factors that affect performance of the building especially in the operation and maintenance phase. There are various factors that influence energy efficiency and this not only affects the cost aspect that will have an impact on the university and thus the students but also has a very detrimental effect on our environment. As a result, one of the primary components of a successful energy management system is monitoring and analyzing building energy consumption trends, which aids in understanding the building's operational behavior under various conditions (Amber et al., 2017b)