A review of energy efficiency potentials in tropical buildings - Perspective of enclosed common areas

Effective use of energy is crucial due to the continuously depleting energy resources, especially for developing countries which are currently experiencing rapid economic and population growth. Enclosed common areas in buildings are designed to accommodate the needs of occupants. Such spaces often constitute a large portion of the total building spaces and subjected to a certain degree of building services requirement which contributes to the increase in energy consumption. Hence, it is important to understand the special characteristics of the common areas in buildings for energy efficiency improvement whilst maintaining human comfort. This paper reviews the studies conducted in the common areas of buildings, and sought to introduce a new approach in building energy efficiency improvement. In tropical buildings, a large portion of energy is being used on the air conditioning and artificial lighting systems to sustain the occupants' comfort. This has raised concerns on effective use of the systems and hence suggesting an additional opportunity in energy efficiency improvement.