PETALING JAYA: The energy efficiency audit for bigger developments under the proposed Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act could encourage businesses to find solutions and improve operations in a more environmentally friendly manner.
Sunway Malls operations general manager Allan Tay said energy efficiency audits will allow building owners and operators to further understand the characteristics of a building’s energy consumption and major hindrances to improving their energy performances.
“The long-term benefit for building owners is the increase in property value as sustainability saves costs, fuels innovation and unveils new opportunities that address environmental challenges,” he told The Star.
At present, Tay said Sunway Group has internally implemented energy audits to observe its mall’s energy consumption and to identify areas for potential energy savings.
“By far, the energy audits have spurred us to reduce energy use, improve productivity and proactively look for opportunities to innovate.
“It is especially necessary for older buildings with older infrastructure. For example, Sunway Pyramid consistently saved more than RM3mil in annual energy costs since a comprehensive chiller plant retrofit was completed in 2012 in a bid to improve energy efficiency and sustainability of the mega mall that opened in 1997,” he said.
As of now, under the Energy Management of Electrical Energy Regulation 2008 (EMEER) Regulation, energy audits are not compulsory to be conducted by developments.
Under this regulation, buildings with total electricity consumption equal to or exceeding 3,000,000 kWh as measured at one metering point or more over any period of six consecutive months shall submit the energy consumption report to the Energy Commission.
According to Prof Ir Dr Haslenda Hashim, the focus of the energy audits are on electricity consumption and does not cover thermal energy.
“In Putrajaya, there are buildings that use thermal energy such as gas district cooling that supply cooling using thermal energy storage, so the proposed new Act will cover both electricity and thermal energy audits for buildings,” she said.
Haslenda, who is the chairperson of Resource Sustainability Research Alliance and fellow for Process Systems Engineering Centre at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, said such audits can assist developers or commercial development owners identify ways to convert their building to be more energy efficient.
“For commercial buildings like shopping complexes, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) (systems) contributes 60% of the electricity consumption.
“If we talk about the energy audit for buildings, we must check if the HVAC is efficient, because inefficient HVAC uses more energy and emit more emissions,” she said.
Mageswari Sangalingam, senior research officer at Consumers’ Association of Penang, said the ministry must include public feedback following its plans to include energy efficiency audits in the new Act.
“We need to see the details as to what gaps the new Bill is trying to address which are not covered by existing laws,” she said.
Association of Water and Energy Research Malaysia (Awer) president S. Piarapakaran said the Energy Commission Act and the Electricity Supply Act must be amended to strengthen the energy efficiency and conservation clauses to allow the government to develop rules and regulations as well as enforcement bite.
Instead of proposing a new Bill to Parliament, he said the government could have amended existing laws to promote environmentally friendly measures.
“When we regulate equipment and technical matters, we need to make sure the legislation is robust and can be updated quickly to meet changing characteristics in the particular sectors.
“Thus, we advise the ministry to ensure that implementation is cost effective and avoids redundant moves that delay energy efficiency further. We are already two decades behind for energy efficiency (matters),” he said, adding that the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act is a tool that was proposed almost a decade ago.
