Sustainable residential building retrofit for improving energy efficiency: The owners’ perspective in Malaysia

Abstract

Malaysia has made continuous efforts to tackle energy sustainability challenges in recent years. There are significant opportunities to cut energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission (GHG) through retrofitting of existing domestic stocks. Due to the extremely fragmented nature of retrofit practice in the construction industry, there are some challenges among project stakeholders, including home occupants and builders in retrofitting residential buildings. There is a lack of research regarding the client’s requirements for housing retrofit priorities and preferences for retrofitting measures and materials. Therefore, the aim of this research is exploring the owner’s point of view for housing retrofit and their decision-making factors for choosing retrofit measures. In this study, by using sampling techniques, 400 people staying in Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru were selected for the housing retrofit preference survey. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software (SPSS Version 22) was used as a statistical software to analyze survey data. It was revealed from the questionnaire survey that window/door is the top priority for clients to improve energy efficiency. Furthermore, the most critical factors in improving energy efficiency are initial cost and thermal performance, respectively. Moreover, in decision-making factors for selecting construction materials, owners emphasized on initial cost and payback time as important factors. Therefore, all experts in the construction industry should take into account the interests of customers with technical matters at the same time. In conclusion, this research empowers professionals to know homeowner needs and preferences from the beginning of retrofit projects.