Energy consumption in typical Caribbean office buildings: A potential short term solution to energy concerns

This paper examines the feasibility of energy efficiency as a short term solution to the Caribbean's energy problems. It considers energy consumption across selected office buildings in Barbados, typical of Caribbean architecture. By comparing their energy consumption to that of the energy consumption for the building with the "best observable" consumption in the selected group, the energy efficiency is determined. Data for five (5) buildings with similar characteristics were collected, analyzed and normalized to facilitate a direct comparison between them. The selected indicator was Energy Consumption per Unit Area (I(E) = E/A). On examining the equipment and technology (E&T) currently being used in these buildings a definite inefficiency resulting from this was identified. The undetermined inefficiency was allocated to management and operations (M&O). The "best observable" building had an E&T inefficiency of 10%. Results suggest that E&T is responsible for between 10% and 14% additional energy wastage while the inefficiency due to business processes is believed to be largely responsible for inefficiency beyond 14%. Overall inefficiency rose as high as 56%, indicating an opportunity for significant energy savings through an efficiency response. Electrical energy consumed in a building is shown to be not only related to physical space and E&T inefficiency, but also to an x-efficiency factor that is peculiar to the management and operations of that building. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.