ASSESSING THE FEASIBILITY OF MANDATORY ENERGY LABELING OF BUILDINGS IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

Building energy label is a tag which contains information regarding the energy performance of a building as compared to average energy performance of buildings of the same type. It has great potential in driving stakeholders to improve energy performance of their buildings. If energy labeling of buildings can be made compulsory in Singapore, it is highly possible that it could lead to significant improvement in the efforts towards better energy performance of buildings. The main question for this research is how mandatory energy labeling of buildings can be effectively implemented in Singapore. To effectively implement something, it is important to identify the possible barriers and manage them. The main objectives of this research are: To identify the possible challenges and barriers of the mandatory energy labeling of buildings in Singapore To find out potential impacts of mandatory energy labeling of buildings to building stakeholders To propose an implementation framework for compulsory energy labeling of buildings in Singapore It is expected that many challenges will be faced if energy labeling of buildings is made mandatory in Singapore. The challenges include issues such as cost and 'apple to apple‘ comparison of energy labels across all types of buildings. The research design selected for this study is survey. A survey questionnaire was designed to collect relevant data from building managers. It is found that there are 5 major barriers to the mandatory energy labeling of buildings in Singapore and there are: Cost required to obtain the building energy label Difficulties in ensuring ‗apple to apple‘ comparison between buildings nsignificant benefits obtaining an energy label The need to obtain approval from management council Different Management Corporation Strata Titles (MCSTs) have different management strategies

Based on these research findings, it seems that it is not very feasible to enforce compulsory energy labeling of buildings in Singapore. However, if the barriers can be managed effectively, it might be possible to make energy labeling of buildings mandatory in Singapore.