Encouraging Energy-Saving Behaviour in Hospital Facilities

Hospital buildings are the highest contributors to Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions between commercial buildings on account of their constant high demand for energy to support public health services. Existing literature shows that there are limited initiatives to cultivate energy-saving behaviours (ESB) among building occupants of hospitals as the work culture is very different than that of other types of commercial buildings. While change is imperative, scholars acknowledge that it is a challenging task for building managers to engage hospital staff to reduce energy use. Many studies have focused on adaptive building design and technology to reduce energy usage in buildings. Solely
relying on technology and building design are insufficient to achieve optimum energy efficiency performance without the engagement of building occupants. A total of eleven strategies for encouraging energy-saving behaviour in hospital buildings were identified from the literature review in which mostly were drawn from international building case studies. The applicability of these strategies is unknown in the Malaysian context due to the different social norm, culture and environment. The purpose of this research is to identify energy-saving behaviour strategies that are applicable in the Malaysian context. The study uses a qualitative research approach of two hospital building case studies in Penang to examine the applicability of strategies for encouraging energy-saving behaviour. Building managers of the case studies were interviewed, and archived documents of the building case studies were analysed. The findings showed that there is limited implementation of the recommended strategies in practice. However, some of these strategies were preferred over others and were being considered for future implementation. The study reveals the preference criteria of building managers in selecting energy-saving behaviour strategies. Further research will test the impact of these preferred strategies on energy performance. Based on this, the study provides a guideline for building managers on strategies that cultivate energy-saving behaviour in Malaysia hospital buildings.