Browsing by Author "Soorige, D"

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item: Conference-Abstract
Analysing the gap between predicted and actual operational energy consumption in buildings: a review
(2021-07) Rajithan, M; Soorige, D; Amarasinghe, SDIA
Operational energy consumption in buildings has a crucial impact on global energy consumption. Nevertheless, significant energy savings can be achieved in buildings if properly designed, constructed, and operated. Building Energy Simulation (BES) plays a vital role in the design and optimisation of buildings. BES is used to compare the cost-effectiveness of energy-conservation measures in the design stage and assess various performance optimisation measures during the operational phase. However, there is a significant ‘performance gap’ between the predicted and the actual energy performance of buildings. This gap has reduced the trust and application of the BES. This article focused on investigating BES, reasons that lead to a performance gap between predicted and actual operational energy consumption of buildings, and the ways of minimising the gap. The article employed a comprehensive literature review as the research methodology. Findings revealed that reasons such as limited understanding of the building design, the complexity of the building design, poor commissioning, occupants’ behaviour, etc., influence the energy performance gap. After that, the strategies have been identified to minimise the energy performance gap such as proper commissioning, creating general models to observe occupants’ behaviour in buildings, and using the general models for energy simulation, ensuring better construction and quality through training and education, etc. Further, the findings of this study could be implemented by practitioners in the construction industry to effectively use energy simulation applications in designing energy-efficient and sustainable buildings.
item: Conference-Abstract
Customer loyalty towards sustainable hotels: case studies in Sri Lanka
(2021-07) Silva, L; Dissanayake, P; Kumarasiri, B; Soorige, D
The hotel sector is directly combined with customer loyalty as it has become increasingly obvious by incorporating its’ antecedents with customer satisfaction and trust. Customer loyalty is influenced by customer satisfaction of hospitality service when it is significantly related to service quality. Sustainability is an important concept that can adapt to achieving customer loyalty in the Sri Lankan hotel sector. Indeed, most conventional hoteliers in Sri Lanka do not have the idea of success in achieving customer loyalty through the sustainability concept. Also, despite the abundance of research on the concept of sustainability, a gap in literature could be identified, when it comes to analysing the customer loyalty aspects toward sustainable hotels in Sri Lanka. This study is therefore aimed to bridge the gap that exists in the literature to prove the success of adopting the concept of sustainability in achieving customer loyalty. A qualitative research approach with two case studies was used to achieve the aim of the study. The selected cases include two green-certified five-star hotels which are under the topmost sustainable hotels in Sri Lanka according to Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority. A total of 10 interviews were conducted from both cases. The collected data were analysed using content analysis. The customer loyalty aspects were identified on the deriving basis of self-influence factors of customers and their consideration of benefits in sustainable hotels. The study unveils an analysis of the interconnection between sustainable hotels and customer loyalty. The findings provide the path to conventional hotels to identify the success of implementing sustainability concept in achieving customer loyalty.
item: Conference-Full-text
Exploring green features that make building materials green
(Faculty of Architecture Research Unit (FARU), 2021-12-03) Rathnayake, P; Soorige, D; Amarasinghe, SDIA; Dissanayake, P
The construction industry plays a significant role in the economic growth of a country. Nevertheless, the construction industry has created severe adverse environmental impacts. Therefore, green building technologies are implemented to alleviate the adverse effects of the construction industry. Using green materials instead of conventional building materials with high environmental impacts has been identified as one such implementation. However, there seems to be much confusion in defining green building materials. Hence, it is vital to explore the features of green building materials. Therefore, this article investigates green features that qualify the building materials as green building materials. A qualitative research approach was selected as the research methodology, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven green building experts. The data was analysed using content analysis. Findings revealed that recycled content, local availability of materials, embodied energy of materials, use of rapidly renewable material, usage of waste material for the production process, material wastage content in the production process and pollution prevention in the production process are the green features. The study results guide the identification of green building materials that can replace the materials with poor environmental sustainability.