Energy Efficiency Policies and Initiatives in Malaysia

The dependence of office and commercial buildings on the use of energy in daily operations can lead to excessive use of energy especially for heating and cooling, lighting systems, and power appliances or equipment. As a result, there has been a high demand for potential energy efficiency in office and commercial buildings over the last few years. Given this, there is a question of whether the existing policies and initiatives introduced by the authorities are sufficient to ensure that aspects of energy efficiency can be properly implemented in an existing office and commercial building. Improvements to existing policies and initiatives may be the best path for policymakers and stakeholders but often ignored in some building sectors as it could play a significant role similar to technological and technical approaches. Therefore this paper reviews and identify the impacts of energy efficiency policies on the building sector in Malaysia. The paper highlights the research needed to fully incorporate energy conservation policies and strategies into the processes of building construction and operation to minimize the usage of energy in buildings while improving comfort and productivity for occupants. There are 11 policies or initiatives related to energy efficiency towards buildings that have been analysed. The findings show that the relevant ministries and agencies involved in policy formulation have placed a strong emphasis on the implementation of energy efficiency programs, especially on the use of electricity in commercial buildings. The key goals of energy conservation policies and programs are to conserve electricity and reduce the rise in electricity demand while continuously monitoring the effectiveness of its implementation. This study finds that in general, there is a need for existing policies to be strengthened and enforced with greater effectiveness and more proactive initiatives.