Browsing by Author "Rasheed E"

Now showing 1 - 13 of 13
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    Air-conditioning in New Zealand: power and policy
    (12/01/2022) Byrd H; Matthewman S; Rasheed E
    Abstract Policies, codes, standards and voluntary ‘green’ assessments have exacerbated cooling demand in New Zealand’s commercial buildings. Building codes allow designs to use single glazing on the facade, voluntary ‘green’ criteria are not higher than the legal minimum in the code and inexpensive energy for commercial buildings all contribute to an increasing use of air-conditioning. Legal standards for the energy efficiency of the building envelope of commercial buildings have not significantly changed in over a quarter of a century and, over much of the same time, the cost of electricity (the predominant form of energy in New Zealand used to heat and cool buildings) has decreased for commercial buildings. These factors have led to an increased dependency on air-conditioning in commercial buildings. This increase in energy demand is unnecessary and can be reduced through policies, codes, and standards that reduce solar gain and use mixed-mode ventilation. The reduction in air-conditioning demand will improve energy security and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Policy relevance Inaction by successive governments (influenced by industries and lobby groups) has resulted in an energy culture in New Zealand that has moved air-conditioning from being a luxury to a dependency. The presented analysis makes a case for improving building standards to reduce commercial buildings’ dependency on air-conditioning. New requirements could reduce energy demand by specifying a maximum energy allowed for cooling and a set of practical measures (e.g. the use of natural ventilation, reduction of solar gain by the use of shading, consideration of orientation, maximum amounts of glazing in facades and higher performance specifications for glazing).
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    Do Green Buildings Have Superior Performance over Non-Certified Buildings? Occupants’ Perceptions of Strengths and Weaknesses in Office Buildings
    (MDPI AG, 25/08/2022) Khoshbakht M; Rasheed E; Baird G
    The main objectives of green buildings are to improve their design and operation. Many studies have investigated whether green buildings lead to higher occupant satisfaction, yet with contradictory conclusions. The paper builds on the results of post-occupancy evaluation surveys of 68 buildings using the BUS Methodology. Satisfaction scores expressed by occupants with the qualities of their indoor environment were compared between the green and non-certified buildings. This research investigates whether green buildings have superior performance to non-certified buildings from the occupants’ perspectives. It was found that generally occupants were more satisfied in green buildings than in non-certified buildings. However, the differences were not significant for any of the environmental and operational parameters including thermal comfort, lighting, noise, and air quality. In the case of operational parameters such as design, needs, image of the building, and cleaning, the differences between the two building groups were notable. Air quality, design and work requirement had the strongest influence on perceived comfort in both green and non-certified buildings. Noise had the strongest influence on perceived productivity for both building groups. Although overall green buildings performed better than the non-certified buildings, the differences between the two were negligible particularly for environmental parameters. Most of the green buildings were not performing entirely as their designers may have intended and had weaknesses that needed to be addressed.
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    Does the Number of Occupants in an Office Influence Individual Perceptions of Comfort and Productivity?-New Evidence from 5000 Office Workers
    (MDPI (Basel, Switzerland), 25/03/2019) Rasheed E; Khoshbakht M; Baird G
    Purpose—The purpose of this article is to present evidence of occupants’ perception of their work environment in five different office types (Solo, Duo, 2–4, 5–8 and 8Plus offices). The study examined the influence of the number of office occupants on individual perception of indoor environment quality (IEQ) in office environments. Design/methodology/approach—A dataset of 5000 respondents in 67 commercial and institutional office buildings was analysed using IBM SPSS v23. The dataset contained user response on the BUS Methodology questionnaire that is designed to retrieve occupants’ perception of their work environments. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis were conducted to calculate the impact of the office environment on occupants’ perception of comfort and productivity. Findings - This study showed that occupants in Solo and Duo offices perceived higher satisfaction with their environment (except for temperature in summer), better health and productivity; and more control over the office environment than those in 5–8 and 8Plus offices. Occupants in 8Plus offices were most satisfied with the temperature in summer. It was also noted that the IEQ factors that predicted comfort were observed to not predict productivity. Noise was the only IEQ factor that had predictive power for both comfort and productivity in all the office spaces. Originality/value—This article provides intriguing findings on occupants’ perception of various types of office environment that contributes significantly to the debate on open-plan versus cellular office environments.
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    Easy Steps to ArchiCAD by EAI: A teaching manual
    (School of Built Environment, Massey University, 1/05/2019) Rasheed E
    Prepared for High School and first year students in Architecture and Construction-related programmes Easy Steps to ArchiCAD is designed for students in construction-related programmes. It provides an easier means of learning how to draft designs using ArchiCAD software. This teaching manual helps you learn to use various tools in ArchiCAD while designing a simple residential building. The focus is on providing a good understanding of the major steps required to design a building in ArchiCAD. It illustrates basic information in ArchiCAD commonly used to design buildings. This manual simulates a real architectural project, in detail, and is perfect for everyone who wants easier and more explained steps to the use of ArchiCAD for building designs.
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    Fuel Poverty Awareness: A Preliminary Study of New Zealand Tenants
    Rasheed E; Holliday L; Mohanty N
    Fuel poverty is an issue that has been documented to affect many low-income households in New Zealand. Many studies have shown the effects of fuel poverty to include health and mortality issues during winter periods in the country. To eradicate fuel poverty, sufficient information should be provided to not only decision makers but those directly affected – low-income earners. This study is aimed at investigating the level of awareness of low-income earners to fuel poverty and its effect on their health and comfort. A two-stage survey was carried out on tenants in low-income tenants within Auckland city. This survey involved a questionnaire survey of tenants and physical observation of tenants’ households in Auckland City, New Zealand. The results show that there is insufficient awareness of fuel poverty amongst tenants. Also, the majority (80%) do not seek advice on fuel poverty and the associated effects. The results further showed that there is still evidence of fuel poverty in these households. The implication of this study calls for more efforts to be made by the appropriate authorities to inform the public, in particular, those affected, about fuel poverty. This pilot study was carried out on a small population of low-income earners. More studies are required across the country for the results to be generalised.
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    Proactive post-occupancy evaluation
    (Build Magazine, 2021-08-02) Rasheed E; Rotimi J; Vilasini N; Weerasinghe A
    A digital post-occupancy evaluation system for checking the operational performance of commercial buildings will be a useful tool as New Zealand faces the need to meet stringent carbon targets.
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    Systematic Review on the Barriers and Challenges of Organisations in Delivering New Net Zero Emissions Buildings
    (2024-06-16) Mahmoodi M; Rasheed E; Le T
    Achieving the net zero emissions target that was set in the Paris Agreement to mitigate the risks of climate change seems increasingly difficult as countries and sectors of the economy are falling behind the expected trajectory. The building and construction industry, as one of the main contributors to global emissions, has an essential role to play toward this aim. Net zero emissions target has been introduced to this sector as well; however, achieving it is a very challenging and complex task. Many studies have been undertaken on implementing different measures and strategies to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. These studies identified many challenges and barriers in transforming the industry. This paper aims to provide a systematic review of challenges that organisations face in delivering new net zero emissions buildings. The relevant journal articles published since the Paris Agreement were identified and analysed using mixed-method data analysis, including quantitative (science mapping) and qualitative (thematic) analysis. The result showed increased attention to the subject over this period, with China, the UK, and Australia being the top contexts for research. The most discussed groups of barriers were “economic”, “knowledge”, and “technical”, respectively, followed by “organisational”, “market”, “technological”, and “legal” barriers.
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    The green office environment: New Zealand workers' perception of IEQ
    (Emerald, 29/12/2022) Rasheed E; Rotimi J
    Purpose: Achieving an appropriate indoor environment quality (IEQ) is crucial to a green office environment. Whilst much research has been carried out across the globe on the ideal IEQ for green offices, little is known about which indoor environment New Zealand office workers prefer and regard as most appropriate. This study investigated New Zealand office workers' preference for a green environment. Design/methodology/approach: Workers were conveniently selected for a questionnaire survey study from two major cities in the country – Wellington and Auckland. The perception of 149 workers was analysed and discussed based on the workers' demographics. The responses to each question were analysed based on the mean, standard deviation, frequency of responses and difference in opinion. Findings: The results showed that workers' preferences for an ideal IEQ in green work environments depend largely on demographics. New Zealand office workers prefer work environments to have more fresh air and rely on mixed-mode ventilation and lighting systems. Also New Zealand office workers like to have better acoustic quality with less distraction and background noise. Regarding temperature, workers prefer workspaces to be neither cooler nor warmer. Unique to New Zealand workers, the workers prefer to have some (not complete) individual control over the IEQ in offices. Research limitations/implications: This study was conducted in the summer season, which could have impacted the responses received. Also the sample size was limited to two major cities in the country. Further studies should be conducted in other regions and during different seasons. Practical implications: This study provides the opportunity for more studies in this area of research and highlights significant findings worthy of critical investigations. The results of this study benefit various stakeholders, such as facilities managers and workplace designers, and support proactive response approaches to achieving building occupants' preferences for an ideal work environment. Originality/value: This study is the first research in New Zealand to explore worker preferences of IEQ that is not limited to a particular building, expanding the body of knowledge on workers' perception of the ideal work environment in the country.
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    The H&S case for prefab
    (2019-02-01) Shahzad W; Rasheed E