Rising residential energy consumption and GHG emissions in Malaysia: A case study of public low-cost housing projects in Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia’s electricity consumption is increasing exponentially as it gears towards becoming a developed nation by year 2020. This paper is aimed at policy development in terms of energy efficiency and building design as Malaysia has yet to establish any mandatory energy efficiency or energy performance building code. The focus on public low-cost housing projects is important as it is administered by government agencies and provides possible streamlining of proposed energy policies for the housing sector. Presented in this paper are findings from fieldwork conducted to investigate the energy performance and green house gas (GHG) emissions from the building operation of two public low-cost housing projects in Kuala Lumpur. The baseline calculations use UNEP–SBCI’s Common Carbon Metric tool to provide project-specific calculations of energy and emissions intensity with its bottom-up approach, while presenting a national-scale projection using its top-down approach. Findings from bottom-up analysis suggest that Malaysian public low-cost housing households consume more than benchmarks set by the World Energy Council and the International Energy Agency, in terms of Building Energy Index (BEI) of kwh/m²/year. This is a reflection of the absence of building energy efficiency legislation in Malaysia, both for residential and non-residential buildings. The importance of this research lies in its focus on a developing country experiencing rapid urbanisation and climate change effects.