Assessment of Climate responsiveness of public office building design in selected Tertiary Institutions of Niger State towards Energy Efficient buildings in Nigeria

Abstract

The building sector had been strongly linked with the global dreaded climate change menace owing to huge energy demand of the sector. Buildings consumed about 40% of the world energy supply and responsible for significant percentages of CO2 emissions. This scenario has made buildings object of research globally and energy efficiency a major priority. However, climate responsive design has been long identified as effective and economical means of reducing building energy consumption. Thus, most developed nations have explored this medium unlike developing nations including Nigeria. Moreover, offices being high energy consuming buildings, hence reducing their energy use has been a target globally. This study assessed adoption of bio-climatic design strategies office buildings design in tertiary institutions in hot and humid climate of Nigeria. Case study approach was adopted and data were collected via observation checklist from three administrative offices, each from university, polytechnic and college of education in Niger state, Nigeria and results compared with Building Energy Efficiency Guidelines for Nigeria released in 2016. The findings revealed that, critical strategies that impact significantly on energy reduction like orientation, passive measures and Air-tightness of envelope were poorly observed. Therefore, it is recommended that implications of architects’ designs on energy demand of buildings should be a major concern. Also, there should be a paradigm shift from the conventional design process to integrated design process (IDP) that encouraged collaborative efforts of other professionals from the beginning of the design process to ensuring planning, design and construction of energy efficient building.