Lockdown impact on energy consumption in university building

COVID-19 has had a significant impact on the global demand and consumption of energy. In particular, the effect of the lockdown measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic can be seen directly in the reduced energy consumption in educational buildings. Therefore, the objective of this study is to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the electricity use in university buildings. The Research Complex Building of the National University of Malaysia was selected as a case study. An energy audit analysis was conducted based on the data collection via walk-through field audits and data loggers during the normal year (2019) to establish a baseline of data. The comparison of the electricity pattern during the normal year with the lockdown period of 2020 shows that the Building Energy Index (BEI) during a pandemic decreased by approximately 11% from the BEI in the normal year. In this regard, the energy audit verified that the main factors of electricity consumption are occupant presence and energy use in buildings. Hence, on the basis of the energy audit results, three appropriate energy conservation measures (ECMs) were detected and subsequently proposed to minimise the waste of energy. Results show that the implementation of ECMs can improve the energy consumption of buildings and reduce energy consumption by 21.81% or approximately 19% from the normal year. Hence, efficient energy use in buildings in the post-pandemic period can be achieved by the implementation of all the ECMs proposed.