Prioritization of Passive Measures for Energy Optimization in Primary Health Care Centers in Nigeria

Abstract

Electricity plays a very important role in the socio-economic and technological development of every nation. The electricity demand in Nigeria far outstrips the supply and the supply is epileptic in nature. This inconsistency in electricity provisions hampers economic growth, affects daily life, and necessitates reliance on costly alternatives such as generators. This paper determines the level of prioritization of passive measures in primary healthcare centers with a view to improving the thermal comfort, cooling, lighting and ventilation requirement for a primary healthcare building in Nigeria. Systematic field surveys followed by in-depth statistical analysis were adopted. Descriptive statistics based on mean ranking was carried out and a total of 350 set of questionnaires were administered to the case study areas and 87% responses were received while 83% are valid. The result revealed that respondents prioritized passive design elements with a mean value of 4.09 ranked first, natural ventilation strategies come second with a value of 4.04, and the active employment of passive cooling strategies ranked third with a mean value of 3.99. The paper concluded that there is a decreasing level of prioritization on thermal comfort through passive measures and incorporating passive solar design principles. Its recommends that hospitals should endeavor to make use of courtyards in its design as it has been established that courtyards can greatly improve passive cooling which will reduce dependence on HVAC systems for cooling.