Assessing Renewable Energy Practice in Turaki Ali House Kaduna-Nigeria

The research investigated tenant understanding and preparedness to embrace renewable energy practice as an alternative to public power supply during an outage from the national grid. International standards of sustainable building occupation from Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methods (BREEAM) and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) were adopted to form the parameters of the investigation. The study covered knowledge and utilization of the solar energy system amongst tenants and their readiness to embrace alternative energy systems as well as incentives from the management Company of Turaki Ali House to encourage sustainable occupation. A qualitative and quantitative technique was employed; the interview conducted covered two members of the tenants’ committee and a member of the staff from the management company who has been the desk officer responsible for the property for twenty years. Fifty-six questionnaires were distributed among tenants with forty-one questionnaires returned and used for the analysis. Results from the research revealed limited knowledge of the advantages of the solar energy system over generators; in addition, there was apprehension to embracing the solar system due to the higher initial costs of acquisition and substandard solar systems and components. Managers of the property are reported not have been performing their contractual obligation of the lease, thus justifying the use of individual generators by tenants despite the inherent dangers associated with the practice. The research concluded with a recommendation to raise awareness and encourage the use of sustainable energy sources by means of reviewing the content of tenancy agreements to ensure compliance with sustainable building occupation standards.