Energy Management Application in Construction Projects in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

: This study explores the energy management criteria that local contracting firms operating in the Gaza Strip apply in construction processes. To achieve the objective of this study, a comprehensive review of the literature was conducted to identify the energy management application criteria followed by a structured questionnaire survey. The study showed that contracting organisations in the Gaza Strip do not strictly apply energy management to their projects, as many of these organisations have not considered energy issues seriously. The results showed that energy issues are not a predominant consideration of clients when the conditions and specifications for conventional local construction projects are being prepared. The findings of the survey provide useful knowledge to contractors and project managers in energy management requirements in order manage energy on construction projects. This study takes a novel perspective in the subject area as it is considered the first study to investigate energy management aspects in the local construction industry. The findings of this study will be valuable to construction practitioners in terms of saving energy and promote sustainable construction. Although this study is specific to Palestine, its results can be applicable to other developing countries. It is recommended to expand this study using qualitative method and involving other construction parties.


INTRODUCTION
In Palestine, the construction sector has been crucial in extending job opportunities in the Palestinian labour force (Enshassi et al., 2007).The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) indicated that 15.6% individuals working on the West Bank and Gaza Strip were employed in construction.In 2013, the construction industry contributed 14.1% to the Palestinian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (PCBS, 2016).The sector also indirectly employs approximately 30% of labourers in industries related to the construction sector and other services and productive sectors (Palestinian Contractors Union [PCU], 2006).The construction sector is considered as one of the most important sectors of industries to the Palestinian economy and plays a major role in the development of infrastructure facilities.Construction can be used as a vehicle to erect schemes to protect the environment (Enshassi, Mohamed and Abushaban, 2009;Enshassi, Al-Najjar and Kumaraswamy, 2009).However, environmental issues are seldom considered in construction projects in Palestine political and logistical factors, nearly all of these supplies at present come from Israel (World Bank, 2007).In Palestine, there are no studies that focused on energy management on the life cycle of construction projects.Therefore, this paper sought to explore local contracting firms' applications of energy management criteria during construction processes in the Gaza Strip.

ENERGY MANAGEMENT
Energy management has been defined as "the strategy of adjusting and optimising energy, using systems and procedures so as to reduce energy requirements per unit of output while holding constant or reducing total costs of producing the output from these systems" (Asian Productivity Organization [APO], 2008).Abdelaziz, Saidur and Mekhilef (2011) stated that "energy management is the strategy of meeting energy demand when and where it is needed".Capehart, Turner and Kennedy (2003) alternately defined energy management as "the continuous, systematic and well-organised audit of energy consumption, aiming at energy cost optimisation with respect to energy demands, user characteristics, funding opportunities, financing ability and emission reductions achieved".The Carbon Trust (2011) defined energy management as "the systematic use of management and technology to improve the energy performance of an organisation" that is considered the most comprehensive definition of energy management.Changing how energy is managed by implementing a wide energy management programme is one of the most successful and cost effective ways of bringing about energy efficiency improvements (Abdelaziz, Saidur and Mekhilef, 2011).It is also an important tool in helping organisations meet the objectives critical to their short-term survival and long-term success (Turner and Doty, 2009).
Energy management is now in the global spotlight due to the pressing need to save energy and reduce GHG emissions worldwide.It is inspired by and similar to other management systems such as environmental management, health and safety management and quality and production management (Christoffersen, Larsen and Togeby, 2006).There are various definitions of energy management, however, each definition has the same objective and seeks to achieve the same task: to lower energy use without sacrificing the quality of the environment and/or products through the employment of capital, technology and management skills (Al-Homoud, 2000).An energy management system is a collection of processes, procedures and tools designed to engage staff at all levels within an organisation to manage energy use on an on-going basis (Global Superior Energy Performance Partnership -Energy Management Working Group [GSEP-EMWG], 2013).Energy management is a dynamic process under which new ideas and knowledge can be generated to produce additional energy efficiency gains (Kannan and Boie, 2003).Energy management is considered a combination of energy efficiency activities, techniques and the management of related processes that result in lower energy costs and carbon dioxide emissions (Kannan and Boie, 2003).Energy management processes aim to minimise energy costs/waste without affecting production and quality and minimise environmental effects (Bureau of Energy Efficiency, 2010;Goldberg, Reinaud and Taylor, 2011).Russell (2005) argued that energy efficiency refers to practices and standards set forth in an energy management plan.Despite the high level of total energy consumption by industrial small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), the issue of energy efficiency improvements in SMEs has received little attention to date.Construction contractors and subcontractors can have a major impact on the energy efficiency of a building's construction and energy management can help to control energy consumption and reduce unnecessary expenditures and save money (Russell, 2005).Energy management improves cost effectiveness of construction operation and working conditions, protects the environment and prolongs the useful life of equipment and fuels (Ndayiragije, 2006).Significant endeavours have been undertaken to address increases in energy consumption and reduce harmful climate impacts: for example, the United Nations (UN) issued the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen agreement under which "energy saves" and "low carbon economy" are mandatory.Further, moral initiatives have been implemented around the world to address increases in energy consumption and related GHG emissions (Chuanzhong and Yingji, 2011).Most countries consider the energy issue to be serious and have introduced policies, including measures to improve energy efficiency, to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions (UNEP-SBCI, 2009).Given the increasing demand for energy, especially electricity, across all sectors, a more efficient use of energy must be considered as a major option to ensure global sustainable development in the 21st century (Akinbami and Lawal, 2009).
Construction energy (one component of embodied energy) forms a single aspect of project direct energy.Embodied energy is the energy consumed in all activities necessary to support a process.It comprises a direct and an indirect component (Dixit et al., 2012).For building construction, the direct energy includes the fuels used directly for the assembly of the building while the indirect energy includes the energy embodied directly in inputs to the construction process, and the energy embodied directly in inputs to those processes (Treloa, 1998).Construction energy refers to the energy consumed during the installation of materials (until the practical completion of a project) and represents the largest share of carbon dioxide emissions in the construction process (Davies, Emmitt and Firth, 2013).During project construction, contractors use energy whenever construction materials are moved from one place to another, to transport materials from manufacturers to building sites and in a variety of processes during the erection of the building (e.g., as electricity to provide light and operate machinery and for drying and drainage) (Adalberth, 1997).The production phase of construction (an important phase of any construction project) accounts for approximately 5%-10% of the total energy consumption during production processes (UNEP-SBCI, 2009).Carbon dioxide emissions that are the result of using energy during construction activities need to be considered (Saravanan, 2011).Previous studies have shown that onsite construction can represent up to 7% of a project's life cycle energy, depending on the building type and lifespan (Davies, Emmitt and Firth, 2013).United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNCHS) (1991) indicated that construction activity accounts for a small, but important proportion of the embodied energy in buildings (i.e., 15%-30%).Building material manufacturing requires the greatest use of embodied energy (i.e., 90%), while transportation and construction require 4% and 6% of embodied energy, respectively (Chang and Ries, 2011).
During onsite construction, contractors often given the authority to choose which technologies and equipment to employ.When selecting a construction method for a project, the deciding factors most often comprise constructability, construction time, location, available resources and finance.The amount of energy used for each construction method and the emission of specific carbon dioxide are not factors of great importance in selecting a construction method (Gorkum, 2010).Recently, many contractors have shown a vested interest in embodied energy performance due to their significant involvement within project procurement, preconstruction and on site construction activities (Davies et al., 2013).Contractors also play an important role in promoting sustainable development within the construction industry and must assume the responsibility or minimising the negative impact on the environment and society and maximise the economic contribution (Tan, Shen and Yao, 2011).With their positive net present value and rapid payback rate, energy saving building technologies represents the best available options for reducing GHG emissions (Davies et al., 2013).
Energy production/trade is considered as one aspect of the "energy tragedy" in Palestinian territories and energy consumption the other.Palestinian territories mostly rely on Israel for their fossil fuel and electricity imports (Abu Hamed, Flamm and Azraq, 2012).In Palestine, energy is even more important due to the critical situation represented by the country's high population density, lack of natural resources and unstable political situation (United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs [OCHA], 2008).Palestine's use of energy and energy conservation in its domestic and industrial sectors are no better than most developing countries (Yaseen, 2008;Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development [MoPAD], 2012).Energy security is the main challenge facing the energy sector in Palestinian territories due to the territories' high dependency on Israeli sources for energy (MoPAD, 2012).Conventional construction methods used in Gaza consume large amounts of energy and materials and generate vast amounts of waste.Combined with the rapid population growth in Gaza, the current approach to construction will inevitably increase demands for these resources to unsustainable levels, while also causing the degradation of Gaza's vulnerable environment (Muhaisen and Ahlbäck, 2012).

Population and Sampling
The population for this research comprised all first class, second and third construction contracting companies working in the Gaza Strip that held valid registration according to the PCU records.Experienced projects managers and site engineers working for the contracting companies in Gaza Strip were chosen as the sample of this study (i.e., respondents), as they are responsible for making decisions in relation to corporate and project objectives.The projects managers and site engineers included individuals experienced in management and construction activities, had the highest authority to handle day-to-day activities and were accountable for managing energy on sites.
The following formula was used to determine the sample size of the unlimited population (de Vaus, 2002;Creative Research System, 2014) for this study: Sample size (SS) referred to the number of respondents needed be included in the study.In this study, it represented the number of the contracting companies that needed to be surveyed.One individual (i.e., a project manager or site engineer) was selected from each company to complete the questionnaire.
Z-value (Z) referred to the Z statistic for a level of confidence and equalled 1.96 for a 95% confidence level.
Percentage picking a choice, "degree of variability" (P) was the degree of variability in the attributes being measured and referred to the distribution of attributes in the population that explained the estimated proportion of an attribute present in the population (Czaja and Blair, 1996).The sample size was computed using P = 0.5, expressed as decimal.
Confidence interval (C) error was the range in which the true value of the population was estimated and expressed as a decimal (Israel, 2013).A confidence interval (C) of 8% was assumed for this study to calculate the sample size (Bartlet, Kotrlik and Higgins, 2001).
Thus, the sample size for this study was calculated as follows:

] g
Eq. 1 It was determined that the above sample size formula would be valid if the calculated sample size was smaller than or equal to 5% of the population size (n/N ≤ 0.05).If this proportion were larger than 5% (n/N > 0.05), the following formula would need to be used for finite population correction (Bartlet, Kotrlik and Higgins, 2001;Naing, Winn and Rusli, 2006): where "New SS" referred to the corrected sample size and the pop (i.e., population size) was 179.
In this study, the population size was 179 and the ratio between the obtained sample size and the population equalled 0.84 (150/179) (a figure larger than 0.05).Thus, the corrected sample size for the finite population was calculated as:

Survey
A questionnaire survey was employed in this study.The questionnaire consists of two parts.The first part of the questionnaire comprised eight questions designed to collect industry information and general information on the demographics of the respondents.The second part of the questionnaire comprised 17 energy management requirement statements.The respondents were asked to evaluate their company's adoption of energy management requirements in construction projects.
In total, 100 questionnaires were distributed to project managers and site engineers of construction companies working in the Gaza Strip, 86 questionnaires were completed and returned: however, only 76 (76%) questionnaires were deemed valid to be used in the analysis.In the construction enterprises, a good response rate is around 30% (Enshassi, Al-Hallaq and Mohammed, 2006;Enshassi et al., 2007).Therefore, the response rate in this study is acceptable.Additionally, when compared with similar studies (e.g. de Groot, Verhoef and Nijkamp, 2001;Rohdin, Thollander and Solding, 2007;Enshassi, Mohamed and Abdel-Hadi, 2013), the response rate of 76% can be considered acceptable and high.The Likert rating scale is widely used to measure attitudes and requires the participants to select a response in relation to a statement that reflects their particular attitude or opinion (Naoum, 2007).In this study, respondents were asked to indicate their degree of agreement about listed energy management application requirements using a scale of one (i.e., "Never Applied") to five (i.e., "Always Applied").The energy management application requirements statements were adopted from previous studies (as shown in Table 1).Not all of the collected statements/variables in the initial lists were consistent with the conditions and circumstances surrounding the Gaza Strip (i.e., the economic level, the type of projects, the geographical region and the occupation factors present at the Gaza Strip).Accordingly, the statements selected for the study were amended so that they would be commensurate with the nature of construction projects and problems present in the Gaza Strip.A pilot study using face-to-face interviews were conducted with six experienced project managers who each had more than 20 years' experience in managing local construction projects.The process involved revising and verifying all of the statements/variables collected in the literature review to ensure their appropriateness to the context of the construction industry in the Gaza Strip.The comments received from each expert were reviewed and a number of amendments, including deleting, adding, merging or modifying, were made to the statements to develop the final version of the statements.As a result, 17 drivers were selected from the 27 drivers that were collected for the comprehensive literature review.The researchers delivered the (self-administering) questionnaire in person to the contractors' offices and explained the objective and importance of the research to the contractors and the construction industry in general.

Data Analysis
The 22nd version of Statistical Program for Social Sciences (SPPS) was used for the data analysis.The data obtained from the survey was analysed using mean scores (MS) as an average index together with standard deviation to rank the energy management application requirement.Descriptive statistics were used to describe the main features of the collected data in quantitative terms.Sign test was used to determine if the mean of a paragraph was significantly different from a hypothesised value 3 (middle value of Likert scale).If the p-value (Sig.) is smaller than or equal to the level of significance, then the mean of a paragraph was significantly different from a hypothesised value 3. The sign of the test value indicates whether the mean is significantly greater or smaller than hypothesised value 3. On the other hand, if the p-value (Sig.) is greater than the level of significance, then the mean a paragraph is insignificantly different from a hypothesised value 3 (Enshassi, Elzebdeh and Mohamed, 2017).The correction coefficient for the questionnaire was less than 0.05.Thus, the questionnaire was valid and measured what it is purported to measure.The Cronbach alpha (α) was calculated as 0.92 which greater than Pallant's (2005) suggested alpha of 0.7.This indicated that the data collected from the questionnaire were interrelated and that the scale was consistent with the sample.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Table 2 shows that 22.4% of the respondents were highly educated and held postgraduate degrees.The respondents had over five years work experience and most of their contracting companies had more than five years' experience in the local construction industry.The majority of the respondents worked for contracting organisations that were either small or medium sized organisations, as the fixed workers ranged between 11 to 50.It should be noted that the local contracting organisations depended on temporary employees: thus, the number of fixed employees did not necessarily indicate a company's size.The local contracting companies also depended on hiring subcontractors to execute the construction projects.The results also showed that the respondents had worked on different types of projects, including, residential and infrastructure projects.Seventeen representative energy management requirements were found to be significantly and substantially used in current practices to measure energy management application levels in industrial firms and were labelled PEM1 to PEM17, sequentially.Table 3 sets out the results for the MS, standard deviations (SD), t-test results, average index indicators and ranks order calculations in relation to the level of application of each proposed requirement of energy management.The MS for the 17 energy management requirements were used to represent a company's level of application of energy management: the higher the score, the higher the organisation's level of energy management application.The application level of each requirement was generated using the average index method, that is, by comparing each requirement MS with the suggested MS ranges to attain the application index (i.e., "Very High" for 4.50 ≤ MS ≤ 5.00, "High" for 3.50 ≤ MS < 4.50, "Average" for 2.50 ≤ MS < 3.50, "Low" for 1.50 ≤ MS < 2.50 and "Very Low" for 0.00 ≤ MS < 1.50).Figure 1 provides a graphical presentation of the MS for the application requirements.One sample t-test was undertaken to determine whether or not the respondents considered the proposed energy management application requirements important in measuring the application levels of energy management.The results revealed that all requirement statements had p-values less than the significance level of 0.05 and t-values greater than the critical t-value (1.99).Only one requirement (i.e., PEM1) had a positive t-value (+ 2.09), the MS of this requirement was higher than the hypothesised value (3) (refer Table 3) (MS = 3.14).All other requirements (PEM16-PEM17) had negative t-values that yielded MS values smaller than the hypothesised value of 3. As shown in the Table 3, the MS value of the application of energy management requirements ranged from 1.46-3.14and had an overall MS of 2.01.Of the total 17 application requirements, 15 had a low degree of application and one of the remaining two requirements had an average degree of application with the highest application level of the listed requirements and the other requirement has a very low degree of application with the lowest application level.These results showed that the degree of application of the energy management requirements included in the study by the respondents was very low to average.Further, the average MS of the listed requirements equalled (1.50 ≤ "Overall MS = 2.01" < 2.50).This data indicated that the overall application level corresponded with the low   The reasons for the current level of implementation can be traced to the following issues.It was clear that the respondents had a moderate level of awareness of energy management benefits, but were lacking in knowledge about the techniques and standards needed to implement the energy management concept.Indeed, this issue was not a priority for respondents and a general lack of urgency surrounded this issue.Further, this issue was not the subject of any publicity that could heighten the contractor managers' interest in the matter.Additionally, energy management application represents an extra cost to local contractors; thus, the respondents had concerns about adopting the concept in their activities.Energy issues are not a predominant consideration of owners/clients when preparing the conditions and specifications for conventional local construction projects.Many constraints impede energy management adoption during project construction, including a lack of support from company management and a lack of awareness by company staff about the importance of energy management in construction.These resulted supported the findings of Kostka, Moslener and Andreas (2013) who observed that only a minority of contractors actively performed energy saving practices at a significant level.These results were also similar to those of Ates and Durakbasa (2012) who found that only 22% of the surveyed industrial companies actually practice energy management in Turkey.Similarly, Christoffersen, Larsen and Togeby (2006) showed that only 3%-14% of industrial Danish firms practice energy management.
The respondents ranked moderately and in first position requirement PEM1 that stated "My company prepares an environmental management program for each project" (MS = 3.14, SD = 0.60 and p-value = 0.00).PEM1 lay in the average application indicator category.This result suggests that environmental issues were only moderately considered in practice due to respondents' low environmental awareness levels.Similarly, Majdalani, Ajam and Mezher (2006) observed that Lebanese contracting firms do not enforce many good environmental practices.While Abd Elkhalek, Aziz and Omar (2015) found that 40.6% of Egyptian contractors did not have any stated environmental management policies, objectives and procedures, indicating that environmental management system implementation and adoption in the Egyptian construction industry is very low.
The respondents rated requirement PEM4 "My company conduct(s) energy audit(s) and accounting for its onsite works to record and report energy consumption and saving opportunities" as the second energy management requirement applied by their organisations (MS = 2.43, SD = 0.91 and p-value = 0.00).PEM4 lay in the low application category.Despite its low application level, this requirement ranked before other energy management requirements, as local contractors can implement energy accounting and auditing without additional financial costs.Further, energy consumption control and accounting in the local construction sector have been performed in unstructured and informal forms to estimate the energy required to operate the equipment or to realise the energy share of project costs.Generally, the outcome of this energy audit is information used to determine the time and amount of energy required for a project (Kannan and Boie, 2003).These results supported the findings of Thollander et al. (2013) who found that following energy audits, companies begin to adopt other requirements and measures to lower energy use.The low application level of energy audits can be attributed to a low awareness about energy management strategies and techniques.
The requirement that was ranked in the lowest position of the proposed requirements was PEM15 "My company has created and uses an energy manual to save energy during onsite works" (MS = 1.46,SD = 0.55 and p-value = 0.00).PEM15 lay very low in the application category.It's very low application indicates that energy manuals are not used in the local construction sector, but some informal guidance was present based on experience.To some extent, this low application in energy management can be attributed to the limited experience and interest of top management local contractors about energy management technologies, strategies and approaches.These results also revealed that none of the studied firms had any specialist personnel assigned to manage energy, as technical employees and middle managers managed most energy issues.The results of the UNIDO ( 2007) study suggested that energy manuals should be prepared based on previous documented energy saving practices and policies.However, the information on the standards, regulations and practices related to energy management required to develop an energy manual is unavailable in the local construction sector.Thus, it is not surprising that PEM15 was the energy management requirement ranked last by respondents.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This study sought to identify the level of energy savings and management practices used in construction process in local contracting organisations.A systematic examination was conducted of local organisations using the 17 energy management requirements proposed in the study that reflected the application level of energy management in contractors' construction activities.It was found that the MS for the energy management requirements in the local construction sector were relatively low (i.e., had "poor application"), indicating that the organisations companies in the Gaza Strip did not strictly apply energy management practices in their projects.Some contracting organisations in the Gaza Strip have started to apply some energy management activities on a small scale in one way or another, but do not necessarily have well-structured frameworks.Conversely, other organisations, have not seriously considered energy management.Thus, it was found out that energy management has not been applied in a professional, systematic and planned manner in the local construction sector.
The study showed that contracting organisations in the Gaza Strip do not strictly apply energy management to their projects, as many of these organisations have not considered energy issues seriously.This issue requires special attention from stockholders in order to promote energy saving and conduct training and awareness programs for local contracting firms.The sampled organisations were not at ground zero in relation to their energy management practices: however, the overall performances of these organisations in energy efficiency and management were relatively low.This low application level was attributable to local contractors lacking any specified knowledge of energy management techniques and strategies.The main reasons for the energy management gap in the local construction sector were the existence of some barriers and an absence of motivation to save energy.
The results of this study results should be used to increase the social responsibility of contracting organisations towards energy use.The findings of this study will be valuable to construction practitioners in terms of saving energy and promote sustainable construction.Although this study is specific to Palestine, its results can be applicable to other developing countries.This study results should create more discussion on the subjects related to energy use and energy saving in construction.
The results of this study should also be of immense use to policy makers, construction industry practitioners (e.g., clients, contractors and consultants) and academics.It is recommended to expand this study using qualitative method and involving other construction parties.
application indicator category.It is evident from the results that the majority of the local construction contractors were very limited in their applications of energy management requirements to construction projects.Figure1illustrates energy management application requirements.

Table 3 .
Respondents' Level of Application of Energy Management