Citation

Rehan, Muhammad Saad and Khan, Talha Ahmed and Shakoor, Abdul and Khan, Ubaid Ullah and Akhtar, Hammad and Ali, Muhammad and Khan, Imran and Lee, It Ee and Wali, Qamar (2026) Towards Decision‐Oriented Audit Framework Through Multi‐Level Energy Performance Evaluation of a Public Sector Educational Institute in Peshawar, Pakistan. International Journal of Energy Research, 2026 (1). ISSN 0363-907X

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Abstract

The use of energy in educational facilities in developing countries continues to grow steadily, increasing the need for decision-oriented energy audit frameworks capable of not only identifying energy conservation opportunities but also prioritizing investments under budgetary constraints. This study presents a decision-oriented multilevel energy audit framework integrated with the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for prioritizing energy efficiency measures (EEMs) in public-sector educational buildings. The proposed framework was applied to Government Shaheed Osama Zafar Centennial Model High School No. 2, Peshawar, Pakistan. The audit was based on ASHRAE and ISO 50002 standards and comprised of utility-bill analysis, field measurements, equipment inventory assessment, and solar photovoltaic (PV) simulation. In 2023–2024, the school used an average of 11,020 kWh of electricity per year mainly coming from lighting and ceiling fan fixtures. Taking into account the audit results, a package of energy-efficiency interventions and renewable energy solutions was recommended, such as the replacement of 155 conventional lamps with high efficiency LEDs, the replacement of 124 ceiling fans with energy efficient fans which meet National Energy and Conservation Authority (NEECA) standards, and the installation of a rooftop solar PV system of 7.8 kVA. The proposed fan and lighting retrofits are expected to result in a 53.6% reduction in annual electricity use, decrease electrical energy utilization index (E-EUI) from 4.79 to 2.22 kWh/m2/year, and a reduction in annual carbon emissions of about 2.51 tCO2e/year. For the fan and lighting retrofit package, the return on investment (ROI) is 17.29% per year and the simple payback period (SPP) is 5.78 years; for the proposed PV system, the payback period is 1.95 years. At 25 years, life-cycle economic analysis, considering PV degradation, operation and maintenance costs, and the project life-cycle, confirms the financial viability of the proposed interventions. The proposed framework demonstrates that integrating multilevel energy auditing with AHP-based multicriteria decision analysis, renewable energy assessment, carbon accounting, and life-cycle economic evaluation provides an effective decision-support methodology for sustainable energy management in resource-constrained public educational institutions.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	ASHRAE standards, carbon emissions, energy audit, energy utilization index, ISO 50002, renewable energy integration, retrofitting
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Artificial Intelligence & Engineering (FAIE)
Depositing User:	Ms Suzilawati Abu Samah
Date Deposited:	03 Sep 2026 01:47
Last Modified:	03 Sep 2026 01:47
URII:	http://shdl.mmu.edu.my/id/eprint/16567

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