RECOGNITION AND SATISFACTION TOWORDS RENEWABLE ENERGY LIGHTING SYSTEMS IN VILLAGE COMMITTEE:CASE STUDY ILEAF TOWN RAMA 2 (SAMDAM) BY KANDA PROPERTY DEVOLOPMENT
Abstract:
ieIt hasbeen found that housing developments areseeking to increasingly apply the concept of sustainable development to practice. The study showed that the housing developments of Kanda Property Co., Ltd. have been developing approaches to energy saving under the concept of sustainable development applied byinstalling renewable energy lightingsystems, or solar cells, in common housing areas. The researcher intended to examine how the residents showed recognition to the lighting systems, and to study the forms oftheir recognition as well as satisfactionwith the implementation of the systems. The results can be used to be guidelines for other interested housing developers about preparing information and communicating with homebuyers in the future. The study revealed that the sample living in the housing development mostly had an average of three family members per home. Being mostly house owners, the sample groups lived in detached houses or townhouses with an average utility space of 100 square meters. Thehousing development comprised268 houses occupying a total of 207,864 square meters which included the common housing area of 64,992 square meters, or 31.2% of the total.In the housing development, there were streets where the renewable energy lighting systemswasinstalled. The Solar Street LightProject aimed to generate solar-powered electricity without relying on electricity from the regularlighting systems. The timer on the light could alsobe set, so the lighting cost was very slight. At the same time, however, the maintenance cost of lighting devices was by 2% more than the regularlighting systems, mainly due to changes of batteries and LED light bulbs in every two years and 50,000 hours, respectively. The above-mentioned cost needed to be added to the maintenance costs of the common property paid by the residents. The findings revealed that the group living inthe detached houses (in the ILEAF Park Project) showed 97% recognition for perceiving the installation of the renewable energy lighting systemsand receiving information provided by the housing development staff. The group who lived in townhouses (the ILEAF town)had 85% recognition arising from perceiving the installation of the renewable energy lighting systems and receiving information provided by the housing development staff. Both of the resident groups slightly recognized the functions and devices of the renewable energy lighting systems: the detached house group exhibited 64% recognition and the townhouse group 57.5%. The recognized subjects solicited information on the lighting cost and maintenance cost of the renewable energy lighting systemsin order to provide the information to the residents who were responsible for those expenses. Those who did not recognize that the system had been implemented in the housing development asked for additional information on the systems: 100% of the members in the detached house group and 71.4% of the subjects in the townhouse group requested additional information. It is suggested that housing developers should train the residents how to use and maintain the systems for their future maintenance. In terms of the slightly higher present-day electricity cost paid, the detached house resident group thought that they agreed to pay a reasonably higher cost of the common property than the regular electricity cost, whereas the townhouse resident group wanted the slightly higher present-day electricity cost to be lower or remain the same as the regular electricity cost. Concerning suggestions on the residents recognition, the study found that the residents showed recognition by perceiving the housing development plan and the housing development staffs introduction to the renewable energy lighting systems. The issue that the residents consideredthe most seriouslywas the expenses incurred and the maintenance of the systems. Therefore, it is suggested that housing developers should provide potential homebuyers with information on the renewable energy lighting systems, the expenses incurred from the systems, and the maintenance of the lighting devices, compared with those of the regular electricity systems, whileoffering to sell houses. This is to create homebuyers recognition and satisfaction with the improvement of housing projects in light of energy saving, resulting both in the effectiveness in allowing residents to agree to paythe cost of the common property and collecting it and in the perpetuation of this type of housing developments.