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The building sector is a major contributor towards climate change. Within it, almost a quarter of the global electricity is consumed in the residential sector. The case for residential sector in the Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) countries is even more critical as compared with the developed world. The per capita electricity usage in the GCC countries is among the highest globally. This indicates a necessity for these countries to improve the energy performance of buildings. Existing residential buildings make the bulk of the total building stock, and thus have a critical role in the overall performance of the building sector. It is, therefore, important for them to invest in the energy retrofitting of existing unsustainable residential buildings. The aim of this study is to present a comprehensive critical review of literature of residential buildings' energy retrofitting trends in the GCC countries. An extensive keyword based search was carried out to identify the studies under the subject area in the region. A total of 40 relevant studies were accumulated which were then critically analysed and benchmarked against global retrofit studies’ trends to identify gaps in literature. It is observed that there is a lack of top-down and bottom-up physical approaches in energy retrofit studies. In addition, modern design and application tools, such as BIM, have not been applied in any study. Furthermore, no work presents a measured and verified case study of an implemented energy retrofitting project. Recommendations are also made for future studies to bridge the gap in existing literature.
Wahhaj Ahmed; Muhammad Asif. A critical review of energy retrofitting trends in residential buildings with particular focus on the GCC countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 2021, 144, 111000 .
AMA StyleWahhaj Ahmed, Muhammad Asif. A critical review of energy retrofitting trends in residential buildings with particular focus on the GCC countries. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 2021; 144 ():111000.
Chicago/Turabian StyleWahhaj Ahmed; Muhammad Asif. 2021. "A critical review of energy retrofitting trends in residential buildings with particular focus on the GCC countries." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 144, no. : 111000.
The buildings and construction sector accounts for the majority of the energy consumption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). For a sustainable future, energy consumption in the sector should be reduced and existing buildings need to be energy retrofitted. A number of studies present energy retrofitting of residential buildings in KSA; however, there is a lack of studies presenting retrofitting of educational buildings. Thus, the aim of this study is to adopt a BIM-based approach to assess Energy Conservation Measures (ECMs) in a prototypical Government-built educational building in Dammam, KSA. The methodology consists of six prime steps, (1) case study data collection, (2) energy auditing, (3) proposing ECMs, (4) BIM model development, (5) energy assessment, and (6) economic assessment. The energy audit revealed several inefficiencies in the building construction and operation and four ECMs were proposed and simulated. It was found that annual energy consumption can be reduced by 22.7% in the educational building, and the investment for the four ECMs is paid back in 2.7 years only. Therefore, implementing the proposed ECMs is a viable option to energy retrofit such educational buildings in the country, and the presented BIM-based approach can be adopted to efficiently conduct the energy retrofitting process.
Mohammad Hamida; Wahhaj Ahmed; Muhammad Asif; Faris Almaziad. Techno-Economic Assessment of Energy Retrofitting Educational Buildings: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia. Sustainability 2020, 13, 179 .
AMA StyleMohammad Hamida, Wahhaj Ahmed, Muhammad Asif, Faris Almaziad. Techno-Economic Assessment of Energy Retrofitting Educational Buildings: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia. Sustainability. 2020; 13 (1):179.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMohammad Hamida; Wahhaj Ahmed; Muhammad Asif; Faris Almaziad. 2020. "Techno-Economic Assessment of Energy Retrofitting Educational Buildings: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia." Sustainability 13, no. 1: 179.
The per capita energy usage in Saudi Arabia is almost three times higher than the global average. A major contributor is the residential sector which consumes almost 50% of the total national energy consumption every year. Environmental and economic pressures along with the Saudi Vision 2030 reform program advocate for an improvement in energy consumption patterns. For a sustainable residential sector, energy-efficient solutions should be adopted in the design process preferably based on building performance simulation (BPS). This study investigates the existing status and future prospects of BPS in the construction industry of Saudi Arabia. A survey has been carried out with building industry professionals to investigate the existing practices in terms of use of BPS. Energy and environmental savings achievable through application of BPS have been estimated by modelling a typical residential villa as a case study. The results indicate that presently BPS is not being adequately applied by the building industry and a number of barriers exist which need to be addressed. The case study simulation indicates that electricity consumption of a villa based on a BPS-based design process is 51.3% less than the existing typical residential villa.
Wahhaj Ahmed; Muhammad Asif; Farajallah Alrashed. Application of Building Performance Simulation to Design Energy-Efficient Homes: Case Study from Saudi Arabia. Sustainability 2019, 11, 6048 .
AMA StyleWahhaj Ahmed, Muhammad Asif, Farajallah Alrashed. Application of Building Performance Simulation to Design Energy-Efficient Homes: Case Study from Saudi Arabia. Sustainability. 2019; 11 (21):6048.
Chicago/Turabian StyleWahhaj Ahmed; Muhammad Asif; Farajallah Alrashed. 2019. "Application of Building Performance Simulation to Design Energy-Efficient Homes: Case Study from Saudi Arabia." Sustainability 11, no. 21: 6048.