Energy consumption in the building sector accounts for a large percentage of global energy consumption. For this reason, it is essential to take action to minimize this destructive consumption and promote energy conservation practices within the building sector. A Zero Energy Building (ZEB) concept has been proven as a viable technique for improving energy efficiency in various climatic conditions. This concept can minimize the environmental impact of buildings and helping to advance sustainable development in the construction industry. Worldwide, the ZEB is of the utmost importance to meet sustainability development goals in the built environment. The building sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) consumes about 75% of total electrical energy. KSA has experienced an unprecedented energy consumption in the last decade. This is due to the country’s rapid population growth and urbanization, which in turn put more pressures on the kingdom’s natural resources. However, KSA is committed to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies to achieve the goals of sustainability development, as part of its Vision 2030. This paper therefore explores various green building solutions, especially in hot-arid regions, with the aim of reaching ZEB, and at the same time minimizing potential adverse environmental impacts. In order to verify proposed solutions, energy simulation software (Integrated Environmental Solution-IES) is used, along with reviews of related work. The major finding of this paper reveals that several green building concepts are crucial to the design and operation of a building in hot dry region, including thermal mass; daylight; natural ventilation; cavity wall; double-glazing and solar panels (PV). Bear in mind that the operation of a building has to be powered by a Building Management System (BMS). This paper also proposes an auxiliary holistic framework that explains how green practices such as Zero Energy Buildings (ZEBs) can be achievable in Saudi Arabia with no harm to its local environment.

In hot and humid climates, a significant part of the energy is used to cool the building. There are several ways to reduce this air conditioning load, but one standout is through the selection and design of the right building envelope and its components. The thermal characteristics of the building envelope, in particular the thermal resistance of the insulation used, have an impact on the thermal and energy performance of building structures. Thermal conductivity, which indicates the ability of heat to move through a material given a temperature difference, is the primary factor affecting the performance of a thermal insulation material. Both temperature and humidity changes can affect a material’s thermal conductivity value, which can then change. In fact, due to the fluctuating ambient air temperature and solar radiation, thermal insulation in buildings is susceptible to significant and continuous temperature variations. Thermal insulation used in building walls and roofs helps to reduce the energy demand of the building. It improves thermal comfort and, if used correctly, reduces the operational cost of the building. The present study has focused on the effects of location and insulation material on the energy performance of a residential building by considering five climatic locations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Five commonly used insulation materials with different thermal characteristics, namely polyurethane board (PU), expanded polystyrene (EPS), glass wool (GW), urea-formaldehyde foam (UFF), and expanded perlite (EP), were analyzed under various climatic zones as per the Saudi Building Code 601/602. The selected cities were categorized based on cooling degree days (CDD) and outdoor dry bulb temperature (DBT) as hot, very hot, and extremely hot climatic zones. Insulation improves thermal comfort and, if used correctly, reduces running costs. Experiments were conducted to determine the thermal conductivity, and the energy simulation was performed by employing IES-VE software for various insulation options. The findings indicate that the location has a significant impact on the energy performance of the insulating materials. The energy saving potential of polyurethane board (PU) insulation is more attractive in cities with higher DBTs and CDDs than in cities with lower DBTs and CDDs. The benefit of installing insulation ranged from a 2 to 14% decrease in energy demand for the climate zones studied. The sensitivity analysis showed that the energy saving potential of the insulation materials is sensitive to the set-point temperature (ST) band.