In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), residential buildings’ energy consumption accounts for almost 50% of the building stock electricity consumption. The KSA’s economy relies heavily on fossil fuel sources, namely oil reservoirs, whose depletion will negatively affect the future development of the country. The total electricity consumption is growing by approximately 5–8% annually, which would lead to oil production and oil consumption being equal in 2035. Therefore, residential buildings need further assessment as regards their current energy consumption. This research used a survey to explore current user behaviour in residential buildings’ energy performance in the city of Jeddah, KSA. The findings of the survey show that several factors impact the energy performance in residential buildings. First, the buildings’ thermal properties were found to be poorly designed. Second, the cultural aspects (family member role and generous hospitality), and the majority of users within the buildings preferring a room temperature of below 24 °C, requires a massive amount of cooling due to the climate conditions. Third, an increase in user awareness has helped to slightly improve residential buildings’ energy efficiency. Knowing the current high-energy-consumption sources and causes, being able to define opportunities for thermal properties’ enhancement, and increasing user awareness of how to achieve self-sustaining buildings are essential.
a b s t r a c tLarge differences between the expected and actual energy consumption have been found in energy efficient dwellings. Research has shown that these differences are partially caused by occupant behaviour. The financing and payback periods of low carbon technologies are often uncertain because of the impact of the occupants on building performance. This translates into a reluctance to invest in deep renovation projects. The goal of this design-inclusive research project is to develop a solution for zero energy renovation that reduces the uncertainty on building performance cause by occupants' behaviour by reducing the uncertainty in design decisions and energy calculations. This investigation focuses on the identification of building type specific occupants and their characteristics, requirements and living practices. This paper presents the user research approach developed for the renovation process. The approach consists of statistical analysis of Dutch households, a monitoring campaign in the area of study and co-creation research through mock-ups, enactments and interviews. Case studies results are presented to highlight the effect of different household types on energy consumption and occupants' requirements, and point at the importance of taking into account household typology and socio-economic characteristics in energy calculations or building simulations, as well as occupant requirements in the design process.
According to the IPCC Climate Change projections by 2050 temperatures in southern Spain will have increased noticeably during the summer. Housing-in its current form-will not be able to provide a suitable response to this new climate scenario, and will in turn prompt an increase in cooling energy consumption and a series of problems relating to health and comfort. The Design Builder simulation tool was used to quantify the impact of this future climate scenario on energy demand, as well as its effect under free-running conditions on indoor temperature. Different passive conditioning strategies were evaluated to establish their influence on the indoor comfort conditions. The case study examined a theoretical single-family residential unit model in order to establish guidelines for the pre-selection of the most suitable passive solutions. The results show that passive conditioning strategies analysed (envelope treatment, solar gain protection and night-time natural ventilation) reduce energy demand and indoor temperatures, thus increasing energy efficiency and improving indoor comfort conditions. Therefore, these passive conditioning strategies reduce the cooling energy consumption.
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