Cost-effective use of thermal insulation in hot climates

Abdelrahman, M.A.; Ahmad, Aftab

doi:10.1016/0360-1323(91)90026-8

Cited by 33 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…However, for an air-conditioned space, insulation located in the inside layer of the wall performed better than the one located in the outside layer. Abdelrahman and Ahmad [9] developed a design procedure to select the type and thickness of the insulation material. The study involved the investigation of optimum position of polyurethane board and expanded polystyrene board for either clay bricks wall or hollow concrete block wall.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal design of residential building envelope systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alaidroos

Krarti

2015

Energy and Buildings

153

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimal design of residential building envelope systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Alaidroos

Krarti

2015

Energy and Buildings

153

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“…In hot countries such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE), buildings account for a major share of electrical energy consumption due to air conditioning (AC) and ventilation systems used in the extremely hot climatic conditions [6]. AC systems consume the largest portion of this energy (approximately 80%) [7]. Therefore, it is essential to search for solutions to reduce the energy consumption of buildings [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retrofitting an Existing Office Building in the UAE Towards Achieving Low-Energy Building

2020

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Retrofitting an existing building can oftentimes be more cost-effective than building a new facility. Since buildings consume a significant amount of energy, particularly for heating and cooling, and because existing buildings comprise the largest segment of the built environment, it is important to initiate energy conservation retrofits to reduce energy consumption and the cost of heating, cooling, and lighting buildings. However, conserving energy is not the only reason for retrofitting existing buildings. The goal should be to create a high-performance building by applying an integrated, whole-building design process to the project during the planning phase that ensures that all key design objectives are met. This paper presents a real case study of the retrofitting of an existing building to achieve lower energy consumption. Indeed, most of the constructed buildings in the UAE are unsuitable for the region, which is characterized by a very harsh climate that causes massive cooling loads and energy consumption due to an appropriate selection of design parameters at the design level. In this study, a monthly computer simulation of energy consumption of an office building in Sharjah was carried out under UAE weather conditions. Several parameters, including the building orientation, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, external shading, window-to-wall ratio, and the U-values of the walls and the roof, were investigated and optimized to achieve lower energy consumption. The simulation shows that the best case is 41.7% more efficient than the real (original) case and 30.6% more than the base case. The most sensitive parameter in the retrofitting alternatives is the roof component, which affects the energy savings by 8.49%, followed by the AC system with 8.34% energy savings if well selected using the base case. Among the selected five components, a new roof structure contributed the most to the decrease in the overall energy consumption (approximately 38%). This is followed by a new HVAC system, which leads to a 37% decrease, followed by a new wall type with insulation, resulting in a 20% decrease.

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“…With the exception of temperature which is location dependent, the remaining factors depend on the material and manufacturing process. In Saudi Arabia, the maximum wall temperature can be higher than 50°C and the average is around 40°C [3]. Since reported values of thermal conductivity were measured at about 25°C, an increase of about 15% is expected under field conditions [5].…”

Section: The Guarded-hot-plate Apparatusmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data collected by Saudi Consolidated Electric Company (SCECO-Eastern Area) show that 40% of the total electric energy consumption is for air-conditioning [2]. Thermal load analysis for buildings in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia showed that more than 50% is by transmission through the building envelope [3,4]. Therefore, an effective way to reduce the thermal load is by addition of insulation on walls.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison between Actual and Published k-Values for Saudi Insulation Materials

Al‐Hammad

Abdelrahman

Grondzik

et al. 1994

Journal of Thermal Insulation and Building Envelopes

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The objective of this technical note is to compare the tested results of the k -values of Saudi manufacturers' insulation materials with the same manufacturers published values. The test insulation materials include expanded polystyrene, polyurethane, extruded polystyrene, light weight concrete (Siporex), polyisocyanurate, glass fiber, and perlite from different Saudi manufacturers.The ASTM test for "Steady-State Thermal Transmission Properties by Means of the Guarded-Hot-Plate" (C-177) was utilized for testing the insulation samples. A guarded-hot-plate thermal conductance measuring system was utilized for conducting the tests. Insulation material samples from over 14 Saudi insulation manufacturers were obtained. The results indicate that published thermal conductivity values do not necessarily represent the proper values for Saudi climatic conditions.

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Cost-effective use of thermal insulation in hot climates

Cited by 33 publications

References 1 publication

Optimal design of residential building envelope systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Optimal design of residential building envelope systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Retrofitting an Existing Office Building in the UAE Towards Achieving Low-Energy Building

A Comparison between Actual and Published k-Values for Saudi Insulation Materials

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