Low Carbon Cooling Approach for the Residences in the UAE: A Case Study in Dubai

Abstract

Prior to the discovery of electrical power, the buildings in the UAE were built with a concentration on the passive designs in order to have daylight and natural ventilation as well as avoiding the undesired heat. The wind tower was considered as the most familiar cooling strategy followed in the traditional architecture. However, the advanced air conditioning systems of the present time have removed the need for the wind catchers since the indoor comfort could not be achieved enough by the wind towers and at the same level that advanced air conditioning systems can do. Despite the integration of the Green Buildings in UAE, the cheap energy prices and the poor attention to energy efficiency buildings have converted UAE to one of the top ten countries worldwide that have high electricity consumption per capita. This work offers a low carbon proposal to solve the problem and demonstrates three strategies that can be adopted in UAE to implement energy efficient buildings without compromising on the indoor comfort and air quality. IES VE and RETScreen software were used to simulate and analyse the proposed strategies. Using proper wall construction material that has minimum thermal transmittance value is one of the strategies that can be implemented to reduce the airconditioning operating time thus less energy consumption. In addition to its benefits to the urban area, Green Roof is the second strategy that can be also implemented in order to reduce the thermal transmittance value of the roof. The last strategy is to employ Photovoltaic Panels to produce clean energy and to reduce the reliance on the fossil oil-generated power. As an overall, the bundle of three strategies has proved its efficiency to reduce the cooling energy consumption. The total electricity saving was 15.45 (MWh) and with a percentage of 19.6% of the total base case cooling power consumption.