Open Access

ARTICLE

Energy Retrofitting of School Buildings in UAE

Abdelsalam Aldawoud^*, Fatma Elzahraa Hosny, Rasha Mdkhana

Architectural Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

* Corresponding Author: Abdelsalam Aldawoud. Email:

Energy Engineering 2020, 117(6), 381-395. https://doi.org/10.32604/EE.2020.011863

Received 02 June 2020; Accepted 03 August 2020; Issue published 16 October 2020

Abstract

The opportunities for energy savings by retrofitting of the existing school buildings in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are significant because of their excessive energy consumption and space cooling demand. In this research, energy modeling and simulation are utilized with the use of Design Builder software to examine the influence of various retrofitting measures of air-conditioning (A/C) system and building envelope components on the energy use. Several combined measures are implemented and assessed to achieve the main goal of this research of selecting the best course of action to reduce cooling energy consumption for existing school buildings in the UAE. The results show that the intensity of the reduction in cooling energy requirement varies from one retrofitting set of measures to another. The used electricity can be reduced by 29% to provide the required cooling demand by replacing the existing air conditioning equipment with more energy-efficient and properly sized system. A reduction of 21.5% in the annual electricity consumption to provide the required cooling demand can be obtained by adding insulation to the building roof and exterior walls. Besides, a reduction in electricity consumption of 57% can be potentially achieved to provide the required cooling load by improving the thermal resistance of the existing school walls, roof, and windows combined with high-efficiency air conditioning (A/C) system.

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Citations