Evaluating the potential energy savings of residential buildings and utilizing solar energy in the middle region of Saudi Arabia – Case study

Evaluating the potential energy savings of residential buildings and utilizing solar energy in the middle region of Saudi Arabia – Case study

Lately, with the growth in energy consumption worldwide to support global efforts to improve the climate, developing nations have to take significant measures. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) implemented meaningful policy actions towards promoting energy efficiency (EE) in several sectors, especially...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy exploration & exploitation Vol. 39; no. 5; pp. 1457 - 1490
Main Authors: Almushaikah, AbdulRahman S, Almasri, Radwan A
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London, England SAGE Publications 01-09-2021
Sage Publications Ltd
SAGE Publishing
Subjects:
Air conditioning
Building envelopes
Buildings
Developing countries
Energy conservation
Energy consumption
Energy efficiency
Exports
Feasibility studies
LDCs
Project feasibility
Residential areas
Residential buildings
Residential energy
Residential location
Roofs
Solar energy
Walls
Saudi Arabia
Riyadh Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
building envelope
solar energy
Energy efficiency
green buildings
residential building
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Summary:Lately, with the growth in energy consumption worldwide to support global efforts to improve the climate, developing nations have to take significant measures. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) implemented meaningful policy actions towards promoting energy efficiency (EE) in several sectors, especially in the building sector, to be more sustainable. In this paper, various EE measures and solar energy prospects are investigated for the residential sector, in two locations in the middle region of the KSA. An energy performance analysis of pre-existing residential buildings with an overall design is performed using simulation programs. However, installing EE measures in the building envelope is important to achieve an efficient sector regarding its energy consumption. The findings showed that applying EE measures for the building envelope, walls, roof, and windows should be considered first that makes the energy conservation possible. In Riyadh, EE measures are responsible for reducing energy consumption by 27% for walls, 14% for roof, and 6% for window, and by 29%, 13%, and 6% for walls, roof, and windows, respectively, for Qassim. However, the most impactful EE solution was selecting a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system with a high energy efficiency rate (EER), which can minimize the energy consumption by 33% and 32% for Riyadh and Qassim, respectively. The study's feasibility showed that the number of years needed to offset the initial investment for a proposed roof PV system exceeds the project's life, if the energy produced is exported to the grid at the official export tariff of 0.019 $/kWh. However, the simple payback time was 13.42 years if the energy produced is exported to the grid at a rate of 0.048 $/kWh, reflecting the project's economic feasibility.
ISSN:0144-5987
2048-4054
DOI:10.1177/0144598720975144