Passive and Renewable Low Carbon Strategies for Residential Buildings in Hot Humid Climates
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University of Bath PHD Passive and renewable low carbon strategies for residential buildings in hot humid climates Al Shamsi, Yahya Award date: 2017 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication Alternative formats If you require this document in an alternative format, please contact: [email protected] General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 11. Oct. 2021 University of Bath PHD Passive and renewable low carbon strategies for residential buildings in hot humid climates Al Shamsi, Yahya Award date: 2017 Awarding institution: University of Bath Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 15. May. 2019 PASSIVE AND RENEWABLE LOW CARBON STRATEGIES FOR RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS IN HOT HUMID CLIMATES Yahya Al Shamsi A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Bath Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering September 2017 Abstract The building sector alone accounts for almost 40% of the total energy demand, whereas people spend more than 80% of their time indoors. Reducing the energy demand in buildings is crucial to the achievement of a sustainable building environment. At the same time, it is important not to deteriorate people’s health, well-being and comfort in buildings. Thus, designing healthy and energy efficient buildings is one of the most challenging tasks. The housing industry in Oman overlooked the energy consumption of buildings and their adverse impact on the climate. This led to an increased energy consumption and its associated CO2 emissions. Hence, this research aims to experimentally evaluate the key elements and strategies required to increase the adoption of lifetime low-carbon domestic buildings in Oman, that will provide the most benefits towards a more sustainable energy future. In order to achieve the aims stated above, a comprehensive, multi-stage study has been conducted, involving the review of the status of low carbon buildings in the GCC countries and in Oman compared to the global scale. The technical viability of low-energy codes and standards for domestic buildings in the Sultanate of Oman were then examined in order to identify the factors resulting in increased energy consumption. These factors include a regulatory framework, market support, as well as the wellness and awareness of the society with respect to sustainability. Thereafter, the research identified the main elements of the operational deficiency interfering with the adoption of low carbon buildings. This covered the status of the housing stock typology in Oman, building energy consumption characteristics and usage patterns, occupant behaviours, regulation and government support. Accordingly, a roadmap was suggested for low carbon strategy to help the country overcome the adverse effects of energy usage in domestic buildings. In this context, each stage of this research utilised a specific methodology including public survey analyses, site visits, modelling analyses and expert consultation using an analytical approach. Furthermore, the research methodology incorporated a comparative analysis for the samples of the buildings including conventional and low carbon buildings in the Sultanate of Oman using descriptive, qualitative and spatial analyses for these case studies. ii In addition, the study reviewed the key features characterising the energy efficiency of low carbon buildings in the hot humid climate through the assessment of a set of energy efficiency measures (EEMs) for residential buildings in the selected climate. These EEMs involved the building envelope, building shape, orientation, materials, glazing, insulation, shading, natural ventilation, daylight and the application of renewables. Subsequently, a low carbon domestic building design template was established that supports architects, civil engineers and building professionals in the design of sustainable homes for the selected climate, context and cultural requirements. The template was designed to evaluate the overall building energy consumption based on building physics and the operation pattern and provided the energy evaluation for the proposed design in order to maximise energy savings. Then, the template was tested on the energy use of viable housing prototypes employing the criteria of the established template. This study contributes to the body of knowledge within this field by offering a low carbon domestic framework for the design of low energy residential buildings in Oman. It proves that it is possible to reduce the energy consumption of residential buildings due to the application of each EEM by 3.7% to 18.2%. Furthermore, the research identified the possible lower and zero cost EEMs which can be implemented in the context of Oman. The findings are broadly applicable to other regions with similar climatic conditions and cultural constraints, such as those of the Middle East and the GCC countries. The results showed that different sets of actions are required to achieve the building energy performance in the researched country’s case study. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone for their support and encouragements, which have made this thesis possible. This research would not have been possible without the support and advice given to me by my two supervisors. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my first supervisor Dr Steve Lo for this invaluable help throughout the entire PhD research and his confidence in my ability to carry out the investigation. His guidance helped me throughout the research and writing of this thesis. I would also like to thank my second supervisor Dr Sukumar Natarajan for his support and guidance throughout the entire study. I would like to acknowledge The Research Council (TRC), Oman for giving me the opportunity to access to their documents and data on the green buildings they were monitoring. Finally, I am deeply grateful for my family, relatives and my mother who has always been my great teacher, and for my friends and colleagues for their help and unlimited support. iv Table of Content Background ........................................................................................................................... 1 Building and climate change ................................................................................................ 3 Oman geography and climate .............................................................................................. 4 Construction practice in Oman and GCC countries ......................................................... 7 Importance of the research ................................................................................................ 10 Hypothesis ............................................................................................................................ 11 Aim of the research ............................................................................................................. 11 Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 12 Scope and limitation of the research ................................................................................. 13 Contribution to the body of knowledge ............................................................................. 13 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 15 The concept of energy and building .................................................................................. 16 Review of related international standards on energy conservation in buildings .......... 17 2.3.1 International application of energy standards for buildings .................................. 20 Best practice low carbon buildings .................................................................................... 22 2.4.1 International best practice of low carbon construction ................................................. 23 Application