Existing Building Data in the UAE
Much of the building stock of the 22nd century already exists. In industrialized countries, the ratio of existing buildings to new is roughly 10 to 1. Conservatively, there are estimated to be over 250,000 existing buildings (exclusive of single family villas) in the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. These buildings include multi-family residential, industrial, commercial, governmental, institutional, and educational facilities, among others.
Many of these buildings have been constructed in the past without much regard for energy and water efficiency. To make serious impact upon the sustainability of our UAE built environment, this existing building stock must be brought up to new standards, particularly in energy and water efficiency. Water is included because most of the UAE's water comes from desalination, which is energy intensive in its production. Indeed, energy required for water desalination is projected to consume 20% of the total energy demand in the UAE by 2030.
Each Building is Unique
One of the most important concepts we have learned through our MECSD green building experiences that applies to existing buildings is that each building is unique unto itself in terms of its building systems and the behavioral aspects of its occupants.
This uniqueness makes it very difficult or nearly impossible to compare the improvement of efficiencies achieved across a group of existing buildings - instead each building should be measured against its benchmarked prior-self, after the green building improvements (energy and water conservation measures) have been implemented, to achieve a targeted percentage in improvement that can and should be measured and verified.
Dubai’s Existing Building Audit and Retrofit Regulation
Dubai is proposing to establish a “Building Audit and Retrofit Regulation” to be launched later this year that will require an ASHRAE Audit LEVEL 1 to be performed for buildings over an established kWh/yr threshold, beginning the process with very large energy-using buildings. Audit Level 2 with specific energy and water conservation measures identified will be required if the initial audit reveals serious efficiency issues.
Stopping short of requiring any retrofit identified in the audit for these buildings, the Dubai program will be relying on market forces and exposure of the actual energy and water consumption levels of the building compared to established benchmarks for the building type, during building sales transactions or changes of occupancies/uses, to encourage the owners to implement the retrofits necessary, and measure the results over time.
The new Dubai regulation will require buildings having multiple tenants to provide sub-metering to allow tenants self-regulation of their energy and water consumptions.
Certainty in an Established Target
Eventually it is my hope that the inefficient systems and operations of existing buildings be exposed at the time of required Audit reports and that a required target for improvement be established for the building owner to implement over a defined performance period of time. This would allow each building, in terms of efficiency for both systems and operations, to be continuously reviewed and upgraded over its lifetime. It has been our experience that most existing buildings can be improved by 10 to 15 % on energy and 20 to 30 % on water consumption.
Also added peer pressure due to efficiencies defined at the time of real estate transactions will encourage building owners to make their buildings more efficient in both systems and operations.
Much of the building stock of the 22nd century already exists. In industrialized countries, the ratio of existing buildings to new is roughly 10 to 1. Conservatively, there are estimated to be over 250,000 existing buildings (exclusive of single family villas) in the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. These buildings include multi-family residential, industrial, commercial, governmental, institutional, and educational facilities, among others.
Many of these buildings have been constructed in the past without much regard for energy and water efficiency. To make serious impact upon the sustainability of our UAE built environment, this existing building stock must be brought up to new standards, particularly in energy and water efficiency. Water is included because most of the UAE's water comes from desalination, which is energy intensive in its production. Indeed, energy required for water desalination is projected to consume 20% of the total energy demand in the UAE by 2030.
Each Building is Unique
One of the most important concepts we have learned through our MECSD green building experiences that applies to existing buildings is that each building is unique unto itself in terms of its building systems and the behavioral aspects of its occupants.
This uniqueness makes it very difficult or nearly impossible to compare the improvement of efficiencies achieved across a group of existing buildings - instead each building should be measured against its benchmarked prior-self, after the green building improvements (energy and water conservation measures) have been implemented, to achieve a targeted percentage in improvement that can and should be measured and verified.
Dubai’s Existing Building Audit and Retrofit Regulation
Dubai is proposing to establish a “Building Audit and Retrofit Regulation” to be launched later this year that will require an ASHRAE Audit LEVEL 1 to be performed for buildings over an established kWh/yr threshold, beginning the process with very large energy-using buildings. Audit Level 2 with specific energy and water conservation measures identified will be required if the initial audit reveals serious efficiency issues.
Stopping short of requiring any retrofit identified in the audit for these buildings, the Dubai program will be relying on market forces and exposure of the actual energy and water consumption levels of the building compared to established benchmarks for the building type, during building sales transactions or changes of occupancies/uses, to encourage the owners to implement the retrofits necessary, and measure the results over time.
The new Dubai regulation will require buildings having multiple tenants to provide sub-metering to allow tenants self-regulation of their energy and water consumptions.
Certainty in an Established Target
Eventually it is my hope that the inefficient systems and operations of existing buildings be exposed at the time of required Audit reports and that a required target for improvement be established for the building owner to implement over a defined performance period of time. This would allow each building, in terms of efficiency for both systems and operations, to be continuously reviewed and upgraded over its lifetime. It has been our experience that most existing buildings can be improved by 10 to 15 % on energy and 20 to 30 % on water consumption.
Also added peer pressure due to efficiencies defined at the time of real estate transactions will encourage building owners to make their buildings more efficient in both systems and operations.
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