Techno-Economic Analysis of Green Building Codes in United Arab Emirates Based on a Case Study Office Building

Hiba Najini, Mutasim Nour, Sulaiman Al-Zuhair and Fadi Ghaith
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Hiba Najini: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
Mutasim Nour: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK
Sulaiman Al-Zuhair: Chemical Engineering Department, UAE University, Al-Ain 15551, UAE
Fadi Ghaith: School of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 21, 1-22

Abstract: Green building regulations in the United Arab Emirates are required to obtain building permits so that future construction projects can create a sustainable living environment. Emirates such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Sharjah have specific green building regulations, whereas other emirates follow Abu Dhabi’s regulatory criteria. Previous work fails to present a techno-economic cross-code analysis for various green building regulations in the UAE by evaluating energy and water performance. A case study using an existing high-rise green office building was formulated using the Integrated Environmental Solution: Virtual Environment (IES-VE) platform and the U.S. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (U.S. LEED) water consumption evaluation tool to study its energy and water performance, respectively. The archived results were used to devise an economic study based on the discounted cash flow technique. The principal findings of this research allowed us to determine a cross-code analysis and propose cost-effective trade-offs. These will aid the consultants and contractors in choosing appropriate green building regulations in the UAE by highlighting the potential of each parameter within green building regulations in terms of energy, water, and economic performance.

Keywords: business appraisal; energy modeling; IES-VE; energy performance; water performance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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