Nearly zero energy - construction site temporary office buildings

Abstract

In the UAE temporary offices and buildings utilised during the construction phase of a project are not connected to the grid electricity. Thus, leaving on site generation as the only option to power these buildings. On-site generation for these temporary buildings in the UAE is, more often than not, through diesel generators. Diesel generators are not the most efficient nor environmentally friendly source of power generation and produce large amounts of carbon dioxide. These temporary buildings have a continuous power consumption throughout the construction period of a project and this can lead to significant amounts of carbon emissions to the atmosphere and detrimental environmental impacts. To alleviate the issue, we have identified a typical site office building in Dubai and analysed its consumption and how to offset or reduce the reliance on diesel generation thus increasing the efficiency and sustainability of the site office by trying to target a near zero energy building. Through dynamic energy modelling simulations of the existing site office we were able to meet the nearly zero energy requirements by implementing envelope improvements, mechanical system efficiencies and on-site renewable energy generation. A financial feasibility assessment was conducted on the improvements determined to achieve the nearly zero energy target. This ensured that a holistic approach was taken upon selection of the improvements.