Abstract
Electricity consumption in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has grown at an annual rate of about 7% as a result of population and economic growth. The consumption of the residential sector accounts for over 50% of the total energy generation. Moreover, the energy consumption of air-conditioning (AC) systems has become 70% of residential buildings’ total electricity consumption in the summer months, leading to a high peak electricity demand. This study investigates solutions that will tackle the problem of high energy demand associated with KSA’s air-conditioning needs in residential buildings. To reduce the AC energy consumption in the residential sector, we propose the use of smart control in the thermostat settings. Smart control can be utilized by (i) scheduling and advance control of the operation of AC systems and (ii) remotely setting the thermostats appropriately by the utilities. In this study, we model typical residential buildings and, crucially, occupancy behavior based on behavioral data obtained through a survey. The potential impacts in terms of achievable electricity savings of different AC operation modes for residential houses of Riyadh city are presented. The results from our computer simulations show that the solutions intended to reduce energy consumption effectively, particularly in the advance mode of operation, resulted in a 30% to 40% increase in total annual energy savings.
Highlights
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has a desert climate that is characterized by high heat during the day and a temperature drop at night; the heat rapidly increases after sunrise and stays so until sunset
Over the last few decades, the growth in energy consumption is approximately 7% annually, and 60% to 70% of the energy consumed by residential buildings is due to the air-conditioning systems during the summer months [2,3]
Having defined the parameters of the house types to the DesignBuilder software, Figure 9 shows the actual reading and simulated results of an air-conditioning system operating on the continuous the actual reading and simulated results of an air-conditioning system operating on the continuous mode for a single floor in a two-story building (House 1)
Summary
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has a desert climate that is characterized by high heat during the day and a temperature drop at night; the heat rapidly increases after sunrise and stays so until sunset. The electricity sector in KSA is faced with the great challenge of meeting the increasing electricity demand. Over 50% of the Kingdom’s total electricity production is consumed by the residential sector. Over the last few decades, the growth in energy consumption is approximately 7% annually, and 60% to 70% of the energy consumed by residential buildings is due to the air-conditioning systems during the summer months [2,3]. The peak demand for electric power in KSA occurs midday, between 11:00 and 17:00 (from May to September). The surges during that period of the day in summer is non-existent in the winter
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