Retrofitting Rural Dwellings in Delta Region to Enhance Climate Change Mitigation in Egypt

Ahmed Abouaiana

doi:10.2478/rtuect-2021-0009

Abstract

Abstract The current rural dwelling pattern in the Delta in Egypt consumes much energy to achieve dwellers’ thermal comfort, increasing greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change threatening the region’s coastal parts. Therefore, this study highlights the potential of retrofitting the existing rural house utilizing pervasive construction technologies in diminishing energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions as a climate change mitigation strategy. The current modern rural house and the construction typologies were characterized. This study selected a typical modern rural dwelling located in Al-Gharbia Governorate in the Delta region. The suggested retrofitting strategies were applied to the external building envelope. The impact on the annual energy consumption of cooling and heating loads was evaluated using an Energy Performance Assessment Tool (Design Builder). An optimal envelope configuration was suggested, then an economic assessment and an investigation to the local acceptance were provided. The results showed that using the commonly used construction techniques as a retrofitting strategy can plummet the energy consumption and CO2 emissions by one-third worthy of mentioning that the locals have shown a lack of interest in the investment in retrofitting their buildings as well as the economic model showed that the investment is not profitable. Further studies can be made by the author considering investigating different building typologies and engaging other stakeholders.

Highlights

The rural Egyptian village is being reformed due to socio-economic and political aspects, which produced modern rural dwelling pattern with new walls and roofing configuration layers instead of the traditional ones [1]–[5]. These new-fangled building envelopes play a vital role in transferring the thermal load to/from inner spaces, which led to high annual energy consumption due to using cooling and heating systems such as fans and air conditioners to fulfil thermal comfort inside indoor spaces
The results showed that adding cement flooring tiles on a cement mortar to the reinforcement concrete slab reduced only 3 % compared to the base case
This study investigated the impact of using available construction materials in the building envelope on the annual operating energy consumption and CO2 emissions of an existing typical dwelling typology in the Delta region

Summary

Introduction

The rural Egyptian village is being reformed due to socio-economic and political aspects, which produced modern rural dwelling pattern with new walls and roofing configuration layers instead of the traditional ones [1]–[5]. These new-fangled building envelopes play a vital role in transferring the thermal load to/from inner spaces, which led to high annual energy consumption due to using cooling and heating systems such as fans and air conditioners to fulfil thermal comfort inside indoor spaces. It increases greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change.

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion