Establishing domestic low energy consumption reference levels for Saudi Arabia and the Wider Middle Eastern Region

Saudi Arabia is renowned for its full reliance on fossil fuel energy and lack of an energy regulatory framework for its built environment. The paper focuses on the domestic sector and aims to: (a) establish levels of energy reduction, informed by leading standards (such as Passivhaus in Germany), that can be achieved taking into account the complex local socio-cultural context and environmental factors, and (b) propose a low energy reference definition with a view of encouraging energy retrofitting programs and enforcing domestic low carbon interventions. An energy simulation environment is employed to simulate and analyze energy consumption patterns of three proposed low carbon prototype houses that reflect current house typology and space layout in the country. The three proposed homes offer a reduction in energy consumption of up to 71.6%, compared with similar houses. Based on these findings, a domestic energy performance reference is proposed with energy consumption ranging between 77 kWh/m2 and 98 kWh/m2. Economic and environmental benefits are discussed as well as recommendations for enforcing low carbon design in the country and across the region.