Simulation of Energy Efficiency Measures for the Residential Building Stock: a Case Study in the Semi-Arid Region

Global energy use has risen due to increased demands and inefficient grids in developing countries. Energy saving is detrimental in countries in which their energy supply capacity is lower than their demand. Energy Efficiency Measures (EEMs) can easily be incorporated in new buildings; however, existing buildings have limitations in geometry, orientation, and materiality which restrict their applicability. This research analyses the efficiency of applying several EEMs in the residential stock in hot semi-arid regions to reduce their energy demand. A typical residential house in Duhok, Iraq was selected as a case study. The EMMs efficiency was analysed using building energy simulation. As heating and cooling loads have similar contributions to the house thermal demand -with 56% and 44% respectively, the potential energy reduction considered both loads simultaneously. The optimal combination of EEMs can reduce the thermal load by 48.7%, while individual passive measures can only reduce the thermal load up to 16%. In urban scale, the energy reduction potential presented in this paper would represent a shift from a heating-dominated scenario to a cooling-dominated one. This in turn would aid in decreasing the energy demand during winter months in which the largest energy shortages in the city are registered.