Passive space cooling in Abu Dhabi: guidelines to advance the implementation of estidama pearl villa rating system

Abstract

The Estidama Pearl Villa Rating System, herein PVRS, provide broad criteria for sustainable villa design and construction. However, explicit implementation of specific purposes such as energy conservation require further development of the PVRS. This Master's thesis identifies potential guidelines for advancing the passive design of villas in Abu Dhabi prescribed in the credit criteria 'Cool building strategies' coded RE-2 in the PVRS. Analysis of energy consumption for space cooling using weather normalized electrical consumption per household reveals deteriorating energy efficiency in Abu Dhabi buildings causing increasing electrical energy demand for air-conditioning. Consequently, the need for passive space cooling in building design is central to achieve sustainability. Guidelines and implementation recommendations for passive cooling design in compliance with Estidama PVRS are listed according to three main types of passive cooling techniques; prevention of heat gains, modulation of heat gains and dissipation of heat gains to be implemented together as part of passive cooling strategy in villas i.e. not interchangeably as suggested by the performance method or the prescriptive method in RE-2. The specific guidelines and implementation recommendations are complemented with general guidelines aimed for integrated design. The analysis in this study are mainly based on data and charts obtained from ClimateTool, a planning tool for international building, and DegreeDays, a weather online database for energy professionals, and literature conclusions on buildings efficiency in Abu Dhabi. In addition, screenshots from DVD: Best Practices for Building Design are illustrated for reference on state of the art implementation practices in the subject matter for hot and humid climate in the United States.