Paper Title
Simulation-Based Studies To Reach The Net Zero Energy Target For A Housing Prototype In Alexandria, Egypt

Abstract
The residential sector has become the main consumer of electricity. A grid-connected Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB), an approach for the mitigation of the energy usage can be achieved by the synthesis of passive strategies, efficient building systems, and renewable energy technologies. The main scope of this paper is to present a net zero energy single family two-storey housing prototype which is assessed using energy performance simulation tools to evaluate the environmental impacts of a variety of building envelope thermal characteristics that can be decided during the early-design stage to help developing a design that is capable of meeting our economic, environmental and social challenges in the climatic region of Alexandria, Egypt. To achieve this aim, two simulation software �DesignBuilder� and �Diva-for-Rhino� were used to conduct a series of sensitivity analysis on a set of design parameters which influence the building performance to examine the actual impact of each factor on cooling and heating loads to help with the design decision making with respect to the net zero energy goal for Egypt�s climate and how to offset the building�s annual energy need through building integrated photovoltaic units. Index terms- Energy, Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB), Energy Simulation, Housing Prototype, DesignBuilder, Annual Site Energy, Daylighting Performance, Glare.