Paper Title
A PROPOSED BALANCED APPROACH FOR OPERATIONAL ENERGY REDUCTION AND COST EFFECTIVENESS IN THERMAL RETROFITTING OF EMIRATI PUBLIC HOUSING

Abstract
Efforts to enhance sustainability and energy efficiency of existing Emirati public housing are essential for achieving the local Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This study addresses the challenge of high operational energy consumption in the huge stock of public housing units that were developed before the implementation of the sustainability regulations in the UAE by 2005. These houses are distinguished with their poor thermal performance, high heat gain, and excessive reliance on air conditioning, leading to exorbitant electricity bills. Demolishing these houses and replacing them with more sustainable ones does not sound as an economically viable solution, so instead, deep thermal retrofitting of the existing houses is a more plausible approach. The study employs a case study method with various investigative tools. The selected case study is a representative housing model for Emirati exiting public housing that were frequently developed in various locations in the UAE. To define the appropriate deep retrofitting techniques and materials, a comprehensive literature review and market surveys were conducted. This also helped in determining expected retrofitting capital costs directly from the market. Accordingly, the research proposed and tested a deep thermal retrofitting method involving the addition of a cladding layer to the external walls of the selected house model composed of self-insulated metal cladding sandwich panels. To test the energy efficiency of this proposed method a detailed 3D Building Information Models (BIM) was developed for the selected house model to visualize and analyze the proposed retrofitting scenario through Insight application. The findings demonstrate that implementing this retrofitting method could lead to a significant reduction of about 30% in the operational energy consumption and its corresponding monthly electricity bills. The payback period of the selected deep thermal retrofitting approach is estimated to be within 8 years, which will balance the initial investment of the deep thermal retrofitting cost with the operational energy reduction cost. These results offer valuable insights into the feasibility and potential impact of retrofitting techniques for Emirati existing public housing, contributing to broader efforts towards achieving SDGs in the UAE. Keywords - Emirati public housing, Deep thermal retrofitting, Housing operational energy reduction, Cost effectiveness, SDGs.