A framework for energy-efficient housing satisfying socio-cultural aspects in the Kingdom of Bahrain

Buildings worldwide have a great effect on human well-being and the environment. Also, buildings’ energy consumption is the largest compared to other sectors. Added to that, most buildings depend on non-renewable energy sources, contributing to serious environmental issues such as global warming, climate change, and ozone layer depletion. Among all the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Bahrain ranked second after Kuwait in terms of energy consumption per capita and sixth globally in terms of CO2 emissions per capita. As the population of Bahrain is growing rapidly, energy consumption will also increase. The residential buildings in Bahrain make up 76% of the total buildings and account for 50% of overall energy consumption. Air conditioners account for over 70% of the electricity used in a typical Bahraini house, which indicates that the current residential buildings are not effective at providing thermal comfort to the residents. Various research has been conducted in lowering the energy consumption in Bahraini houses using renewable energy, bioclimate design, wind-induced natural ventilation for wind tower houses, smart energy management, and solar panels. Further research was conducted to build energy efficiency through building envelop-like orientation, window glazing type, floor type, shading, and insulation. However, no comprehensive study has been carried out to date on building energy efficiency considering building envelopes, design, and social culture needs such as privacy in hot, humid regions. Also, no study has considered private houses’ energy efficiency or social culture in the context of this research. Therefore, this research aims to develop and test a framework for low-energy houses that satisfies social-cultural needs in a hot, humid climate with reference to the Kingdom of Bahrain. The main social culture requirements in Bahraini houses is privacy which forms the house design. Added to that, the privacy requirements is consist of four layers which are, privacy between neighbours, privacy between males and females, privacy between family members, and individual privacy. These aspects of privacy can be achieved through the design of houses that control visual access to the house by strangers and neighbours, noise transmission from outside to the house and from the inside to the outside of the house and the olfactory. In order to achieve this aim, this research uses mixed research methods to produce data that is used to develop the framework of this study. These research methods include measurements and observational surveys of 20 private houses in Bahrain to evaluate building elements and to determine the existing thermal conditions in the built environment. Also, a survey questionnaire was conducted with 111 householders to collect data about their design preferences and evaluate their thermal comfort and energy consumption. Furthermore, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with 18 professionals who specialise in the housing sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain to seek their opinions on the design of the private houses and their suitability for Bahrain’s climate and the social culture of the local householders. All the data collected were analysed using an appropriate analysis method, including NVivo and SPSS for qualitative and quantitative data analysis. The findings from the data analysis confirm that the current houses consume a large amount of energy because they are not suitable for Bahrain’s climate and, do not satisfy a major aspect of social culture needs such as visual privacy between householders and neighbours. The major finding from simulating the current case study is that the external walls are the principal source of heat transfer, causing high thermal discomfort. Improving the thermal performance of the external walls could thus lead to significant energy savings. Based on the previous discussion, the framework was developed in three stages. The first stage is data collection and analysis, which comprises four units. These units identify social culture requirements and understand the selected context's microclimate, case study, and local building regulations. The second stage is the specification of energy-efficient building design that satisfies social culture needs. This stage focuses on identifying design and construction factors appropriate to energy-efficient houses in hot, humid climates. These factors include building design such as design style, building form, plan layout, and space zoning, orientation, courtyard, and landscaping. Moreover, the specification factors for building materials and construction will include roof, walls, floor, windows, and shading devices. The third stage is an examination of the design and producing a prototype model. This stage focuses on an examination of the overall building in terms of meeting the requirements of social culture, local building codes, and the performance of the building. Simulations of the prototype house model show a 57% reduction in energy consumption and a reduction in operative temperature by 4°C compared to the existing case study. However, the prototype failed to provide thermal comfort without the inclusion of an air conditioning unit. The porotype house model focuses on minimising energy consumption and satisfying social culture needs by solving the privacy issue. The prototype model ensured privacy by adding two shaded corner courtyards and directing all the bedroom windows to face the courtyard. Further, the feedback on the prototype is gathered from the architects and householders of the existing case study to create a new and improved iteration of the future housing model.

Name dc:type.qualificationname

PhD

Level dc:type.qualificationlevel

Doctoral

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

De Montfort University

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Alsheglawi, Bilal

Licence

• https://dora.dmu.ac.uk/bitstreams/f653f1e5-1f64-4a34-990a-ec03e5a205f2/download