Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC) hosted a seminar on Renewable Energy Technologies for High-Rise Buildings at this year’s World Future Energy Summit 2016.
Dubai is home to over 3000 high-rise buildings in 30 kilometre radius. The workshop addressed some of the current barriers faced in the industry while trying to install renewable energy technologies in these buildings. It also concentrated on opportunities and how design and building retrofit methods could be used to overcome these challenges.
Chair of EmiratesGBC Saeed Al Abbar said: “According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the UAE hosts over 66% of the total current number of skyscrapers in the Middle East region, so it is important that we pay special attention to this type of construction. If we want to promote energy efficiency in urban environments, we need to understand the challenges associated with retrofitting the facades and MEP systems of existing buildings to make them more sustainable as well as incorporating renewable energy technologies into the building.”
The workshop helped participants identify awareness, siting issues, codes and financial schemes.
The discussions showed that renewable energy requirements must not only be performance- based but also outcome-based to ensure the reduction of energy consumption and adoption of cost-effective energy efficiency measures.