Investigation of Energy Efficiency in UAE Non-Domestic Buildings

This report investigates the performance gap in energy-efficient, non-domestic buildings in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study aims to identify factors influencing energy efficiency, including occupant behavior, technological strategies, and building design. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining cross-sectional surveys of building occupants and designers with experimental computer simulation modeling. The survey design involves questionnaires distributed to functional and executive designers in companies managing DM-certified buildings and to occupants of Green Built-certified buildings. Field measurements will be conducted to assess energy consumption and identify the energy efficiency gap. Statistical analysis and computer simulation will be used to evaluate potential solutions and recommend strategies for minimizing the energy efficiency gap. The research seeks to understand the cultural habits of building users, determine the impact of technological strategies, and establish a framework for integrating user habits with technological advancements to enhance energy efficiency.

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 1
DESIGN FOR ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS
INVESTIGATION OF PERFORMANCE GAP FACTORS OF ENERGY EFFICIENT
BUILDINGS IN UAE
(NONDOMESTIC BUILDINGS)
By (Student Name)
Professor (tutor name)
School (University)
Location
Date

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 2
Contents
1. Introduction..................................................................................................................................3
2. Research approach and methods..................................................................................................3
2.1 Cross-sectional survey design................................................................................................6
2.2 Correlational and experimental study....................................................................................8
2.2.1 Field measurements........................................................................................................9
2.2.2 Method of calculation...................................................................................................10
2.3 Summary..............................................................................................................................10
3. Research phases.........................................................................................................................11
4. Limitations and ethical consideration........................................................................................13
References......................................................................................................................................15
Appendices....................................................................................................................................18
Appendix 1:...............................................................................................................................18
Appendix 2:...............................................................................................................................20
Appendix 3:...............................................................................................................................22

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 3
1. Introduction
This study evaluates different options in terms of research methods and processes to identify the
most suitable one for this study. As the topic concerns with the factors causing gap in energy
efficiency in the nondomestic buildings in the United Arab Emirates, both socio-cultural and
strategic design factors need to be evaluated to identify the problem and suggest the solution.
Therefore, survey along with experiment would be used for investigating the issue. This study
proposes a research plan to find the causes as well as solutions to the identified issue of gap in
energy efficiency in the Green Built (DM certified) building in UAE.
2. Research approach and methods
This research aims to identify the factors that affect the level of energy efficiency in the
nondomestic buildings in the United Arab Emirates causing a significant gap between the energy
spent and the performance achieved through the consumption of the energy. It is an applied
social psychology research (Thibaut, 2017). It aims to acquire understanding of the (i) habits of
the users of nondomestic buildings affecting their energy efficiency, (ii) technological gaps
contributing to performance gap and (iii) design ideas and strategies that could be recommended
to minimize the gap. To acquire desired knowledge and solution quantitative approach has been
chosen for the study as it would avail numerical result that would quantify the variables, which
would be useful in understanding correlation between them (Bernard, 2017). While a qualitative
study would have ensured rich and in-depth understanding of the determinants of individual
behaviour and their consequences it could not provide a quantifiable relationship between the
independent and the dependent variables (Brannen, 2017).

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 4
Figure 1: Study constructs
(Source: created by student)
Along with the survey of the samples representative of the agents of the companies responsible
for the energy consumption pattern and the consumers of the nondomestic buildings, an
experiment would also be conducted to evaluate the potential recommendations identified
through the analysis of the survey responses and theoretical knowledge (Greenfield and Greener,
2016). While result of the survey would help in providing a generalizable understanding of the
Dependent variable
Energy efficiency
Energy performance
gap
Independent variable
Consumption behavior
Technology
Strategic design
Monitoring system
Mediating variable
Consumpti
on habit
Technological and
robotic strategies
and design
Moderating variable
Consumer’s
age, culture,
knowledge
Technological
and robotic
knowledge

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 5
issue result it is also a preferred research option due to its wide applicability and low cost.
Closed-ended multiple choice questions targeted to investigate the effect of each independent
variables such as consumption behaviour, strategic design, technology and monitoring system on
energy efficiency of the nondomestic buildings of the UAE would help in verifying or refuting
the theories studied in the secondary literature. Studies have claimed that user-centered tactics to
modify the occupant’s behaviour might help in solving the issue of energy efficiency (Lin,
Afshari and Azar, 2018). This theory might be verified and further developed through the
research. On the other hand, experiment in form of the computer simulation modeling would
help in assessing the tactics that could come out as the potential solution as a result of the survey
analysis. Hence this is a quantitative study that aims to use experimental measures to investigate
the factors affecting energy efficiency and provide substantial solutions to the issues identified.
This research would utilize measures such as survey and experiment to a) find a cultural
understanding of the manner in which the occupants behave and how they can adapt to better
strategic practices that could leverage energy efficiency without triggering the consequences like
the performance gap, and b) adopt tactics to present comprehensible outcome in form of building
performance through computer simulation modeling. To elucidate the effectiveness of the
proposed research methods in achievement of research objectives, the objectives are linked with
the proposed methods in the following manner:
1. To identify the social and cultural habits of building users
 Behavioral outcomes of the consumers would be measured through the responses
acquired through survey

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 6
2. To determine how the robotic and technological strategies, used in the buildings, affect energy
efficiency
 Responses of the functional and executive designenrs of the companies would be used to
quantify the relation between technology and energy efficiency
3. To establish a framework of determined social and cultural habits, of users, for technological
strategies in nondomestic buildings
 Consequences of cultural determinant on the energy consumption of the occupants would
be identified through the responses of the occupants and verified through the responses of
the functional and executive designers
4. Based on the findings as per above plan, potential solutions would be identified
5. The identified solutions would be evaluated through computer simulation modeling
experiment and most potent solution recognised through the experiment would be recommended
to minimize the energy efficiency gap.
2.1 Cross-sectional survey design
A cross-sectional survey design would be used for this study as it would allow the research to
assess information collected from a range of respondents in a particular time (Nardi, 2018).
Though, unlike the longitudinal survey it cannot record the change in behaviour or experience of
the respondents concerning a research variable it is more effective in establishing relationship
between the variables in a given time (Caruana et al. 2015). This research aims to understand
the determinants of energy efficiency gap in UAE from two different perspectives. Therefore,
questionnaire would be distributed among two primary groups. 150 functional and executive

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 7
designers in 100 companies that deal with development and maintenance of DM-certified
buildings in Dubai would be selected randomly through probability sampling method to
understand the effect of technology and design strategies on the energy efficiency of
nondomestic buildings in the UAE. On the other hand, 150 nondomestic occupants of Green
Built certified buildings in Dubai would also be selected randomly through the probability
sampling method to acquire an understanding of the cultural and contextual aspects that
determine consumption behaviour of the occupants of such buildings in in the UAE (Etikan,
Musa and Alkassim, 2016).
Probability sampling method that utilizes the random sample selection method ensures that each
member of a population subset has the probability of being chosen for the survey which provides
better chances of representation of a larger population group, which is essential for acquiring a
generalizable result (Tillé and Wilhelm, 2017). The following survey stages might be followed to
reduce the coverage and error inn sampling:
1. Identification of a nondomestic, commercial area in Dubai that is frequented by UAE
residents
2. Classifying the buildings of the area in terms of operations and energy usage in 3
categories
3. Randomly selecting companies (total 100) from each category using computerized
methods
4. Randomly choosing functional and executive designers along with nondomestic
occupants, 50 from each category through probabilistic method
Low consumption Moderate High consumption

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 8
consumption
Functional and
executive designers
Hotels Entertainment
facilities
Dining facilities
Occupants Hotels Entertainment
facilities
Dining facilities
Table 1: Classification criteria for survey
(Source: Created by student)
The survey questionnaire would contain close ended multiple choice questions (Brace, 2018).
The questions would feature dichotomous scale, Likert’s five point scale; three point scale and
semantic differential scale (Harpe, 2015 and Takahashi, Ban and Asada, 2016) (refer to appendix
1 and 2).
2.2 Correlational and experimental study
As explained in the previous sections, the research incorporates both correlational as well as
experimental methods of research to serve two different purposes. Using the correlational
methods the research variables are observed in the target environment that is in the Green Built
certified, nondomestic buildings in UAE, which allowed a detailed understanding of the manner
in which factors like technology, design strategy and behaviour of the occupants of the buildings
(Walliman, 2015). Here use of the correlation method to acquire information from the 150
functional and executive designers and 150 occupants would help in cross-sectional investigation
and evaluation of the variables. On the other hand, to investigate the credibility of the solutions
identified experimental measures would be taken in form of computer simulation modeling. The

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 9
experimental method would help in controlling the variables that would be helpful in assessing
the effect of the dependent variables on energy efficiency of the building beyond the examples
available in the real environment (Patten and Newhart, 2017).
2.2.1 Field measurements
The field measurement will assess the energy requirement as per the respondents and then tally it
with the actual consumption history of the individuals. It would also evaluate the energy
efficiency gap based on the different energy consumption practices of the occupants of the
nondomestic buildings. The measurement of the period of the survey would span for two weeks
in summer and which is expected to be reasonable as the survey questionnaire would be sent to
the target participants through online channels like e-mail and social media sites. As the entire
survey is expected to take less than 15 minutes to complete therefore the respondents are
expected to respond within the span of 2 weeks with their responses.
The energy efficiency index (EEI) is one of the most advocated measures to evaluate the energy
consumption of a building that brings several variables like occupancy, HVAC system of the
building, operations within the building and so on (Bakar et al. 2015). EUI on the other hand is
recognized as the least useful information to evaluate the energy efficiency of a building as
without the consideration of variables the gap of energy performance cannot be determined
(Fairey and Goldstein, 2016). The survey, as it would tally the expected consumption with the
record might be effective in providing a better insight to the energy efficiency gap.
2.2.2 Method of calculation
The study would incorporate both survey and experiment. While the former would be used to
assess the cause of gap in energy efficiency in the nondomestic, Green Built (DM-Certified)

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 10
buildings in the UAE and provide strategic solution to minimize the gap; the latter would assess
the recommended solutions in a simulated environment of computer modeling. Information on
the energy consumption of the 100 buildings could be gathered from the performance and
executive designers of the buildings. In addition, the data acquired from both the designers and
the occupants could be arranged in systematic form of tables for statistical analysis for frequency
calculation and trend assessment (Quinlan et al. 2019). Findings of the statistical analysis would
be tallied with the theories studied during the literature review. For instance, the idea of gap
between the theoretical and actual energy saving propelled by Khoury, Alameddine and
Hollmuller (2017) can be verified through the response acquired during the survey.
2.3 Summary
This research aims to unveil the cause behind the factors that contribute to the performance gap
of energy efficiency in the nondomestic buildings in UAE. Factors such as the consumption
behavior of the occupants, the lack of technologically advanced design, strategy and measures
are identified through the secondary literature. The literature also identifies that development of a
user-centered programmed to leverage on the occupants’ cultured understanding and behavior
might help in reducing the performance gap of energy sufficiency, however, very little can be
found on the applicability of this measure. This issue might be addressed through the
amalgamation of questionnaire survey and experiment as discussed above. The survey would
cover 150 functional and executive designers in 100 companies and 150 occupants of the Green
Built certified buildings in Dubai, while the experiment would be performed in form of computer
simulated modeling. Use of the probability sampling method would ensure generalizability of the
survey result to ensure representative value of the selected sample.

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 11
3. Research phases
A. First phase: Definition and research design
i. Development of theoretical concept
 Literature review
 Identification of research issue, question and methods
 Identification of energy efficiency gaps in UAE nondomestic buildings
ii. Design research methods
 Survey protocol
 Field measurements procedure
 Inquiring technological and cultural practices of nondomestic residents
B. Second Phase: Data acquisition and evaluation
i. Conducting survey
ii. Questionnaire development and distribution
iii. Data acquisition
iv. Data entry, arrangement and analysis
v. Identification of gaps
vi. Proposing and evaluating potential solutions
vii. Narrowing down to suitable solutions
viii. Computer simulation modeling of chosen solution

Design for energy efficiency in Buildings 12
ix. Assessing probable result of recommendation
C. Third Phase: Analysis and conclusion
 Findings, presentation and discussion
 Deriving conclusion
 Providing recommendations
Pre-empirical Empirical
Definition and research design →
→
→
→
→
Data acquisition and
evaluation
→
Analysis and
conclusion
Theoretical
concept
Design research
methods
i. Conducting survey
ii. Questionnaire
development and
distribution
iii. Data acquisition
iv. Data entry, arrangement
and analysis
v. Identification of gaps
vi. Potential solutions
vii. Suitable solutions
viii. Computer simulation
modeling of chosen
solution
ix. Assessing probable
recommendation
Findings presentation
and discussion
↓
↓
↓
Literature
review
Survey protocol Deriving conclusion
Research issue,
question and
methods
Field
measurements
procedure
↓
Deriving conclusion
Energy
efficiency gaps
in UAE
nondomestic
buildings
Technological and
cultural practices
of nondomestic
residents
Table 2: Research phases
(Source: Created by student)
Time
Actions
Week
1
Week
2
Week
3
Week
4
Week
5
Week
6
Wee
k 7
Week
8
Literature review