Introduction | Brief

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Research

The concept of designing and implementing sustainable structures has gained tremendous importance worldwide. Educational buildings, which account for the largest share of the oldest buildings around the world, since around 75% were constructed before the year 1990, optimizing energy consumption of buildings during operation can significantly reduce their impact on the global environment. That is why universities around the world have adopted sustainability as one of their key cornerstones whether in research or in educational courses, Alfaisal university included. This research project aims to explore the potential of retrofitting the campus to respond to sustainable green building standards in order to achieve high energy efficiency. An energy audit establishes where and how energy is being used in a space like a building or a facility. It involves gathering system information; like, measuring energy usage, developing conservation strategies, and choosing the most cost-effective plan. With the focus on creating a sustainable building that uses less energy, less water, creates less waste, and improves user health during working hours. Our focus was on the south side of the university, conducting a study on the use of the spaces, implementing lighting calculations, and user’s satisfaction. The study was conducted by observation, studying the glare in spaces, heating and cooling comfort levels, sun orientation and such. Conducting a lighting calculation, by garnering the number of lights, their types, locations, and duration of operable hours. As for the user satisfaction, a survey was created, for the purpose of studying the user’s satisfaction level by gathering responses and analyzing them. All for the purpose of finding solutions to enhance the use of spaces and help lower energy consumption.

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