ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 657

Petersdorff et al. 2006). Although Etihad Super Energy Services Company (ESCO) initiated some
major retrofit projects, commercial and residential existing buildings have been neglected. These
two sectors in Abu Dhabi and Dubai form a large portion of the built environment in the UAE,
which account for 43% & 40% of the UAE’s energy consumption (EGBC 2014). Even though many
disjointed small ESCOs are entering the UAE market and hungry for businesses, they are faced
with many obstacles and barriers. A recent research about the UAE mentioned that applying serious policies and regulations to tackle the built environment’s energy consumption issues as well
as replacing fossil fuels with clean energy sources will reduce the emission of CO2 emissions by
50% (Radhi 2010).
Energy efficiency is prominent in Abu Dhabi and Dubai emirates, and their energy strategies
when retrofitting of the existing federal buildings are concerned. However, there are many obstacles facing other building sectors, most importantly because of the lack of regulations and
policies that promote the commercial and residential buildings’ refurbishment. Also, it is important to mention that although Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the two most major emirates, the UAE is
actually the federation of seven emirates. These emirates have their own issues and regulations
regarding the overall energy policy. This could slow the progress of buildings’ refurbishment on a
federal level. In this paper, both challenges and barriers in the retrofit industry will be identified,
and both policies and recommendations will be proposed to overcome these challenges. The
energy efficiency management through retrofitting of the existing buildings could provide great
potentials to maintain good levels of energy performance with less CO2 emissions. In addition, it
provides many social advantages, in all aspects of the word’s meaning.

2. Overview of the United Arab Emirates
A few decades ago and before the formation of the UAE, many world maps used to refer to this
region differently. In 1971, six of these emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Al Fujayrah and
Umm Al Qaywayn) merged to form the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Ras Al Khaimah joined later
in 1972. Today, the United Arab Emirates is the official term unifying all seven emirates. The UAE’s
climate resembles the hot arid and semi arid zones. In general, two seasons can be distinguished
in the UAE. Summers fall around April through October, where the temperature could rise up to
48°C with humidity levels that could reach 90%. However, in winter, which lasts from November
to March, the weather is very pleasant and the temperature rarely drops below 6°C.

Figure 2: The mean temperature and rainfall in UAE in different periods (Worldbank.org 2015)
With the increment of CO2 emissions, it is important to examine the changes in weather compared to the past. Figure 2 shows some data which was provided by the Climate Research Unit
(CRU) of the University of East Anglia (UEA). The charts below show the mean monthly tempera-

Retrofitting existing buildings in UAE: barriers, opportunities, and recommendation

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