Public in the Arab countries is becoming more familiar with the term of Green Building, at different levels. While codes are mandatory, the standards and rating systems remain voluntary tools. There are several parameters that affect the preparation of the legalization process to decide for a code, and the development of standards and rating systems.

 

On the other hand, the world has been crippled with ongoing financial crisis, coupled with issues of resources depletion. Focus on energy and water sectors, as they are becoming scarce, in addition to environmental degradation, prompted the construction industry to seek avenues of solutions through the construction law, energy efficiency standards, water efficient use and standards, environmental air and indoor quality and other standards related to the environment, and various social and economic factors.

 

Different types of buildings require different tools to facilitate consistent application of sustainable design principles and to serve as a measure of accomplishment resulting in certifying into categories.

 

Buildings account to about 35 percent of the total energy consumption in the world. Hence the energy efficiency has led the process for modifying the construction codes in different countries. The price of energy varies between one country and another, which meant that affinity for energy efficiency (mandatory or voluntary) is not the same.

 

Construction laws or codes are usually old, in most countries dating back to the 1970s, and any attempt to change them usually faces opposition. Clauses of the codes describe generally the followings: footprint of the building, zoning and total built up area and day view glazing.

 

Recent moves in certain Arab countries attempted to introduce new clauses such as: envelope, mass and glazing, and insulation. Egypt, Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Bahrain introduced codes which stipulated the construction of multi-layer of outside walls aiming at creating additional barriers against heat gains or heat losses.

 

Other clauses limiting the ratio of glazing over the façade area to a certain percentage are being considered, also to control heat exchange. Certain buildings were required to provide solar hot water systems, such as in Lebanon and Jordan, as part of the permit application. Secretariats of Ministerial Councils of Electricity and Housing within the League of Arab States issued energy efficiency guidelines, and are considering green building codes.

 

In countries facing shortages in the electricity supply, energy efficiency standards which are published by several organizations become useful tools which encourage voluntary action- mainly as cost-saving measure. They typically address envelope, lighting, appliances and HVAC equipment, in addition to solar collectors for hot water and PV panels. The Energy Efficiency Handbook published by AFED in 2012 is an example of such contributions.

 

A Kuwaiti version of the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 standard, covering residential low buildings, has been issued. Other countries were indirectly complying with the standards when developing their rating systems. Qatar’s QSAS, Jordan’s Labeling of Appliances and Lebanon’s Thermal Standards are examples of the introduction of energy efficiency standards.

 

Building rating systems are developed as tools that examine the performance of existing buildings or expected performance of the new building when constructed, and translate that into an overall assessment that allows for comparison.

 

Several building evaluation tools are either copied and pasted, or developed to focus on different areas of sustainable development components, and are designed for different types and uses of buildings. These mostly use scoring points systems, including energy consumption assessments, water efficiency and water efficient use, life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, energy systems design, performance evaluation, productivity analysis, indoor environmental quality assessments, recycling and other economic and social values, operations and maintenance optimization, whole building design and operations, among others.

 

The green sustainable building rating system considers several values including the technical basis and assumptions, scoring point methodology to measure building performance, and aspects of a sustainable society.

 

Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and U.A.E. green building councils are in different stages to develop such green building rating systems. Success will pave the way to collect the benchmark data enabling the implementation of labeling sustainable buildings in other Arab countries.