TY - JOUR
T1 - Building envelope thermal defects in existing and under-construction housing in the uae; infrared thermography diagnosis and qualitative impacts analysis
AU - Aoul, Kheira Anissa Tabet
AU - Hagi, Rahma
AU - Abdelghani, Rahma
AU - Syam, Monaya
AU - Akhozheya, Boshra
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the United Arab Emirates University through the Emirates Centre for Energy and Environment Research funded research project N. 31R102 and the SURE Plus undergraduate research funded projects Grant N. G00002503 and G00002866.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2021/2/2
Y1 - 2021/2/2
N2 - The built environment accounts for the highest share of energy use and carbon emissions, particularly in emerging economies, caused by population growth and fast urbanization. This phe-nomenon is further exacerbated under extreme climatic conditions such as those of the United Arab Emirates, the context of this study, where the highest energy share is consumed in buildings, mostly used in the residential sector for cooling purposes. Despite efforts to curb energy consumption through building energy efficiency measures in new construction, substantial existing building stock and construction quality are left out. Construction defects, particularly in the building envelope, are recognized to affect its thermal integrity. This paper aims, first, to detect through thermography field investigation audit construction defects bearing thermal impacts in existing and under-construction residential buildings. Then, through a qualitative analysis, we identify the resulting energy, cost, and health impacts of the identified defects. Results indicate that lack or discontinuity of insulation, thermal bridging through building elements, blockwork defects, and design change discrepancies are the recurrent building and construction defects. The qualitative review analysis indicates substantial energy loss due to lack of insulation, thermal bridging with cost and health implications, while beneficial mitigation measures include consideration of building envelope retrofitting, skilled workmanship, and the call for quality management procedures during construction.
AB - The built environment accounts for the highest share of energy use and carbon emissions, particularly in emerging economies, caused by population growth and fast urbanization. This phe-nomenon is further exacerbated under extreme climatic conditions such as those of the United Arab Emirates, the context of this study, where the highest energy share is consumed in buildings, mostly used in the residential sector for cooling purposes. Despite efforts to curb energy consumption through building energy efficiency measures in new construction, substantial existing building stock and construction quality are left out. Construction defects, particularly in the building envelope, are recognized to affect its thermal integrity. This paper aims, first, to detect through thermography field investigation audit construction defects bearing thermal impacts in existing and under-construction residential buildings. Then, through a qualitative analysis, we identify the resulting energy, cost, and health impacts of the identified defects. Results indicate that lack or discontinuity of insulation, thermal bridging through building elements, blockwork defects, and design change discrepancies are the recurrent building and construction defects. The qualitative review analysis indicates substantial energy loss due to lack of insulation, thermal bridging with cost and health implications, while beneficial mitigation measures include consideration of building envelope retrofitting, skilled workmanship, and the call for quality management procedures during construction.
KW - Building envelope thermal defects
KW - Construction defects
KW - Construction quality
KW - Energy
KW - Existing building
KW - Housing
KW - Impacts
KW - New construction
KW - Qualitative analysis
KW - Thermal bridging
KW - Thermography
KW - UAE
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U2 - 10.3390/su13042230
DO - 10.3390/su13042230
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101874749
SN - 2071-1050
VL - 13
SP - 1
EP - 23
JO - Sustainability (Switzerland)
JF - Sustainability (Switzerland)
IS - 4
M1 - 2230
ER -