THERMAL IMAGING ASSESSMENT OF BUILDING ENVELOPE PERFORMANCE IN THE UAE EXISTING HOUSING

The electricity consumption per capita in the United Arab Emirates is one of the highest in the world. The built environment accounts for 70% of energy consumption, mainly used in cooling to mitigate the local extreme hot climate. A condition further exacerbated by the lack of an energy building code until 2010. Hence, the existing building stock of which the residential sector is a major component is a prime target for an energy efficient retrofit. This paper aims to investigate the thermal leakage from residential building's envelope using thermography, in order to identify the impact of time, workmanship and construction quality on the building thermal efficiency. The objective is to identify energy upgrade opportunities and prioritize retrofitting solutions. Residential units in two housing complexes built over a decade apart were selected for testing in Al Ain city, UAE. The impact of orientation was first verified and ruled out. Testing at critical points including corner wall junctions, roof junction, windows frames and external glazed sliding doors was carried out. Results were compared among units of the same housing complex and between units across the two housing complexes considered. The auditing highlighted a number of common thermal behaviour and variances, including a critical need for building envelope insulation as expected. Newer units, however, had significant thermal anomalies around building's junctions, indicating that building's age may not be the main referent for a retrofitting priority. Workmanship and construction quality may be a more impacting factor, calling for construction quality assurance beyond the specification of minimum values of insulation.