Low Carbon and Sustainable Buildings in Dubai to Combat Global Warming, Counterbalance Climate Change, and for a Better Future

摘要

International and regional calls for combating global warming and climate change across the world are increasingly manifested. Major contributors to this phenomenon are carbon and Green House Gases (GHG) emissions from buildings and transport. The USA alone is responsible for one quarter of global GHG emissions. Residential, commercial and industrial buildings are accountable for over 40 percent of US CO_2 emissions - more than any other entire economy in the world apart from China. With the unprecedented construction boom in the Gulf States, particularly in Dubai and other construction spots in the world such as China, this figure will be increased thus; clean energy could highly be utilized to reduce carbon and GHG emissions. This paper focuses on presenting the leadership vision towards Sustainable Development in Dubai and to making the Emirate an ecofriendly city. This has been recently manifested by H. H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of UAE, Ruler of Dubai directive to implement Green Building standards in the Emirate of Dubai by 2008, meaning that all owners and developers of residential and commercial buildings and properties in Dubai must comply with internationally recognized environmentally-friendly specifications. This announcement will substantially contribute towards achieving Dubai Strategic Plan 2015 (DSP). Conventional buildings can negatively contribute towards indoor environments and cause internal hazards to our daily activities and health especially, at a long exposure hours. Sustainable built-environment and better buildings could eliminate such risks. By considering how our urban fabric is planned and configured; and applying sustainable measures these risks could be significantly lessened. This study focuses on the current sustainable buildings built in Dubai with emphasis on the eco- friendly features such as energy, water, building fabric, daylighting, and lighting and efficient systems. Three buildings were selected for the analysis. Elements of sustainable buildings incorporated in these case studies are reviewed and analyzed. The performance indicators (PI's) of the building's fabric efficiency, energy and water use, CO_2 emission and savings are presented. A reduction in carbon emissions target of 37 to 49 percent (380 Kg. CO_2 to 474 Kg. CO_2) was achieved.