A conceptual checklist of decarbonizing elements for the building sector in Egypt

ABSTRACT

The building sector significantly contributes to energy consumption and carbon emissions. Moving toward decarbonization practices becomes a strategic target. Although there are energy building codes and a green building rating system developed by the Egyptian government, they have not been widely implemented in the building sector due to different barriers. This paper investigates the gap between the theories of decarbonization principles and the adoption of these principles in practice in the Egyptian building sector. First, a semi-structured questionnaire was developed to identify the common barriers against successful implementation of decarbonization practices. The six identified barriers were lack of mandatory regulations, high cost of some decarbonization measures, client requirements, market awareness and knowledge, lack of resources, and complexity of some decarbonization procedures. Then, a questionnaire has been developed, including 25 decarbonization measures collected from GPRS (Green Pyramids Rating System), EDGE (Excellence Design for Greater Efficiency) and the regional roadmap for buildings and construction in Africa. The questionnaire has been distributed among experts to evaluate the availability of implementing these measures in the building sector against the identified barriers to identify a checklist for the most plausible measures applicable to the Egyptian building sector. Based on data analysis, eight decarbonization measures from the proposed measures have been proposed to be more appropriate to the Egyptian building sector. This paper will help researchers and practitioners identify the most appropriate decarbonization measures and strategies for the building sector.

KEYWORDS:

• Decarbonization
• energy efficiency
• embodied carbon
• life cycle assessment (LCA)
• sustainable design
• Green buildingS platform

Introduction

According to the last report about green building and sustainable construction in emerging markets developed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the CO₂ emission from building operations represents 20.4%, while it represents 18.7% from the production of construction materials globally [1]. In Africa in 2018, buildings accounted for 32% of process-related CO₂ emissions and 61% of total final energy consumption. Buildings may reduce over 100 MtCO2 yearly emissions less than their current emissions according to sustainable development strategy (SDS) [2]. By increasing energy efficiency, minimizing the use of materials and promoting the adoption of distributed low-carbon and renewable energy generation, decarbonization is crucial and will help the building sector to enrich the global economy [3]. Governments can create frameworks for action in policy, technology, research, education, awareness-raising, and finance by agreeing to enforceable mitigation and decarbonization targets for the construction sector [4].

Decarbonization means overcoming carbon lock-in to eliminate fossil fuel use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero [5]. Decarbonizing buildings has positive environmental effects that are crucial for reducing climate change and achieving the Paris Agreement’s global temperature goals. According to a previous study, adopting energy-efficient practices such as envelope, lighting, ventilation, air-conditioning (HVAC) system, and service water heating system in office buildings in Chile can reduce life cycle carbon emissions by up to 17% [6]. Reusing existing buildings rather than building new ones, designing buildings to minimize their operational energy demand, designing spaces and structures efficiently, minimizing waste and reduction of embodied carbon (E.C) through design and at the manufacturing stage are the most recommended actions to decarbonize the real estate in the UK [7].

Literature review

Several studies discussed the barriers against implementing sustainable and green building practices. The high initial cost, lack of policies and government standards, market awareness, and the long time required to recover capital invested are the common barriers that tackle the growth of green transformation globally and specifically in developing countries [8–11]. To achieve a better understanding of best practices to decarbonize the building sector in Egypt, the key measures of adopting decarbonization practices and their impacts on the built environment, the challenges against implementing these practices and how to overcome them, and finally, which of them are eligible to be mandated in the building codes should be known.

According to previous studies and global building sustainability roadmaps, decarbonization procedures have two ways. The first is related to achieving energy efficiency through building operations, and the second is an E.C mitigation strategy at the material level [1]. The design and structure of the building envelope influence 20% to 60% of all energy utilized in buildings [12]. Choosing the appropriate materials for the building envelope will significantly reduce energy consumption and associated emissions during the building’s life cycle [13]. Also, enhancing the building envelope, the appropriate color of external walls, suitable insulation, double-glazing windows, and solar shading can reduce cooling requirements by 30–50%. In addition, air conditioners with variable speed drive (VSD) components are very efficient [14]. Several procedures have been developed in recent years to enhance the operational emissions of buildings without considering the harmful emissions from the building materials’ life cycle stages. According to a study to evaluate the whole life carbon of a building in the United Kingdom, it was found that the cradle-to-grave (A1–A3) stage of the life cycle is a major contributor toward the E.C of a building due to the extraction of raw materials, the transportation and manufacturing process of the building materials. It is responsible for 32% of carbon emissions, while the use stage (B1–B5) represents 20% of embodied carbon emissions [15]. Efforts to enhance production techniques for conventional materials range from building fewer structures, using low-carbon materials, to implementing circular approaches. Such strategies may cut greenhouse gas emissions from residential building’ material cycle by more than 80% by 2050 [16]. LCA faces some challenges which affect its accuracy such as manual data collection, complexity of building components and geographic variance. Combining the digital built environment representation of BIM with the thorough assessment of LCA could improve data sharing, update evaluations, and increase the precision and range of results [17].

An SD (system dynamics) of building energy consumption and carbon emissions model is used to interact a system with the environment. It was developed to investigate the features of China’s residential structures’ energy use and carbon emissions, along with the associated emission reduction tactics. The results show that building energy usage is negatively inhibited by elements including electricity pricing, solar PV panel area, and energy-saving awareness. Home size, heat transfer coefficients from the roof and external walls, energy usage patterns, and home structure all have a positive driving effect on building energy consumption [18].

According to the World Green Building Council, the movement in several European countries such as Finland, France, and the Netherlands will lead to legislative recognition of LCA standards for the building industry, and higher market penetration of EPDs (Environmental product declaration) is expected. Establishing guidelines and protocols for material testing will be essential. If there are building regulations in place, they ought to either set minimum environmental performance standards for the materials to be used or require the use of low-carbon products through performance criteria [3].

Research objective

This study aims to investigate the gap between the theories of decarbonization principles and the adoption of these principles in the Egyptian building sector. It will provide a checklist of the most plausible practices that can be suggested as mandatory strategies for building energy efficiency code.

Research methodology

To identify the challenges against implementing the decarbonization strategies in practice in the building sector, the research methodology comprises two stages as follows: -

Part (1): - Semi-structured interviews were done over three months from February 2023 to the end of April 2023 with the stakeholders in the building sector by telephone, e-mail, and face-to-face to identify the barriers to adopt the decarbonization principles in the building sector.

Part (2): - A questionnaire survey was distributed among sustainability professionals, Green Certification experts, developers, decision-makers in public agencies, and contractors. The questionnaire includes the decarbonization technologies gathered from “Global ABC Regional Roadmap for Buildings and Construction in Africa (2020–2050)” [2]. Two sustainability rating systems (EDGE and GPRS) were used to evaluate the validity and credibility of implementing these technologies in the Egyptian building sector. The barriers identified in part (1) will be used to validate the availability of adopting the proposed decarbonization technologies listed in part (2).

Data collection of the semi-structure interviews:

A semi-structured interview is a practical methodology for collecting qualitative data. It allows flexibility for the participants to introduce new ideas during the discussion [10]. The experts were chosen based on their expertise in the field of sustainable design of the built environment. The questions were extracted based on the findings of the literature review about the challenges and barriers to sustainable practices implementation globally and in Egypt. The participants were asked to discuss the challenges against implementing sustainable designs and decarbonization measures in the building sector in Egypt. The interviews were performed with 14 participants through phone calls and LinkedIn messages. Table 1 illustrates the number of participants and their work categories:

Table 1. Number of experts and their job titles.

NUMBER of PARTICIPANTS	Field of experiences
5	LEED consultants
2	EDGE experts
1	Green concrete supplier
2	Developers
2	IFC members
2	Contractors

Analysis of the results

The different points of view allowed authors to go deeply into real challenges that prevent sustainable and green building thinking in Egypt.

The participants identified the main six barriers as follows

Lack of mandatory regulations

According to the interview with a LEED consultant, the lack of measurement methods during the life cycle stages of a building and the absence of mandatory decarbonization strategies have been identified as two significant barriers in the building sector in Egypt.

[We can’t mitigate what we can’t measure. Methods of the energy consumptions and buildings’ carbon footprint measurements should be considered … also, there is an energy efficiency buildings code but it isn’t mandatory ….]

Another LEED consultant added that,

[The regulation in place sometimes over complicates the process such as, during the installation of solar photovoltaic panels (PV) …]

The high cost of many decarbonization practices

The high cost of embodied carbon mitigation procedures and the energy efficiency measures was a significant challenge that was highlighted by the participants.

[clients avoid using green concrete because its cost is higher than traditional concrete. Another challenge related to lack of green concrete suppliers in Egypt …]

[obtaining an EPD for a material costs the client much money, and it doesn’t mandatory in Egypt, as well as many energy efficiency procedures such as installation of E-Coated glass and shading devices …]

According to the interview with an EDGE expert, the change to energy-efficient technologies in a project depends on the client’s requirements, such as adopting a suitable window-to-wall ratio and using specified building materials.

Market awareness &knowledge

An EDGE expert added that lack of awareness of the new sustainable buildings’ technologies and the environmental impacts of building life cycle stages were essential challenges against achieving decarbonization goals. Additionally, the absence of clients’ awareness about the cost efficiency of decarbonization technologies in the long run makes the investment in green buildings risky.

Another comment is related to the lack of a qualified technical team in the sustainability field.

[clients miss the awareness of the payback period of green buildings as it actually achieves about 20% cost savings. … Unfortunately, people are looking only on the high initial cost]

[Although there is an increase in the LEED experts, lack of experience about LEED requirements particularly from consultants’ side slow the project progress, which negatively affect time and money]

Lack of resources

Also, sustainability experts added that lack of resources is a critical challenge that discourages the acceleration of decarbonization technology transition.

[In some projects, it is difficult to find the required types of insulation materials that could achieve better thermal performance of the building, types of bricks and faucets for water efficiency in the Egyptian market …]

Complexity of the procedures

A natural ventilation system and the installation of a ground heat pump are two energy efficiency measures mentioned as examples of complex procedures to be implemented in Egypt by two participants.

From previous findings, it is clear that significant barriers need to be examined before developing a decarbonization strategy for the building sector. Such examination would verify the proper implementation of the strategies that will assist in achieving buildings’ sustainability goals

The questionnaire survey

A Google form questionnaire including 25 decarbonization measures from GPRS, EDGE, and the Global ABC Regional Roadmap for Buildings and Construction in Africa (2020–2050) was distributed randomly. The survey aims to investigate the barriers against implementing the proposed decarbonization procedures from the three platforms. The collected procedures are classified according to the three main stages of the building life cycle: at the decarbonization measures for design, construction, and operational stages have been described as shown in Table (2). The respondents were invited to choose the barriers from the identified six barriers based on the semi-structured interviews for each proposed decarbonization procedure listed in Table (2). Only forty-three responses were collected; 58% of the responses were from

Table 2. The proposed decarbonization measures and their description.

Building life stages	Decarbonization procedures			Description
At the design stage	GPRS	Global ABC Regional Roadmap for Buildings and Construction in Africa (2020–2050)	EDGE
	A- Energy efficiency category:
	Building envelope improvement & Passive heat reduction	Insulation	Window to wall ratio	The ratio of the total area of the window or other glazing area/the gross exterior wall area. To minimize heat gain into a building, 15% WWR is recommended, while adopting 30% WWR needs an external shading device [18]
		Reflective surface finishes	Reflective roofs &walls	Solar Reflectance Index is the measure for a surface’s solar reflectance. High solar reflectance of a material (above 100%) is very effective to cool a surface. In warm climates, a white and light-colored finish is ideal to maximize reflectivity [19]
		Insulation	Insulation of exterior walls &roofs	U-Value of the insulation element is used to express its thermal performance. A range of 0.22–0.57 W/m2k could reduce the cooling loads demand of a building [20]
		External shading	External shading devices	Better thermal comfort conditions are provided by external shading because it eliminates solar heat before it reaches the glazed element and decreases radiative heat gain in comparison to treated glass that is not shaded. The shading factor is given as a decimal number in the range of 0 to 1. the higher the shading factor, the greater is the shading capability of the shading device.
		Windows (solar)	Low -E -coated glass	Using low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC<1) reduce the U-value of the window, thus improve its thermal performance [21]
			Green roof	Adding a green layer reduces heat transfer through a roof [22]
	Energy efficient HVAC system	Space cooling systems	Air conditioner with water cooled chiller	Water is used to provide condenser cooling in water-cooled chillers, which are similar to air-cooled chillers. The greater heat capacity of water as opposed to air results in generally higher efficiency for water-cooled chillers. When cutting operational expenses is the top priority and the project can afford to invest in a system with a longer payback time, a water-cooled system is the ideal choice [23].
			Ground source heat pump	are used to cool buildings by absorbing naturally existing heat from the earth [24].
			Absorption chiller powered by waste heat	It uses waste heat absorption rather than electricity to produce cooling. So, it can save operational costs.it considered cost effective choice for large sizes buildings
			Variable speed drives motors on the HVAC system (VSD)	A VSD motor regulates the speed and the rotational force of the fan by varying the motor input frequency and voltage
	Management protocols	Design tools	BIM modelling	A model which helps engineers in planning for less materials, wastes and carbon emissions. It just needs the primary building data (materials quantity and building geometry) to be applied [25]
		Reduce embodied carbon& circular economy	LCA application	is an application that enable engineers to compare between number of materials by a prediction performance of the embodied carbon of materials at design stage. It also helps in measuring materials circularity [26]
	Indoor air quality: -Enhance ventilation performance -Thermal control	Heat recovery	Ceiling fans	it is a simple and common procedure used in Egypt to enhance the indoor air quality. it is also a cost and energy effective measure.
			Natural ventilation	Minimum ratio 20% of opening area in residential buildings is required to achieve better natural ventilation and minimize heat gain according to EDGE requirements
		Daylighting& Design tools	Daylight simulation	The integrated design process of involving all disciplines of a building project from the early stages of the project enables the adoption of many more passive design measures than when disciplines are brought on at later stages. Other tools with significant potential to optimize passive measures and design choices
	-Materials and resources: Environmentally friendly sound and thermal insulation materials	Reduce embodied carbon	-low embodied carbon materials	-Using material that emitted less CO2 emissions during its life cycle such as precast concrete as alternative to reinforced concrete -EPD contains the data extracted from the LCA application on a material.it describes the environmental impacts of a material depending on six indicators (global warming potential, eutrophication, acidification, ozone depletion, photochemical oxidation, and abiotic depletion, through models recognized by ISO 14025:2006 [27, 28]
		Materials labelling	-Using EPD (Environ-mental Product Declaration) of materials
	Reduction of overall material use		-Using green concrete	Concrete contains environmentally friendly alternative to cement such as silica fume and materials from demolition wastes process [24]
		Materials efficiency	-Structural optimization (lightweight structured)	Cost-effective ways to lower the embodied carbon of materials include reducing the main material demand through optimized design. Reduced oversizing and structural optimization (light weighting, drywall, etc.) during the design phase may make it possible to utilize less materials to do the same task. Precast concrete materials, for example, may be one such solution.
At construction stage	Management protocol: Solid waste management	Tools for resource efficiency	separating & recycling wastes	Mandate procedures and strategies for the collection, recycling, and reuse of waste from construction and demolition. Enhance deconstruction procedures, for example, by creating deconstruction protocols or guidelines and classifying waste according to certain categories
	Renewable energy sources	Solar PV	Solar photovoltaic panels (PV)	Self-consumption electricity generation can be facilitated by PV installed on the roof or incorporated into the building on-site. Buildings may be able to fulfill all or part of their annual electricity needs, depending on the scale of the installed system
	Regionally produced materials and products	Locally produced low-carbon materials	Using local materials	This should be done at the regional level so that this new industry has greater access to markets and can make more investment
At operation stage	Indoor air quality	Audits tool	-Control ventilation using Co2 sensors	lower energy bills are the main advantage of the CO2 sensors. Fresh air is introduced into the room by mechanical ventilation. Energy can be saved by turning off mechanical ventilation when it’s not needed by putting CO2 sensors in the main sections and covering at least 50% of the building.
	Efficient artificial lightening system		-Efficient light (LED lamps) -Lightening control	-The energy used for lighting in the building is decreased by efficient lamps, which use less energy to provide more light than conventional incandescent bulbs. -Using technologies such as occupancy sensors, timer controls, or daylight sensors. Reduced lighting use leads to a reduction in energy consumption
			Building management system (BMS)	Digital technologies are improving the overall administration of building system controls by integrating various systems within a building and providing learning and fault detection capabilities

consultants,18% were contractors, 11.6% were from academic institutions, 7% were from public agencies, and 4.7% were Developers. About 94.6% of the respondents are familiar with sustainable building design.

Analysis and discussion

The figures below describe the relation between the identified measures and the frequency of the responses for each measure.

Lack of mandatory regulations

Based on the collected results, the procedure that achieved 50% or more of responses in the identified barrier is considered highly needed and should be mandated in the government decarbonization strategy. As shown in Figure 1, some measures have received a large number of responses related to the lack of regulations concerning (solar PV, recycling wastes, low carbon materials, EPD, LCA, insulation of external walls & roofs, and reflective walls and roofs.

Figure 1. Distribution of responses due to lack of mandatory regulations.

High cost

Figure 2 shows that the second major barrier is the high cost of many energy efficiency measures, which received the most significant number of responses. So, the procedures that achieved less than 50% of responses are considered low-cost decarbonization measures that need a critical look to be proposed as possible and applicable procedures, which are natural ventilation, use of local materials, LED lamps, ceiling fans, value engineering, daylight simulation, recycling wastes, EPD, LCA, reflective roofs & walls, BIM and use low carbon materials. However, (solar PV, low E coated glass, shading devices, green concrete and CO₂ sensors) are considered high-cost procedures according to the survey respondents. This reflects the strong perception of the client and contractor that implementing green practices is costly.

Figure 2. Distribution of responses due to high cost.

Client requirements

Due to the lack of proper understanding about the advantages of sustainable and decarbonization procedures from the client side and the unfamiliarity of buildings sustainability methods as mentioned by experts, Figure 3 indicates that five top measures have been subjected to client requirements, which are lightening control, use local materials, natural ventilation, ceiling fans, and window-to-wall ratio, in addition to their low initial cost and popularity in the building sector (according to Figure 2)

Figure 3. Distribution of responses due to client requirements.

Market awareness and knowledge

According to the interviews, the lack of experienced technical team and market awareness are considered significant challenges against the widespread of decarbonization principles in Egypt. Figure 4 illustrates that there are 12 international procedures had received 50% of the total responses which are related to market awareness barrier, which include (low carbon materials, shading devices, CO₂ sensors, ground source heat pump, daylight simulation, EPD, LCA, structural optimization, natural ventilation, BIM, green roof and the absorption chiller by waste heat), while CO2 sensors, EPD, LCA, daylight simulation, natural ventilation, BIM, absorption chiller with waste heat and green roof are relatively not widespread due to technical knowledge limitations. That leads to the need to develop a national strategy that connects all stakeholders in the construction sector. It could help raise awareness of the decarbonization measures and the new sustainable building designs, creating an environmental inventory database of the building materials and developing more simplified tools to address the carbon emissions through the building life cycle

Figure 4. Distribution of responses due to market awareness & knowledge.

Lack of resources & complexity of the procedure

Figure 5 indicates that green roofs, ground source heat pump, natural ventilation, LCA, and recycling wastes are the major complex procedures to be performed in Egypt. Adopting a natural ventilation system has the largest number of responses due to the complexity of achieving comfort under different climate conditions of the year. EDGE has set many design criteria to facilitate the implementation of natural ventilation system in buildings and many energy efficiency measures, which could guide clients to more sustainable building design if they decide to get green building certification.

Figure 5. Distribution of responses due to Lack of resources & complexity of the procedure.

Additionally, lack of resources such as green concrete, local materials and low embodied building materials are common obstacles identified by the respondents, as shown in Figure 5. This agrees with the results of the semi-structured interviews. The lack of green concrete and low embodied carbon material suppliers in Egypt may affect the carbon footprint mitigation strategy and increase the cost of implementing such procedures in projects.

Conclusion

This paper identified a checklist of the most eligible decarbonization measures for the building sector in Egypt. Based on data analysis, the cost of energy efficiency procedures is a critical barrier that discourages their implementation, such as low-E coated glass, PV solar panels, and shading devices. In addition, market awareness is a significant barrier against adopting E.C. reduction measures such as structural optimization, LCA, and EPD. So, the following decarbonization strategies have been proposed as the most applicable decarbonization measures for the building sector in Egypt:

1. Adopting a natural ventilation system taking into consideration the building orientation.

2. Using LED lamps and ceiling fans

3. Using smart models at the early stage of design such as BIM & daylight simulation.

4. Adopting reflective roofs & walls measure by using light colors for finishes

5. Recycle building material waste and developing waste management strategy on site.

6. Use local materials such as rammed earth, instead of importing other materials from other countries which increase the embodied carbon emissions due to transportation process.

7. Using low embodied carbon materials such as autoclaved aerated concrete for walls instead of red bricks and timber instead of steel for frames.

8. Applying LCA at the early stage of the design and developing EPD reports for building materials.

It is also recommended that low-cost energy efficiency procedures be mandated, and the market should be allowed to open up to new low-carbon materials such as green concrete and lightweight structures. In addition, developing an Egyptian building materials database would facilitate LCA application and pave the way to transitioning from a linear economy to a circular economy. Moreover, setting embodied carbon emissions and energy efficiency benchmarks for the building sector in Egypt would accelerate the sustainable development transition.

Research limitation

This research was carried out in Egypt to bridge the gap between decarbonization principles and their practical adoption in the Egyptian building sector.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).