A new analysis framework is developed and applied to assess the benefits of building energy efficiency policies and programs. One of the main advantages of the new energy productivity analysis is that it accounts for both economic and energy performances of energy efficiency actions using only one metric. Specifically, the approach applies the concept of energy productivity to the building sector and accounts for both value added and energy savings of energy efficiency measures. Moreover, the proposed analysis accounts for all quantifiable benefits of energy efficiency programs including economic, environmental, and social. In this paper, the general guidelines for the energy productivity analysis are first described. Then, the analysis is applied to evaluate energy efficiency renewable energy programs for both existing and new buildings in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. The analysis results indicate that retrofitting the existing building stock can provide significant benefits and can improve the energy productivity of the building sector in all GCC countries and free up large energy volumes and investment potentials to the development of other economic sectors. In particular, the analysis indicates that reduction in energy consumption, peak demand, and carbon emissions due to deep retrofit programs for the existing building stock can double the energy productivity of the GCC region.
Moncef Krarti
Former Visiting Researcher
Moncef was a visiting researcher with over 30 years of experience in designing, testing, and assessing innovative energy efficiency and…
Moncef was a visiting researcher with over 30 years of experience in designing, testing, and assessing innovative energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies applied to buildings. He is a professor and a coordinator of the Building Systems Program, Civil, Environment and Architectural Department at the University of Colorado.