Utilisation of solar and wind energy in buildings in the Kingdom of Bahrain: a step towards sustainable building construction

The thesis aims to introduce and accelerate the construction of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) or building integrated wind turbines (BIWT); considered as part of sustainable buildings. These types of buildings are important in reducing CO2 emission in Bahrain as building and construction sector is responsible for nearly 40 to 50 % of total energy use in Bahrain. Major commercial and residential building construction in Bahrain has been surveyed, making it a rich database for future make-over to BIPV or BIWT. Among these projects, there are only two sustainable building projects in Bahrain, i. e. Bahrain World Trade Centre and Euro-University - yet, not started. The Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) of having sustainable building projects in Bahrain have also been thoroughly and carefully discussed. Many policies, mechanisms and options set by different entities {OECD, UNEP's Sustainable Building and Construction Initiative (SBCI), ISES, LEED and BREEAM} has been discussed which can be used by the government or the parliament to accelerate the execution of sustainable building projects in the kingdom of Bahrain to meet the objectives of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030. Two large existing buildings in Bahrain that can be considered BIPV and BIWT or sustainable building were investigated. These are: Almoayyed Tower (the first skyscraper in Bahrain) - published in Building and Energy Journal in 2008 - and Bahrain International Circuit (classified as the world's best Formula I circuit) - published in Building and Environment Journal and Applied Energy Journal in 2006 and in The Open Construction and Building Technology Journal in 2008 . The cost of make-over, its advantages, drawbacks, concerns, and the annual reduction in CO2 emissions of these two building have been investigated. The incident of solar radiation on horizontal, vertical and tilted surfaces and the solar electricity acquired from installing photovoltaic modules integrated to the building (BIPV) has been made in additional to the calculation of the available wind speeds at different locations in Bahrain and at different heights from the ground. These data are important in making a thorough economic and environmental assessment for make-over to sustainable buildings in Bahrain. A novel model is established that allows the calculation of the Sustainable Building Index (SBI) - published in Building and Energy Journal in 2008. This index will reveal the potential in Bahrain (and probably neighbouring countries) in engaging in BIPV or BIWT (partial sustainable buildings). The index varies from 0.1 to 1.0; the higher the index the more willingness of the community to involve with sustainable buildings. For Bahrain, the calculated SBI is 0.48 which indicates that more efforts must be made on increasing the Drivers and minimizing the Barriers. This requires suitable mechanisms which the thesis has already made available. These mechanisms are used to achieve a compromise between the investors in Bahrain, the government and contractors (or builders) which will encourage and boost the development and dissemination of sustainable buildings in the kingdom of Bahrain. A novel comprehensive model to accelerate the sustainable buildings project in Bahrain has also been made (published in The Open Construction & Building Technology Journal in 2008). Also, two novel empirical relations were established to estimate the cost of solar and wind electricity to be used for BIPV and BIWT. The thesis aims to solve the vicious circle of blame: Bahrain investors like to fund sustainable buildings but there is no demand for them; the constructors can build sustainable buildings but the developers do not ask them; and the developers would ask for sustainable buildings but the investors won't pay for them.