Building Stock Inertia and Impacts on Energy Consumption and CO2 Emissions in Qatar

Greenhouse gas emission reduction and the consequent decrease in the environmental impacts of fossil fuel can be achieved by cutting back on energy consumption in the building sector that consumes around 30% of total final energy around the globe. The building sector is a complex component of the modern economy and life and includes diverse types of structures, uses, and energy patterns. Such variability is a result of the way that buildings are designed, built, and used in addition to the variations of their materials, equipment, and users. From the start of the construction phase until their demolition, buildings involve energy consumption. A single building’s energy consumption pattern can be called its energy inertia, that is the way it consumes energy throughout its lifetime. Energy consumption also varies according to the age of the buildings. As a building gets older, its structure and equipment start losing their efficiency and often lead to increasing energy consumption over time. At any given time, the building sector is composed of structures of various ages. Some are under construction, others are recently built, some have lived to be mature and some quite old enough to be demolished. This complexity in the building sector creates a momentum against implementation of policies that reduce energy consumption. In this study, a system dynamic model is developed to perceive the temporal evolution of energy consumption and efficiency measures for the villa-type building stock in Qatar. This model tests energy efficiency policy measures such as renovation rates of 15 and 30 years, for buildings that are considered old, and also examines implementation of technology and building codes for new buildings. Results reveal savings of between 157 GWh and 1,275 GWh of electricity and reduction in CO2 emissions ranging from 77,000 tonnes to 602,000 tonnes.