Environmental Sustainability within commercial building in the context of Saudi Arabia

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Chapter 02: Literature Review

Introduction

There has been a growing evidence regarding the fact that climatic changes and global warming is occurring through the emission of the anthropogenic greenhouse

Gasses, therefore, an immediate action has become necessary in order to eliminate the threatening dangers for the future generations. It is due to a quicker pace of population growth and economic growth at the higher levels that, a vigorous expansion of the infrastructure is being made in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is happening particularly with regards to the commercial buildings. Unfortunately, in comparison to the other countries, no serious consideration had been given to the issue of energy efficiency when it comes to the designing and architect ring of the Saudi building. Adding to this, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been one of the most arid regions globally that is countering grave consequences and problems in terms of quick boost in the demand of water. It is against such a background that the current paper argues the active and urgent persuasion of the sustainable architecture in Saudi Arabia. For the attainment of this goal, Saudi architects have been making efforts to minimize the energy and water consumption in the buildings and are undertaking this effort through the utilization of the building designs that are developed through the climate-responsive and environmental friendly renewable energy technologies.

Designing Sustainable Commercial Buildings

Talking in general terms, the concept of sustainability entails a combination of economic, environmental, and social responsibilities. In response to the latest concerns rising for the energy and environmental issue, the context of sustainable architecture has been given considerable interest. The major contributors behind the promotion of sustainable architecture are positively energy and ecological considerations, which are blended with several other elements including the desire to enhance and improve the quality of life as well as the presence of health-related concerns. In principle, the concept of sustainable buildings link to the aspect of building designs that are climate-responsive (Hopkins, 2002). This stresses an essential focus upon the systems and source of natural energy with a purpose of accomplishing the objective of building comfort with the interactions between the environment of building and the dynamic conditions. For instance, in a sustainable building design and construction, placing a window at a particular location is of a vital importance due to the reason that it is the way of providing comfort cooling, effective natural light, and ventilation. Such standards are not present in most of the Saudi commercial buildings currently, which rely heavily upon the air conditioning that, in turn, requires the consumption of huge amounts of electricity (Al-Shehri, 2008). Ultimately, the buildings are not designed well in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, which also include Saudi Arabia. There are approximately 80% of household electricity that is consumed for the purpose of refrigeration and air conditioning. Due to the increasing commercialization, urbanization and population growth in Saudi Arabia, both the industrial and commercial sectors are booming and ...