As the Egyptian population is increasing at a huge rate, the yearly housing demand is increasing in an equivalent rate. In addition, the whole world is suffering from an energy crises caused by the rapidly increasing consumption of world’s traditional energy resources, so the obvious solution is to go green, and depend much more on renewable energy resources. According to the statistical data available in Egyptian governmental authorities, the accumulated housing demand till 2014 was about 2,400,000 units. On the other hand, the yearly housing supply from private and public sectors is about 150,000 to 200,000 unit, Egyptian authorities declared that at summer 2010 air-conditioning devices increased to reach 3.000.000 ( three million) devices all over Egypt, mostly working from early mornings till 2 am next day to adjust temperatures that reach up to (45C) and more outside buildings to reach (25 C) or less inside. This behavior increased electricity consumption rapidly. Consequently, the electricity consumption rate in Egypt had increased by 13% more than 2009, which exceeds the maximum capacity power of the high dam by 7% to 8%, ministry of electricity announcements declared that to fill that gab we need 3000 megawatts at peak hours which costs the electricity sector up to 16.000.000.000 l.E. Accordingly, a new architectural design concept is proposed (Zero-Energy Housing Unit) to rely on the surrounding environmental conditions and new Green Architecture Techniques in order to provide human comfort based on renewable energy sources, provided that the common current governmental energy sources will be a backup system for the meanwhile.

In the last few years, great improvements have been achieved in building optimization methods. Mustapha Sadeghipour Roudasri and others found new tools ” Ladybug, Honeybee and Butterfly” which could gather many simulation engines and visualization tools ” Energyplus, OpenStudio, Radiance, Daysim, CFD, OpenFOAM, etc ”. Consequently, These simulation engines will integrate with parametric modeling in Grasshopper and multiobjective optimization through Octopus plug-in to form an early stage parametric optimization framework in one canvas. This paper aims at finding the suitable plane shape and building configurations for multi-objective optimization to the daylighting levels and energy consumption of office tower building in the new administrative capital city in Egypt through parametric based optimization method. One of the most commonly used plan shapes of these types of buildings was studied. This shape and many building configurations ”WWR, window material, wall material and shading devices” were parametrically modeled. These Parameters will form many tradeoffs which will be simulated and optimized by the previous framework. Spatial Daylight Autonomy ”SDA300/50%” is examined to optimize Daylighting while Energy Use Intensity ” EUI” is used for energy consumption optimization. Multi-Objective Optimization was performed by genetic algorithms via Octopus plug-in. The near optimum design for plan shape and building configuration to balance between daylighting and energy consumption is achieved and will be a reference model for office tower buildings in this zone in Egypt which is under rapid development. The framework used in this study will guide designers to find effective solutions for early-stage design of office building in one canvas without any conflict between several engines and scripts.

Exterior Thermal Mass (eTM) is known to improve building energy and thermal comfort performance. Despite its known benefits, studies to date have not thoroughly addressed the effects of eTM on building environmental performance by considering a wide range of influential factors and various climatic conditions. This paper addresses such a gap in the body of knowledge by conducting a comprehensive and detailed analysis of eTM impacts on residential buildings’ energy performance. Using quantitative research and simulation analyses, this study has found various trends of energy reductions and, in a few cases, energy increases depending upon the location of projects. In fact, the cooling energies are shown to increase of up to 4% for the scenario of 20 cm thickness wall in several locations. Aiming for better energy and design load scenarios, this research has also established the optimal eTM depth to help architects and engineers make informed design decisions with regard to building envelopes, which is particularly important for developing countries with similar climates studied in this paper, where the use of masonry materials is widely common. As for future steps, further exploration of cooling energy increase phenomenon, which was observed for several climates is recommended. Also, coupling eTM with code-required thermal insulation based upon specific climatic locations and evaluate their integrated performance can be considered.

Sustainable development and sustainable housing indicators are a response to the trend of adopting sustainable development objectives, adopted by most countries, especially developed and less developed countries. It is difficult to implement indicators developed for a developing country context in other contexts with different social, economic and environmental conditions. Social sustainability is the most important priority regarding evaluating the housing development projects in the developed and less developed countries. Economic conditions is linked in many aspects to the social sustainability indicators. Environmental indicators are important, but the less developed countries in general has a very low environmental foot prints, this is because the industry sector is usually week comparing to the developed countries. This paper reviews the sustainable housing indicators, with a focus on United Nations reports and indicators developed for contexts similar to study area, without ignoring the most reputable indicators developed for developing countries context. The research came with a set of indicators reflects the social priorities of the new housing development in Sudan. A questionnaire participants decided the relative important of each indicator and also the importance of the parameters of each indicator. Developing a set of social priorities for Sudan will give extra efficiency in promoting and assessing sustainability in the study area. Description of the questionnaire results which reflects the national social sustainable housing development priorities are discussed. The researches came with a set of recommendations to enhance the social aspects for new housing development projects in Sudan. Using this set of priorities and recommendations will give extra efficiency in promoting and assessing sustainability in the study area.

There are numerous important human activity factors which cause drastic reduction of the population of migratory birds as well as resident birds in the Libyan coastal areas and inner land too. Resulting into the deterioration of the ecosystems which support life, urban health, and simultaneously causes loss of urban heritage and place identity. The urban sprawl has increased significantly over the past few decades as a result of population growth and economic activity. This rapid urbanization seriously invaded agricultural land and natural environment to the extent of endangering rural and urban landscape. In the absence of legislative regulations; this uncontrolled spatial development is threatening wildlife habitat. Therefore, we see how urban expansion has gone out of control in many Libyan cities to an alarming rate surmounting the increase rate of population caused by extensive economic policies. These policies lack an ecological vision of preservation of cultural and natural heritage which would have ensured the realization of healthy ecosystem and a sustained vision towards the future of rebuilding Libya. This paper aims to identify the relationship between built environment and natural habitat for migratory and resident birds. The paper is using archival research methods by drawing together mortality causes from various sources so that human related factors can be placed in perspective with one another and perhaps, eventually, with other mortality factors in future studies. The paper attempts to shed light on the dangers faced by these birds including those inflicted by human activities. Finally, the paper tries to formalise general outlines for presenting safer urban environment for birds in the city. A strategy for green buildings and sustained urban design in order to preserve the fragile natural landscape and the endangered biological diversity in our Libyan cities.

Whilst sustainable construction relates to both a building’s structure and the use of proper life cycle processes, the selection of the most appropriate material/s is deemed a considerable undertaking. Throughout a building’s lifecycle that extends from design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, until demolition, the selection of sustainable material/s is a particularly crucial task for the development and establishment of such structures. Traditionally, there are three main materials for general construction: (1) Steel, (2) Concrete and (3) Timber. These materials not only influence the function within the structure, but also affect the operation cost and energy usage. Operation cost reduction and energy savings are typically elements of the sustainable construction sphere. However, in developing countries, there is a variety of highly critical factors, which can impact material selection as well as the long-term sustainability of the structure, including: Fire Performance, Environmental Impact, Structural Performance (strength and durability), and Functioning Capabilities. Accordingly, this paper will first compare the sustainability of these three key materials and then converse with appropriate processes for material selection. Attention will be given to the sustainable construction recompense associated with the different material selection factors. Doing so ensures a more sustainable built environment by means of an improved material selection process.

Nowadays, not only in Egypt but also globally, the job for life is no longer the norm[1]. For this reason innovation became a must; not just a luxury or something that people or countries can deal with as a source of boasting or showing. Thus, and in order to promote sustainability concept through innovation, sustainability, and social entrepreneurship, this paper suggests some recommendations and introduces some solutions which can help in achieving and getting the most possible outputs and deliverable from the challenges are faced every day. It also proposes a new concept regarding the social entrepreneurship, social problems and development projects; e.g. infrastructure issues. The concept assumes that we have to go through three different ways in parallel when solving our pressing problems. These ways include the benefit from: our previous experiences, others’ successful applied projects, and the continuous follow-up of new technologies under development. Also, it addresses how those three elements can be connected in a sustainable way which ensures the sustainability and the effectiveness of improving them at the same time. In addition, it gives one or more examples in each channel to clarify the situation. Besides, the paper introduces some recommendations such as launching innovation & social entrepreneurship hubs, holding conferences & competitions and supporting R&D projects in order to promote our situation and consolidate our experiences.

The Earth-sheltered building type is spreading all over the world in the last decade as an eco-friendly building’s style, and as a passive energy saving technique. Most previous researches regarding this type are discussing the energy savings’ and measuring the “heating/cooling loads” reduction extent. This research is discussing the subject from the urban point of view, and the application’s possibility for the housing projects in the Egyptian deserts. Adopting the quantitative method followed by the qualitative analysis; the research quantified the results of a questionnaire survey, and used the chi-square test to analyze the significant results, in order to be able to generalize the results to the community. Followed by some urban design considerations and applicable recommendations related to this type according to the questionnaire survey results. The practical discussion argued the application’s possibility at the housing sector in the Egyptian deserts through discussing the motives behind thinking of the application in the housing sector at the Egyptian deserts; and the application’s optimal performance constraints. The research recommends using this type of buildings for housing in the developing projects of the new communities in the Egyptian western deserts, like ”Toshka”. Moreover, in the new touristic resorts, and in the small and middle-sized projects.

The evaluation of buildings in real conditions of use, or post-occupancy evaluation, is the systematic study of buildings with the objective of determining their performance once they are inhabited; it is a process of review and identification of successes and failures in order to improve the conditions of existing buildings and to feed future designs. Nowadays, the construction industry in Colombia does not have feedback processes regarding the operation of a building. The research presented below proposes the HEPO post-occupancy assessment tool, which is oriented to the analysis of buildings in phase of use, in terms of meeting the needs of the inhabitants, the consumption of resources associated to the use, and the conservation of the qualities of the materials in time. In order to verify the effectiveness of the tool, this is validated in five collective height housing projects in the city of Medell´in, Colombia.

The city is a complex living organism mostly affected by decisions taken whether they are political, organizational, or design decisions. Such decisions vary in scale starting with planning, urban design, and architectural scales. Urban design has been commonly agreed to occupy a hypothetical intersection between planning and architecture. It emerged to bridge the disciplinary gap between architecture and planning. Since 1960s urban design literature attempted to define what good urban design and good city form is, and the process to achieve it; yet in practice the end product doesn’t always achieve high quality in terms of urban design initial objectives. Over the last decades, the gap between disciplinary dreams in theory and real outcomes translated as urban design product of different practices has been growing in the field of urban planning and urban design. Since the urban design product does not meet its expected objectives in theory then something must be wrong with it, and a thorough investigation must come in order to perceive such gap. The Research aims to answer two main questions regarding urban design through examining the Urban Design Process; the first is whether the urban design process is capable to bridge the multidisciplinary gap? And the second question is with the little knowledge and lack of success criteria for the urban design process; how can the success of urban design be measured?

The energy consumption in buildings and especially residential buildings is immensely affected by the design of urban open spaces around these buildings. Many countries including Egypt have been witnessing rapid growth in residential complexes while the effect of urban design on microclimate and energy use is not given appropriate considerations. Accordingly, this has contributed to the massive increase of energy consumption. Many studies have been conducted for analyzing the effects of urban features of open spaces (variables) and their values on the microclimate. A set of values for one or more variables were addressed in each of these studies and their effect on urban microclimate and energy use were measured. However, such effects were diverse and dispersed. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to identify the optimal settings of urban features of open spaces that contribute to reducing energy consumption in buildings and achieve outdoor thermal comfort in the context of urban open spaces in residential complexes. In order to achieve this goal an extensive and thorough literature review is conducted for classifying and analyzing the impacts of different values of each urban feature of open spaces on energy use and thermal comfort. The urban features of open spaces in residential complexes are classified into five categories: urban morphology, street pattern, urban density, building distribution, and urban canyon. There are various subvariables for each category with corresponding range of values which are classified into different sets. Each set corresponds to the same urban pattern and climate zone. The results of these sets and categories are comparatively analyzed in order to identify the optimal values that contribute to reducing energy consumption in buildings and achieve outdoor thermal comfort. The outcome of this extensive comparative analysis is resulted in the form of five main urban patterns (that are dominantly used in residential complexes), for the two climate zones in Egypt (hot arid, and hot humid) along with the optimal urban design features of these five main urban patterns. The outcome of this research paper is presented in a matrix format that graphically presents these urban patterns and the optimal values of the urban open space features (variables) along with the indicators of energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort. This matrix provides architects and building designers with a useful and friendly design guide that can be used at the early phases of urban design and can help them to achieve energy efficient and comfortable urban-open spaces in residential complexes. Such design guide will contribute in improving the awareness of designers at the early phases of the design process and direct their designs to be energy conscious and efficient prior to the detailed design phase wherein energy simulation is time-consuming and expensive.

In the last years, the world has jumped rapidly towards more urbanization, and for the first time in the history in 2008 urban population exceeded the rural population. By 2050, it is expected that two-thirds of the world population will live in urban areas. As a result of this rapid urbanization worldwide, Sustainable Neighborhoods SN emerged as a significant formation of cities that help in achieving sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development included this sustainability aim through the Sustainable Development Goal 11. This goal aims to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.”The Sustainable City in Dubai is located in the United Arab Emirates, the development and construction started in 2014, and 95% of the site was completed in mid of 2016. The development of the Sustainable City shows that the occupation residents will have many incentives to buy a villa and live in the city such as free rooftop solar systems, open landscaped gardens, free Green Star rated home appliances, zero net maintenance fees, and zero net service charges. Additionally, the sustainable city in Dubai is an educational hub for sustainable design. It sponsored many students through its agreements with different universities and research labs. This research aims to understand the case of the sustainable city in Dubai as an Example of SN in the Arab world. The research will start with a literature review that identifies all related terminologies to SN, besides a comprehensive analysis of some fundamental principles of SN design. A case study analysis will be done including; site visit, and applying one of the principles of SN on the sustainable city in Dubai to understand and explore the sustainability principles in it.

The main purpose of this paper is to illustrate and show the differences and capabilities if renewable energy sources in the Middle East region and how using renewable energy will affect the future of the community.

In this manuscript, a model for approximating the electrical power efficiency of the solar cells in relation with the air mass effect has been presented based on simple physical assumptions and in accordance with the solar radiation distribution. The model has been developed in correspondence with the air mass effect on the radiation intensity and wavelength and taking into account the energy gap effect of the silicon material.

Sustainable development presents one of the most complex challenges in Egypt in particular of keeping up with the global march. According to what Egypt possesses of original cultural spatial components, the need has necessitated taking care of the investments, but in a sustainable way in the historical cities centers where its possession of cultural spatial elements with high economic importance. However, Egyptian historical centers have suffered from Degradation and dissipation of energies and capabilities resulting from the negligence of urban conservation projects, and its incompatibility with the ongoing social changes. The pathway taken by urban development have been considered as incomprehensive methods for all the levels of effect of the historical centers.These levels are the international, national and local levels with the Totalitarian goals for the city and the national economy which has been aimed at the methods of conservation of the urban in the domain of the historical area only. That narrow perspective hasn’t achieved an increase in economical and job opportunities, without relying on the attracting the investments and tourism that can achieve a change of the value of the targeted area from the actual value towards the highest probable value. The historic core is considered as an attraction for the tourism activities but in the centers of the Egyptian cities, the public realms are the outcomes of the undersigned remaining realms. Therefore, they cannot perform their function as public spaces expressing the local character, as they are the center of social relations and cultural product. The research paper has dealt with the Urban Regeneration of the public realm and analytical applied survey study on the heritage core of the city Rashid. The research ends with a number of recommendations related to dealing with the basis of urban regeneration of the public realm. Which have been applied on the historic core of Rasheed city.

This paper presents the results of using a pilot-scale-constructed wetland as a tertiary treatment to the domestic wastewater by using local plants in Syria, aiming to achieve the Syrian legal standards of phosphorus and nitrogen emissions. This pilot plant consisted of tow types of wetlands.The emerged plants are placed in 3 tanks and followed by 3 tanks of free-floating plant, daily estimating the treatment of24.m3/day of effluents. The effluents were circulated in a vertical subsurface flow through a porous matrix of thick sand and gravel, in which the roots of the Arundo donax and Cattail (Typha sp.) and Bottomos (locally species Reed) were fixed. Monitoring of the pilot plant was performed through biological analyses. The flow bypassing through free-floating plant tanks will support removing the nutrients. The system offer a good degree of pollutant efficiency removal, especially for phosphorus (45% medium), TKN (80% medium), and NH4–N (60% medium).

In this paper, we represent an approach for combining machine learning (ML) techniques with building performance simulation by introducing four methods in which ML could be effectively involved in this field i.e. Classification, Regression, Clustering and Model selection . Rhino-3d-Grasshopper SDK was used to develop a new plugin for involving machine learning in design process using Python programming language and making use of scikit-learn module, that is, a python module which provides a general purpose high level language to nonspecialist user by integration of wide range supervised and unsupervised learning algorithms with high performance, ease of use and well documented features. ANT plugin provides a method to make use of these modules inside Rhino\Grasshopper to be handy to designers. This tool is open source and is released under BSD simplified license. This approach represents promising results regarding making use of data in automating building performance development and could be widely applied. Future studies include providing parallel computation facility using PyOpenCL module as well as computer vision integration using scikit-image.

The shortage of sufficient available fresh water resources in Jordan to meet water needs forces the nation to look for new water supply sources also to meet the increasing demand for fresh water. In this manuscript, a case study for designing, optimizing and implementing an off-grid water desalination system using photovoltaic (PV) power generation system is introduced. The system is installed on a farm in Southern Ghore of Jordan valley where the access to the grid is not reliable enough to guarantee the desalination of the amount of water for the farm’s irrigation needs. The study offers a framework to aid in designing similar pilot plants where the classic power generation prediction is greatly affected by the environmental conditions. An off-grid PV system with a total nominal power of 10.4 kWp was designed, procured and installed in the southern part of Jordan Valley near Karma town. The system operates the pumping system as well as the reverse osmosis based desalination unit. A measurement system has been collection relevant data like temperature, radiation, voltage, current, water quality, pressure, etc. continuously for the last 4 years. In this paper we will present the sizing procedure used, the system design and evaluate the design using the collected data of the run-time of 4 years. Data about the water quality and amount of desalinated water will equally be used to evaluate the system. The paper will end with recommendations to adapt the system design in different part of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

Egypt as a developing country aims to promote sustainability among its various sectors. Noticing the need for promoting better life among local communities, as the corner stone for promoting sustainable development, the government has initiated a number of private and public attempts that aimed for utilizing the local communities as a catalyst for promoting sustainability. After 3 decades of real attempts for promoting local sustainability approaches most of the attempts has failed to achieve its objectives. The research aims to introduce an innovative practical approach that would have the ability to overcome the defined deficiencies of the existing approaches and to practically promote sustainability among local communities. The research methodology will depend on an analytical comparative analysis of the existing sustainability local communities frameworks based on which the deficiency and contributions of the current situation can be defined. Then based on theoretical analysis the research is to innovate and introduce a new approach for promoting local sustainable communities, ’Foundation and Pillars for Sustainable local communities’ (FPSLC). The developed framework was then applied to Damietta Governorate as a case study where it was tested and proven. The research developed frame work is requested by the development agencies in Egypt to enable the achievement outputs and result of this research can be summarized in the formulation of the conceptual framework for sustainable development and mechanisms leading to realizing self sufficiency within the competitive industries through the introduced pillars of development.

The largest energy consumption that we use is the consumption of electrical energy in terms of meeting the lighting needs and building air conditioning requirements (World Energy Consumption, 2016). According to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (2017), Indonesia’s largest energy use in commercial buildings is for flight systems (63%), lighting systems (20%), vertical transportation (7%) electronic devices (10%). The use of energy in the fulfillment of excessive needs result in worsening conditions on earth. Data can be a reflection of how the condition of the earth that we live at this time. Energy savings should be made to reduce the damage already occurring on this earth such as electricity usage savings, optimization of use of materials, the use of motor vehicles that cause air pollution, and others. The way that can be used to reduce artificial energy use is to utilize the existing passive building design such as the use of solar energy that can be maximized during the day, so that the use of electrical energy for lamps and artificial air conditioning. reduced. In addition, it can also be considered the optimal use of wind direction and speed that can suppress the use of Air Conditioner (AC) in excess. Building envelope with bimetal thermal material module application is part of kinetic architecture via biomimicry approach. Kinetic architecture is a concept where buildings are designed to allow parts of buildings to move without compromising the unity of the structural system. Approaches that can be applied in green building design is by optimizing bimetal material module that utilizes the thermal coefficient of a material. With this approach, building envelopes are improvised so that they can adapt to the existing environment. This research take location of case study in Kampung Juminahan, Yogyakarta, Indonesia which has characters of comunal housing.

This paper discusses and presents the implementation of a boost converter as power electronic interface to be used with the thermoelectric generator (TEG). The common application for such system is the battery charger. The boundary conditions for battery chargers include the charging current and battery voltage limits which have to be respected throughout the charging process, while the maximization of the power generated from the TEG is a global target that is desired to be met as much as possible. Coordinated control algorithm that collectively combines these constraints is the main focus of this work. Novel global control algorithm is proposed and verified in this paper with detailed analysis that shows the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Dual control loops for the voltage and current of the boost converter will be designed and analyzed to satisfy the source and load demands. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) mode, power matching mode and voltage stabilization mode will be integrated in the control algorithm of the battery charger. This paper puts a schematic design for a system that harvests energy from a thermoelectric generator bank of a TEG1-12611-6.0 TEG modules in order to charge a battery bank of Samsung ICR18650 Batteries using constant current (CC) and constant voltage (CV) charging profiles.