Trends on sustainability in Saudi building industry: advances and challenges

In developing countries like Saudi Arabia, the experience of a rapid rate of urbanization and infrastructure expansion, especially with respect to buildings, is immense. In Saudi Arabia, the role of buildings is even more important as they account for around 80 percent of the total national electricity consumption. The issue of energy efficiency is not given serious consideration regarding Saudi building designs, even though sustainability has been a major focus in recent years of the Saudi government; achieving sustainable development has become one of the main goals of Saudi Arabia's economic and social development plan. Based on the local energy consumption trends, forecasts indicate an increase in domestic energy consumption with a growth rate which could reach 4 to 5 percent annually until 2030. This growth in demand is partially attributed to the industrial growth and growing economic prosperity in the Kingdom. A rather significant portion of this energy consumption growth results from the inefficient use of energy and the absence of coordinated enforcement and stakeholder engagement. In order to support sustainable development in the country, it is therefore crucial to improve the energy and environmental performance of buildings. This can be achieved not only by reducing the demand for building energy, but also by integrating renewable and sustainable energy technologies into buildings. This paper provides a brief review of the initiatives, advances, and challenges in the sustainability issues within the Saudi Arabian building sector, and proposes a framework for effective implementation of sustainability in the building sector.