Performance Evaluation of the Aqaba Residential Energy Efficiency Pilot Project (AREE)

The AREE house was built in 2007/2008 to provide a showcase of a high performance building in Aqaba city in the southern part of Jordan. The total energy performance of the building was achieved through three types of measures grouped into passive design elements, material choices and renewable energy installations. The energy performance and associated costs and benefits for each type were modelled to highlight opportunities for low and high income segments of the residential building market in Jordan. This paper provides a post construction evaluation of the actual energy performance of the building and the real costs and benefits. The sustainability concept of the building is reviewed, as well as the construction process and the life cycle costing of the energy enhancing measures. The findings show that passive design elements and material choices do improve the energy performance. This is derived from the actual indoor comfort monitoring in comparison with base case simulations. The payback time on the incremental investments needed is less than 3.5 years. At the same time, the monitoring also showed that not all passive design measures for energy performance were effective. This paper reflects on the experience and lessons learned from AREE for potential wider integration of sustainability elements into building projects in Jordan.