Inji Kenawy

Carbon mapping for residential low carbon retrofitting

Worldwide measures towards reducing energy use and CO2 emissions has become of a prime concern to mitigate the current and to adapt with the future climate change symptoms. Fifty percent of carbon emissions in Egypt result from the residential sector due to the existing energy inefficient building stock. The Egyptian national development targets to reduce CO2 emission by 20 % by 2020 however the actions taken to reach the target are not promising. This study aims at developing a carbon mapping tool designed to measure the carbon foot print for residential buildings in Egypt and to offer a retrofitting carbon mitigation solutions on both building and urban level. That is through a web tool that will enable to calculate and visualize the carbon emissions of specific existing residential buildings. This web tool also serve as a decision support means for architects and planer during projects planning and design development phases. In addition it supports measuring the impact of housing retrofit and using renewable technologies for energy production. It serves to anticipate occupants’ behaviour to form a grid for decarbonisation on town planning and city level. The study is still in its theoretical phase and in the paper we are showing the outline for the tool knowhow and its expected results.