Improving Energy Efficiency of Buildings Through Applying Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete in Building's Envelopes Cladding Case Study of Residential Building in Cairo, Egypt

Abstract

. Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete has recently been highly considered by architects, engineers, and contractors according to its good features such as high tensile strength, durability, variety of shapes, sizes, and colours, and its environmentally friendly properties that make Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete suitable for thin, light, and free-form building’s envelope cladding. Five types of building envelopes were simulated using building performance simulation software (Design Builder Software Ltd – V. 7.0.0.116) on a prototype residential building in Cairo, Egypt; one of them is using conventional envelope finishing materials and compared with the other four types using various types of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete envelope’s cladding to detect the effects of using Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete in building thermal performance, energy consumption, and also to choose the optimum type of them that will be suitable with local environments in Cairo, Egypt. Study results showed a large amount of heat transfer between the building’s internal spaces and the outdoor environment caused by building external walls construction materials in the conventional building that should be treated to improve building thermal performance. By using Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete envelopes cladding types, the study observes a reduction of heat transfer up to 60.47% that results in a reduction of energy consumption up to 10.42%. From these results, it is demonstrated that using Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete in a building’s envelope cladding can enhance a building’s thermal performance and thus reduces its energy consumption, related CO 2 emissions, operating costs, environmental pollution, and other negative impacts on the environment.