1. INTRODUCTION
The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries,
whose economies depend on hydrocarbons, are
consuming increasing amounts of the natural
resources domestically. While being important oil and
gas producers, their rapid socio-economic growth,
characterized by increasing population, high rates of
industrialization is transforming them into big energy
consumers too. Indeed the growing population
requires more and more energy for its basic needs
which are electricity, air conditioning and drinking
potable water etc. Such fast growing energy needs are
putting pressure on GCC countries’ hydrocarbon
resources, the looming shortage of which, point to the
fact that over-reliance on oil and gas is notM. Essam Shaawat and Rehan Jamil
48 Emirates Journal for Engineering Research, Vol. 19, No.2, 2014
sustainable. Due to this fact the people are now
getting awareness about the scarcity of energy, the
region may see in future. An inclination of builders
and owners has been seen towards the renewable
energy sources in the past few years. The owners
have now started demanding the energy efficient
buildings from their consultants. The energy efficient
buildings or sustainable buildings are now being seen
in the region with the concept of utilizing the
minimum of the non-renewable resources like fuel,
gas, oils etc. and maximum of the renewable energy
resources like solar, wind and water to operate the
buildings.