Energy retrofit decision support model for existing educational buildings in Egypt

This thesis presents a framework for developing a local decision support model that helps decision makers in Egypt to select the best and optimal scenario to retrofit existing buildings factoring in a predefined budget. This model provides a method to manage budget against proposed retrofits taking energy efficiency and return on investment into consideration. The simulation model is developed using Designbuilder software which depends on different data categories collected from the building preliminary survey, retrofit decision scenario information from interviews with the operations team, energy bill readings, and the relevant- building- construction technical data. Twelve retrofit measures typically proposed by the Facilities and Operations team were assessed and utilized for the development of the Energy Retrofit Decision Support System (ERDSS) optimization model based on the proposed framework. Using LabVIEW software, the retrofit options are qualified, ranked and optimized according to the highest calculated savings to investments ratios where a case study has been selected from an educational institution at Cairo, Egypt. The aim of this case study is to examine the applicability of ERDSS and functionality of the simulation model in the context of the budget constraints and technical limitations. An optimum retrofit scenario was recommended by ERDSS analysis, the model prioritized the possible retrofit actions within the allocated budget and according to savings to investment ratio results for each criterion. The results show that the model delivered the expected output and provided the initially forecast plan