020318_Hurghada SECAP_FINAL

Residential buildings in the city consume a total of 257,782 MWh/year of electricity, with a connection rate of 100 per
cent. Also, the annual natural gas consumption in residential buildings is 80,000,000 m 3 , and 494,026 LPG cylinder/year
as well as 480 litres/year of gasoline representing a total Final Energy of electric, natural gas, liquid gas (LPG) and
gasoline of 257 GWh/yr, 87 GWh/yr, 96 GWh/yr and 4 MWh/yr respectively.
The Governorate of the Red Sea, in particular the City of Hurghada has the desire to move forward to holistically solve
the challenges faced in the energy consumption of the residential sector by promoting a comprehensive plan to reduce
energy use, enhance energy efficiency and promote renewable energy, incorporating solar PV and SWH systems.
The “Green Residential Plan” (GRP) should integrate sustainability solutions and technologies to green the building
sector in the city of Hurghada.
4.2.3.2 Short-term actions (3 to 5 years’ time frame)
There is a lot to do to raise public awareness on energy issues, inviting inhabitants to reduce their consumption and, as
a consequence, cut their energy bill. This is to be applied on residential buildings. An awareness campaign doesn’t
require a huge amount of money and can bring interesting results for both parties: the client learning to use less energy
and the electricity utility improving its services.
Such awareness campaign to promote efficient behaviour should focus on measures such as:
- Promoting the proper temperature at home: using excessive air cooling is not good for the public health and
results in huge electricity consumption. Adjusting air conditioning systems’ thermostats to be always at 24
degrees Celsius during summer would save up to 25% of the energy consumption,
- Promoting behavioural changes at home: turning off lights, proper management of refrigerator, time of use of
washing machines, boiling waters in kettles and replacing classical bulbs with efficient ones,
- Promoting energy efficient cooling/ heating devices, as the one on the market are not good enough. People
usually buy cheap equipment without taking into account the higher level of energy consumption, which results
in a higher “global cost” over a certain period of time, compared to buying green label appliances,
- Control elevators’ use to limit their use to the 3 rd floor unless users have medical issue/problems, and
- Apply plastic sheets on windows’ glass/glazing to reduce the impact of solar radiation impending on the external
buildings’ façades.
A rough calculation is realized considering that a widespread awareness campaign could result in a 20% reduction of
electricity consumption (estimation being more difficult on other fluids) in 50% of households and private buildings.
4.2.3.3 Medium-term actions (3 to 10 years’ time frame)
The most obvious plan to develop on the mid-term is the promotion of Solar Heating Systems to produce hot sanitary
water and avoid unnecessary electricity consumption.
- Promote the use of solar water heating (SWH) systems instead of the current electric water heating (EWH)
systems used in most buildings. Currently, there are only few users of solar water heating systems in the city of
Hurghada and this action could tremendously reduce the electricity consumption for the specific need of hot
sanitary water. It will be important to demonstrate the financial benefit of choosing a SWH system against EWH
one,
- Involve and train companies that will produce, sell and install SWH systems, and
- A possible model to market SWH would be to ask for a monthly fee that would be minimal compared to the
electricity bill people are used to pay, allowing the company, not only to recover the cost of the installation after
few months but get recurrent revenues on the long run, from “selling hot water” and ensuring the maintenance
of the equipment.
4.2.3.4 Long-term actions (5 to 15 years’ time frame)
In the long term, it would be necessary to develop a renovation programme targeting less energy efficient buildings,
where basic insulation and ventilation could significantly improve comfort while reducing energy consumption.
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