Ras Al Khaimah has defined in the overall Energy Efficiency and Renewable Strategy 2040, which aims to reduce the electricity & water consumption and increase the introduction of renewable energy in the Emirate. As part of the strategy, the Buildings Retrofit Program has the objective of reducing energy consumption and improve efficiency of existing government, commercial and residential buildings. In 2017, residential energy consumption represented 32% of all energy consumption in Ras Al Khaimah. With the population and comfort growth perspectives for the Emirate, this number is expected to increase substantially in the next years unless something is done to address this issue.
The model villa retrofit initiative was created to raise awareness and demonstrate on a real case study how a well done retrofit can reduce the energy consumption in a standard local RAK villa. For this purpose, a public raffle will be made available to all locals to select a villa to be awarded a full retrofit free of charge in exchange of serving as a demonstrator of the retrofit results and benefits. The objectives of the initiative are to create a living demonstrator of what a residential retrofit project is, the actual measures implemented in the selected villa, and the savings and results achieved versus the previous consumption. This real case study will also create awareness about the benefits of a well implemented retrofit and to incentivize other local villa owners to do retrofit projects in their properties.
The main benefit for the owner is to have his/her villa retrofitted free of charge, with the respective energy savings and reduction in FEWA bill. Additional benefits include increased villa sustainability, improved equipment maintenance cycles, longer equipment lifetime, as well as active contribution to Ras Al Khaimah’s Energy Efficiency and Renewables Strategy 2040’s objectives.
