Author(s)

Afaf D. Almoallem

Abstract

The electricity consumption of different domestic dwellings during the year in Saudi Arabia has been studied and analyzed. Jeddah is considered to be the second largest city in Saudi Arabia, where the weather is harsh most of the year. The average temperature for the warmest months is 36.34 °C, while it is 29.25 °C in the remaining months. This is relatively high compared to the other cities in Saudi Arabia. The aim of this research was to conduct a survey to evaluate Jeddah residents’ electricity consumption for domestic dwellings in terms of type, size, and age of the dwellings. The survey also includes the number of residents in each dwelling, their type, and the total number of air-conditioning (AC) systems. Other appliances used in a dwelling are also included in the questionnaire as well as details of the thermal insulation in walls and the window glazing systems used. Analyzing the results shows that the ratio of electricity consumption due to the AC systems to the total consumption dur- ing the summer is 46.13%. However, this ratio falls to 17.15% in winter. This illustrates the huge impact of AC systems on total consumption. The results suggest that using window glazing systems will reduce consumption by 11%, while using thermal insulation will reduce the consumption by 14%. Consequently, the use of these two technologies is highly recommended in terms of reducing electricity consumption. Finally, a matrix plot and a probability plot are provided as illustrations in this work.

Keywords

air-conditioning systems, domestic dwelling, electricity consumption, Jeddah, thermal insulation, window glazing systems