General Information

The Porto Group operates as one of the largest privately held corporations in Egypt as an established leader in the hospitality industry and one of the largest resort developers. Porto Group launched the new development project Porto Pyramids in 2016. This project is already in the construction phase, located ~18 km from Cairo, North Egypt. The master plan includes 16 unit types, a 5-star hotel, a spa and gym, swimming pools, and a club house. The project site is located close to major businesses and shopping centres, enabling short commutes. The total plot area of the site is about 100.000 m². The selected pilot within this area is a residential multifamily house with 10.800 m² conditioned floor area that includes 54 apartments to serve 270 expected residents.

The external temperatures range from more than zero to 41°C with average annual temperature of around 24°C. December is the coldest month; July is the hottest. The minimum temperature does not fall to less than 0°C. There is greater energy demand for cooling than heating, with more than 1,800 cooling degree days compared with the 290 heating degree days. In Cairo, there is big potential for renewable energy within solar irradiation. Horizontal irradiation of 1,914 kWh/(m²*a) and more than 1000 kWh/(m²*a) for east, south, and west orientation create opportunities for energy generation through solar radiation and solar cooling.

Baseline and Current Situation

The baseline situation reflects the usual business construction practice in a respective country. It deviates from the available building codes, as major players in the construction practice don´t always respect building codes. In Egypt, the key components of a baseline energy concept are a split unit supplying heating and cooling with a Coefficient of Performance (COP) of 2.5; hot water is supplied by an electric instantaneous appliance. No thermal insulation or renewable energy sources are considered for a baseline project, as the following table illustrates.

This approach results in the following energy breakdown: cooling energy represents the largest portion of the demand with a total of 70.5%, the heating demand reaches 13.9% of the total demand, and the smallest shares are domestic hot water and lighting with 4.9% and 4.8%, respectively. This demand results in energy consumption of 94.1 kWh/(m²*a) and an environmental impact of 62 kg CO2e/(m²*a). Depending on the energy tariff, the square meter will range between EGP 20.4/(m²*a) and EGP 61.3/(m²*a) or between EUR 0.9/(m²*a) and EUR 2.8/(m²*a).

Variants

Technical description – Variant 1 | Low Investment

The first variant (low investment) calculates the energy performance of measures with a payback of less than 2 years. Variant 1A considers current energy prices, and variant 1B refers to energy prices without subsidies (high energy prices).