Biography:

Dr. Aboulnaga is a Professor of Sustainable Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering at Cairo University. He is a Government Strategy and Policy Advisor and an Associate Expert at the Regional Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency (RCREEE) as well as Oil and Gas Skills (OGS) � Egypt Ministry of Petroleum; and Expert member of the Ministry of Planning Higher Committee for developing Egypt�s Strategy on Green Economy 2030. Dr Aboulnaga is an expert on Sustainability Policies, Sustainable Development, Green economy (green cities and sustainable building), and Climate Change adaptation. He has over 28 years of diverse and rich experience, of which 18 years were in UAE in government, senior management, consultancy and academic positions. Dr Aboulnaga held a high level post at His Highness, The UAE Prime Minister�s Office in the capacity of a Strategy & Policy Advisor � Environment & Infrastructure (February 2009�March 2010). Prior to that, he held the post of Strategy & Policy Advisor at The Executive Council, Government of Dubai (May 2007�January 09). He founded the Emirates Green Building Council (2006), elected founding chairman of the Council and Board of Directors (2006-07); and a board member of the World Green Building Council (2006-07). Between 2013 and 2015, Dr Aboulnaga was invited author and wrote 4 chapters in 4 intentional books published by Elsevier and Springer. He holds the highest rank, an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Green Professionals, USA. He is an Associate Partner of the European Sustainable Development Network, Austria and participated in ESDN conferences and workshops (2010-2014); and invited expert by IRENA Bon office to its workshops on �doubling the global share of renewable energy by 2030: The Role of Cities� (2012 and 2013). He is a registered expert with the United Nations (UNDP, ESCWA and ROWA) since 1997 till date. Prof Aboulnaga is officially representing many leading organizations, notably the Sustainable Society Foundation in The Netherlands (2010-2013) and Green Building Research and Development, D�sseldorf, Germany. Additionally, he is an official recognized reviewer of one of Elsevier journals � Energy and Building as well as many other journals such as JRSE (USA), IJRER (Malaysia), and IJST of ISESSCO (Morocco). He is a member of reputed institutions such as A.NERGY (South Korea) and SBSE (USA). He has been an invited speaker to more than 160 international and regional conferences, seminars and workshops, notably World Renewable Energy Congress, IRENA, EU � Clean Energy Network, ECSSR, and National Institute of Building Sciences � US, ESDN as well as The World Future Council (2012), A.NERGY (2012-2015), FES and MED Green Forum III 2015, Florence. He was invited expert by European Commission Joint Research Centre to Experts meeting that reviewed the �COM South Guidebook� project, Ispra, Italy (December 2013). He has been invited External examiner and chaired the Board of examination for a PhD thesis at the University of Sheffield, UK (Jan 2012).
He has more than 85 international publications and reviewed more than 185 articles and abstracts. Dr. Aboulnaga is a Team leader of a research project granted by AASTMT (Jan 2015) developing a Sustainable Model for a prototype house for an Egyptian village. Prof Aboulnaga holds a PhD from The University of Leeds, UK (1990), a long-life Alumni of UoL, and he also holds a MSc and BSc from Cairo University.

Abstract:

The Role of Green Economy: Sustainable Building and EcoCity Strategies in Climate Change Adaptation

Worldwide experts agree that over the next few decades, the world will endure dangerous changes in climate, which will have a significant impact on almost every aspect of our environment, economy and society. It is widely accepted that human activities are contributing to climate change. According to IPCC, Egypt is one of the nations that will be heavily affected by the impact of Climate Change risks even though its� GHG emission represent only 1% of the World�s GHG emissions. Also, the Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC estimated that between 1970 and 2004, global GHG emissions due to human activities rose by 70%. The CC impact has been widely manifested worldwide in the last 10 years. Amid such challenges, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) recently approved and announced Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); 17 goals and 169 targets were launched to replace the 8 Millennium Goals. Among these 17 goals, goal 7, 11, 12 and 13 are specifically addressing clean and affordable energy, sustainable cities and communities, sustainable consumption and production, and climate change respectively. The UNEP has defined Green Economy as an engine for growth and it is a vital tool to achieve sustainable development. GE encompasses 6 main sectors: sustainable cities and green building; sustainable transport; clean and renewable energy are forming 3 main sectors in addition to 3 more sectors (water management and recycling; waste management; and land management and organic farming). Cities worldwide account for about 70% of the world energy. The building sector contributes up to 30% of global annual GHG emissions and consumes up to 40% of all energy. Also, buildings are forming the highest portion of the global CO2 emissions from different sectors (about 5.5GtCO2-eq). To offset GHG emissions, mainly CO2, IRENA workshop (2012) highlighted the significant role of cities in doubling the renewable energy share by 2030. Thus, sustainable building and EcoCity have significant role to play in achieving SDGs 7 and 12. The GHG emissions from buildings primarily arise from their energy consumption during construction and operations, nevertheless various studies suggest that over 80% of GHG emissions take place during the phase buildings operation to meet various energy needs such as HVAC (cooling/heating), water heating, lighting, entertainment and telecommunications, whereas, a smaller percentage, generally 10%�20% of energy is consumed in materials manufacturing and transport, construction, maintenance and demolition. Governments can therefore achieve the greatest reductions in GHG emissions by targeting the operational phase of buildings. In cities, the building sector has the largest potential for significant reduction of GHG emissions compared to other major emitting sectors. According to MOERE, electrical energy consumption in buildings as of 2014 is about 65% of which residential buildings, public buildings and commercial buildings are forming 51%, 9.5% and 3.5% respectively. The IPCC�s 4th Assessment Report illustrates that the potential for GHG reductions from buildings is common to both developed and developing countries, hence developing EcoCity and sustainable buildings are crucial. So, enhancing energy performance in buildings will have a significant impact on the reduction of electrical energy consumption conserving recourses efficiency and the nation�s footprint. In comparison to new buildings, existing buildings contribute to high energy consumption due to their inefficiency reflected in their envelop insulation, almost no application of sustainability and energy saving measures. In Egypt, existing buildings are the major consumer of electrical energy which is almost 86%, hence, improving existing buildings is as vital to urban climate action as improving energy efficiency. Several cities have initiated large-scale retrofit schemes to realise the multiple benefits of more efficient buildings, nevertheless, the rate of replacement of existing buildings by new ones is relatively small, around 1% to 3% yearly. Measures towards enhancing existing buildings, mainly EE have been adopted by many Governments around the world, namely USA, Australia, Germany, Sweden, UK, Japan and Singapore, and Dubai-UAE. Green buildings proven energy consumption in both new and existing buildings can be cut by an estimated 30% to 80% with potential net profit during the building life-span. This kind of adaptation is strategically needed to lower the impact of CC that is coupled with crucial risks in cities. Implementing effective measures and early actions for CCA, money and lives can be saved. Strategies for CCA are vital at all levels of government whether local, regional, or national. It is apparent that many actions, measures, and funds have been developed and despite EU allocated 20% of funding to climate and benefits of adaptation, but the gap is widening in developing poor countries. This paper highlights the importance of sustainable building and EcoCity strategies and policies for combating CC risks. Measures and action for CCA are discussed and presented.