MBRSC unveils plans to ‘sustainable autonomous house’

DUBAI / Emirates Business

Within the framework of the Sustainable Autonomous House project inaugurated recently by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the UAE Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, MBRSC has unveiled the first of its kind sustainable autonomous house in the UAE, and has announced a series of plans to secure the technical requirements needed for building and developing these houses, with the aim of implementing the sustainable autonomous house model across the UAE.
MBRSC is planning to establish a laboratory specialized in conducting experiments and tests for sustainable autonomous houses to verify the efficiency of devices, systems and materials. A team of Emirati engineers at the Centre will be conducting complementary studies to optimize the condensed water in the cooling system, managing the humidity and high moisture processes in the atmosphere, in order to produce water for
domestic use.”
The Centre declared that it is preparing study and research plans to link the project with Dubai’s electricity grid, providing it with surplus energy storage so that the sustainable autonomous house will become small power plants producing electricity from a natural source – solar energy.
The Sustainable Autonomous House is the first model house developed to be self-sufficient and completely independent of the electricity grid. It produces autonomous energy from the Sun and depends on smart technical and engineering solutions, while it is able to adapt to the hot and humid climate challenges. Certified by the Passive House Institute in Germany, the model is the first of its kind Passive House for hot and humid climate. The house meets energy consumption and sustainability criteria, as it was designed and constru- cted in accordance with standards and regulations that guarantee the efficient use of energy, meeting all environmental and comfortable living requirements.
HE Yousuf Hamad Al Shaibani, Director General of MBRSC, said: “Since the establishment of MBRSC, we have been adopting the knowledge transfer strategy in order to develop new technology on UAE soil. To fulfill that goal, we built a strategic partnership with one of the leading academic institutions specialised in developing research studies on efficient houses, such as the University of Bergamo and the Passive House Institute in Germany. This significant partnership aims to transfer knowledge of sustainable energy house building techniques. However, we have developed a new concept of this kind of
smart home, to fit with the local environment in the UAE.”
Al Shaibani confirmed that the Sustainable Autonomous House is one of MBRSC’s initiatives aimed at effectuating the use of the green and smart techniques to implement the UAE’s strategy for green development and Dubai Clean
Energy Strategy.
It also aims to provide an applicable model for one of the main requirements of the Dubai Smart City initiative.