An-Najah Staff

During the last decade and as a result of the significant increase in the population of Jordan, multi-apartment buildings became the most dominant building format, especially in Amman the capital of Jordan. The lack of well-developed passive heating, cooling and energy saving solutions, made the reliance on central heating in winter and air conditioners in summer the prominent choice for residents. The sustained significant increase in the use of these high energyconsuming systems, have started to exert a heavy toll on the national economy and have raised environmental and public health concerns. This study is devoted to the analysis of heating and cooling problems in the new multi-apartment buildings in Jordan. The main focus of this study is to minimize fuel and electricity consumption. Techniques for heating and cooling are proposed. This study shows that the proposed techniques will lead to significant savings in total energy consumption. These savings will lead to multifold benefits including a welcomed relief to lower and middle class family budgets, a significant reduction in the national reliance on imported energy, and a significant reduction in greenhouse emissions. Nevertheless a wider and more specific study could be done for optimizing the loads and choosing the best air conditioning system.