Design of the built environment: its impact on energy demand and consumption in Saudi Arabia.

Although Saudi Arabia empowers the world with energy, the country is faced with unprecedented demand on electric energy. The issue, however, is neither affordability nor shortage but the exponential growth of demand on electricity, which reached an annual rate of 17% [Ministry of Industry and Electricity (MIE), 1995). This figure indicates that we need to double the number of our power generation plants within few years in order to meet the kingdom's present and near future demand. By considering the costs of these power plants, their useful life, the costs of oil and gas to run them, inflation, manpower and al/ the other related direct and indirect installation and operating costs, one can realize the financial scale of the issue. However, we are now searching for al/ possible solutions to moderate the electricity demand in order to reduce these tremendous and incremental costs in this primary sector of our economy. As an Architect, I strongly believe that the current critical situation is due to the serious conflict of our artificially growing urban environment with our harsh climate. Accordingly, the aim of this paper is to point out the major design factors that are largely contributing to the present situation and how they can be improved.