Retrofitting Higher Education Buildings in Egypt: A Pathway Towards a Zero-Energy Campus

Egypt’s higher education sector expanded rapidly over the last decade, resulting in increased energy consumption, negative environmental impacts, and economic challenges. Existing academic buildings present promising opportunities for energy savings through retrofitting; however, a validated pathway for achieving Zero-Energy Buildings ZEBs in Egypt remains underdeveloped. This study aims to develop a practical scenario and a replicable retrofitting pathway based on a multi-tiered approach that includes passive envelope enhancements, active system optimization, and the integration of renewable energy RE systems. Using the Canadian International College CIC campus as a case study, the research adapted the building energy simulation BES methodology to model the base case in Energy Plus-DesignBuilder v7.0. The key findings showed that the campus’s energy performance was sensitive to LED upgrades, HVAC set-point/setback optimization, and external wall retrofit, while integrating optimal passive and active strategies reduced the building’s total energy consumption by 50.84% and CO2 emissions by 49.65%. The study culminates in a design proposal for an integrated rooftop solar PV system to achieve ZEB status. The results demonstrated an applicable scenario and a retrofitting pathway for achieving ZEB for higher educational institutions in a similar context, and support both Egypt’s Vision 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals SDGs.