Updated study on energy efficiency in public buildings in Egypt

The cost of resource subsidies, increased energy consumption, and limited electricity network capacities represent a great burden on Egypt’s budget and power supply security. The buildings sector in Egypt requires nearly half of the overall electric supply, with government buildings alone accounting for 5 percent. The Egyptian government has thus made initial steps toward becoming more energy efficient and utilising renewable energy sources in the last few years.

Egypt has been strengthened in these efforts within the German financial cooperation framework: The KfW Development Bank, jointly with the Energy Efficiency Unit of the Supreme Council of Energy and other Egyptian institutions, developed a project proposal for an energy efficiency programme for Egyptian universities in 2012. In order to work out the specific details of the project proposal, the KfW commissioned adelphi in 2013 to conduct a comprehensive study that investigated the legal and administrative conditions relating to energy efficiency in public buildings, produced a needs assessment, illuminated the market environment, and developed a programme concept.

Due to the political upheaval in Egypt, the Egyptian government had only been able to take up the project’s approach in 2016. Building on the existing study, the KfW Development Bank commissioned adelphi with the task of reviewing and expanding upon the previously compiled programme for the implementation of energy efficiency measures in public buildings, where the focus was on Egyptian university buildings. The updated study also took account of the changes in the legal and policy framework, the structure and function of the partner institution SCU (Supreme Council of Universities) and included a building catalogue of the Egyptian universities.