The College of Design congratulates Yasser El Masri for the successful defense of their dissertation, "The Global Role and Impacts of Building Performance Diagnostics Under Climate Change Considerations" on Friday, April 14th, 2023.

Abstract:

The Global Role and Impacts of Building Performance Diagnostics Under Climate Change Considerations

With climate change becoming an existential threat for all living beings, and a matter of national security for states around the world, urgent action is needed to meet the challenges it poses. Buildings are responsible for approximately 40% of total direct and indirect CO2 emissions globally, therefore they present an important sector to target as part of a global strategy to address this problem. This work relates the field of building performance to modern-day challenges of climate change, international relations, and national and energy security policy. The goal of the dissertation is to develop a viable and applicable strategy that can ultimately address these issues through a novel approach. Initially, it will identify current issues with approaches to climate change strategies and national and energy security that are predominantly supply-focused, then help synthesize solutions to these problems through a shift to an energy demand-reduction focused approach for buildings. The research utilizes building energy modeling, non-destructive testing techniques, and computational tools to create workflows that can help policymakers assess the benefits, costs, and feasibility of applying such a strategy. The dissertation aims to bridge the gap between climate change, energy security policy, and building energy consumption on various scales and present it as a realistic solution that helps bypass many of the impediments to currently applied approaches.