Energy Efficiency in Building Envelope

The construction sector, both residential and tertiary, is undergoing a major expansion in Morocco. At present, there is an extraordinary boom in construction activity. A significant increase in the housing stock is therefore expected, based on the State's short- and medium-term construction programs and the projections of the Statistics Directorate of the Haut-Commissariat au Plan. The new housing stock, which will be built over the next twenty years, is estimated at about three million units. In addition, users of existing buildings suffer from serious problems due to the form and materiality of the building material. This is because incoming shortwave solar radiation is mainly stored in building materials such as concrete, stone, and asphalt and is then radiated as longwave heat into the urban atmosphere. This leads to the well-known "urban heat islands" and "heat stresses". Urban heat causes many problems: infrastructure deterioration or failure (road melting, breakdowns), thermal discomfort and low productivity, hygiene (reduced physical and cognitive performance) and health and safety problems (respiratory, heart and kidney problems), and additional deaths.