Page 26 - A U4SSC deliverable - Accelerating city transformation using frontier technologies

In focus – the smartest building in the United Arab Emirates – the Burj Khalifa, Dubai

As more people are moving into cities, cities need to be more sustainable and efficient in terms of
energy consumption and resource usage, in order to accommodate the needs of every citizen. Buildings
can play a significant role in reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Buildings use about 40 per cent of global energy, 25 per cent of global water, and 40 per cent of
global resources. In the European Union, 75 per cent of the buildings were assessed as energy
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inefficient. Buildings are one of the largest contributors of GHGs, accounting for almost 1/3 of total
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GHG emissions. Improving energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings could have a significant
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impact on city sustainability and environmental performance.

Figure 3: The Burj Khalifa (Source)

Inaugurated in 2010, the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, is located in Dubai in the United
Arab Emirates. In an effort to also become one of the smartest and most sustainable buildings, the
Burj Khalifa has implemented an automated system and IoT-based intelligent platform to monitor the
building in real time, including the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system and the use
of algorithms to identify and analyse suspected issues and maintenance problems.

16 Accelerating city transformation using frontier technologies | A U4SSC deliverable