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The scope of this work is limited to the evaluation of the influence of building envelope modification on energy consumption of residential buildings in the hot arid climate of Sharurah City, KSA. This study aims to improve the thermal performance and reduce the energy consumption of residential buildings as a result of the envelope’s ability to decrease thermal transmittance and solar heat gains. This approach can help to reduce the transfer of heat from the external harsh environment, especially direct solar radiation and high outdoor temperatures, to the internal spaces of buildings ( Alaidroos and Krarti, 2015 Al kanani et al., 2017 El-Darwish and Gomaa, 2017). Residential consumption dominates all Saudi operating districts, reaching a maximum of 67% of the total electricity consumption in the Southern Operating District ( Figure 1) where this study is carried out ( ECRA, 2014).Ĭommon knowledge dictates that avoiding heat gain is the first approach in designing building envelopes, especially in the desert climate of KSA. The residential sector in KSA consumes half of the total sold electricity, of which 70% can be attributed to airconditioning systems to be able to maintain acceptable thermal comfort ( SEEC, 2015). Studies that have applied the performance-based design approach in hot climates have illustrated that 37% in annual energy consumption can be achieved when proper envelope systems are implemented ( Al-Saadi and Budaiwi, 2007 Taleb and Sharples, 2011). Nevertheless, studies on energy efficiency in general and energy efficiency in buildings, in particular, have not received much attention in KSA compared with those in similar countries ( Taleb and Sharples, 2011 Al-Tamimi, 2017). The country has a hot arid climate consequently, the rapid development and urbanisation of the construction industry have contributed to a national total electricity demand of 77 GW and a total desalinated water demand of 1,912 million m 3 in 2014 ( ECRA, 2014 GAS, 2019). Independent, 2014 ECRA, 2014), the annual primary energy consumption per capita of KSA has substantially increased from 3.88 to 9.14 MWh, which can be attributed to addressing national needs, especially the growing residential sector. According to the available data for the period between 19 from the Saudi Electricity Company ( EIA. The annual economic growth rate of KSA is 6.8%. It is one of the fastest-growing countries in the world, with a rate exceeding 2.1% ( GAS, 2019 GAStat, 2019). The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has an area of more than 2 million km 2, a population of 34.2 million and a density of 15.3 inhabitants per km 2. In the last few decades, energy-efficient envelope design strategies have increasingly attracted the attention of researchers around the world ( Asfour, 2020). These challenges have encouraged designers and engineers in the region to adopt passive design strategies to reduce energy consumption, thus helping to reduce the negative environmental impacts. The hot desert region is facing destructive environmental impacts, such as global warming, climate change and pollution, due to the rapid use of fossil fuels to generate energy, which is then used to enhance the indoor environment of buildings. The results also indicate that the effective combination of certain strategies can reduce total energy consumption by 35.4% relative to the base case (BC) of this research. In contrast, shading devices and glazing system types were fewer superiors. The simulation results show that thermal insulation can significantly reduce annual energy consumption by as high as 23.6%, followed by green roofs. Varied thermal insulation, different types of glass, shading devices, and green roof were investigated with this perspective. Then, the DesignBuilder simulation program was used to investigate how different modifications of building envelopes could affect the energy consumption of the residential buildings under common scenarios. In support of the aim of this research, the annual electric energy bill of a typical residential building in Sharurah was collected and analyzed. This study aims to assess passive design features through the extensive modifications of building envelopes to affect the energy efficiency of residential buildings in hot arid climates. Architectural Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Najran University, Najran, Saudi Arabia.