ORIGINAL ARTICLE Analysis of energy consumption pattern in Saudi Arabia’ s residential buildings with specific reference to Qassim region Khaled Khodary Esmaeil & Mohammed Saleh Alshitawi & Radwan Abdoulgani Almasri Received: 13 October 2017 /Accepted: 11 June 2019 # Springer Nature B.V. 2019 Abstract Consumption patterns of residential building in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) with specific refer- ence to Qassim region are analysed to establish energy consumption indicators including consumption per dwelling, per capita and per unit area. The average shares of lighting, domestic appliances, water heaters and air conditioning out of total yearly consumption are determined to be 8.5%, 14.7%, 10.3% and 66.5%, re- spectively. Parametric analysis shows that residential energy consumption is insignificantly influenced by the type of building except that villas have somewhat higher consumption during the hot summer season. However, residential energy consumption is consider- ably affected by occupant behaviour, meteorological conditions, as well as the technical conditions of both building envelopes and air conditions setting tempera- ture point. Energy efficiency measures are also discussed, and opportunities for energy saving are pro- posed. Potential energy savings up to 43% in air condi- tioning cooling load could be achieved by applying the KSA standard of envelope insulation. Total residential consumption savings of 3% could also be achieved by using efficient lighting and savings of 11.1% by adjusting the temperature setting point of air condi- tioners to 24 °C instead of 22 °C. Keywords Electrical energy consumption . Residential buildings . Energy efficiency . Opportunities for energy efficiency Introduction Energy consumption in the residential building sector is one of the primary demands for energy worldwide and is significant both economically and environmentally. Sta- tistics from the International Energy Agency (IEA) for 2014 (International Energy Agency IEA n.d.) indicate that the residential sector consumed 2142 Mtoe out of the total worldwide energy demand of 9424 Mtoe (22.7%), as shown in Table 1. The International Energy Outlook 2016 (U.S. Energy Information Administration 2016) stated that worldwide energy consumption in the residential sector is projected to grow by an annual average of 1.4% from 2012 to 2040. Middle Eastern countries accounted for about 6.6% of total world residential energy consumption in 2012, with projected annual growth of about 1.9% until 2040. This increase in residential energy consumption was attributed to higher demand for electrical appli- ances, principally air conditioners. Accordingly, reli- ance on electricity for energy delivered to the residential sector is anticipated to grow from 39% in 2012 to 43% in 2040. Energy Efficiency https://doi.org/10.1007/s12053-019-09806-x K. K. Esmaeil (*) Mechanical Power Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt e-mail: khaledkhodary@yahoo.com e-mail: kh-khodary@qec.edu.sa K. K. Esmaeil : M. S. Alshitawi : R. A. Almasri Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia