Study of residential energy consumption in the Gulf region; Personas reflecting expatriates cooling energy behaviour

Syam, Monaya 2026. Study of residential energy consumption in the Gulf region; Personas reflecting expatriates cooling energy behaviour. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) ranks among the highest electricity per capita consumers globally. Electricity constitutes a share of 94% of the final residential energy consumption, with air conditioning (AC) being the largest end-use (more than 65%) due to the extreme hot climate with temperatures often reaching 50°C. These facts emphasize the need for closely examining electricity use in housing and improving the effectiveness of energy-saving measures. However, effective policymaking requires advanced understanding of actual user behaviours that are representative for the context in question, rather than simplified assumptions of ideal behaviour. A promising approach to capturing this human-centred dimension and embedding it in policymaking is one using personas (Pruitt & Adlin, 2006; B. Jansen et al., 2022). Personas can integrate the multiple attributes of behaviours and their key determinants, rather than focus on specific contributing factors that may motivate but in isolation not lead to energy-effective practices. Up to this date, this approach has not been utilized to advance the understanding of residential electricity use in the UAE or the Gulf region. Understanding residential cooling energy behaviour in the UAE is also challenging because of the population mix, which consists of ~87% of expatriates (non-citizens), whose living conditions are defined by context-specific rental tenure conditions as well as home rent payment systems that are often interlinked with employment arrangements. To address this gap, this study captures and describes the behavioural orientations of expatriates that shape cooling energy use in housing. The research focuses on the city of Al Ain in the UAE and develops five distinct personas that represent the expatriate population in this context, specifically: a) the comfort-seeking user, b) the financially constrained user, c) the cost-aware but habitual, comfort-focused and social norms-influenced user, d) the conservation-oriented user in tenant-constrained housing, and e) the energy-control-limited and system-constrained user. The data collated and analysed for this study originate from 391 responses to an online survey questionnaire (phase I), and 32 semi-structured interviews with expatriate residents (phase II). The descriptive statistics, frequency distributions, crosstabulations and inferential statistics of survey responses using SPSS software provide insights into correlations between key determinants influencing cooling energy, including socio-demographic, financial, occupancy-related, housing and AC system-related factors (phase I). These correlations are further explored through the semi-structured interviews and the thematic analysis of interview transcripts using NVIVO 14 explores the correlations, points to explanations and expands the exploration of cooling energy use behaviours (phase II). The explored recurring behaviours and identified explanations serve as a foundation for developing the five personas, in accordance with relevant established guidelines documented in the literature for that purpose (phase III). The study findings contribute to the understanding of variations in cooling energy use and can inform predictive energy use modelling and future policymaking for energy conservation. This research is filling a research gap, as the methodological approach and its findings are not only relevant to the UAE’s context, but also to the wider Gulf region, considering similarities in terms of population diversity and harsh climatic conditions.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Architecture
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	22 October 2026
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2026 15:55
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/190380

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