Buildings account for a substantial share of global energy demand, and decisions made during conceptual design strongly influence long-term operational consumption. This study presents an open, simulation-derived dataset to support early-stage estimation of residential energy use in a hot–arid context (New Cairo, Egypt). A parametric Rhino/Grasshopper workflow coupled with EnergyPlus was used to generate 12,000 annual simulations. The simulations were produced by systematically sampling key geometric, envelope, glazing, and operational variables, including building dimensions, orientation, window-to-wall ratio, envelope construction options, glazing properties, internal loads (lighting and equipment), and thermostat setpoints. For each case, annual end-use outputs (heating, cooling, lighting, and equipment energy) are reported alongside the corresponding input features, enabling design-space exploration, sensitivity analysis, and the development of surrogate and machine-learning models for rapid decision support. Verification checks and plausibility screening were applied to confirm successful simulation execution and consistent data extraction. In addition, dataset-level sampling diagnostics (marginal balance and correlation screening) are reported to support robust reuse in surrogate and machine-learning studies. The resulting dataset and documentation provide a reusable resource for researchers and practitioners investigating energy-informed residential design under hot-climate boundary conditions.
Wefki et al. (2026) studied this question.