Like a “web of initiatives coming from different angles to bring in efficiencies”, the different demand reduction programmes under the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy’s (DSCE’s) Demand Side Management Strategy are helping stimulate the market and create growth in the retrofit sector. Sharing this observation with Climate Control Middle East, Holley Chant, Executive Director for Corporate Sustainability at KEO International Consultants, noted that 2015 saw enormous improvement in the UAE’s energy-conservation efforts. She stressed, however, that there is still a lot that remains to be achieved.

Did she, perhaps, mean that the country still has roadblocks to overcome? “I’d rather call it an undiscovered opportunity than a roadblock,” Chant said in response. “There’s a huge opportunity in the energy-reduction programme on retrofits for the private sector – for companies to become accredited ESCOs, because the government really needs more organisations to get into the venture,” she pointed out.

While acknowledging that ESCO accreditation is not the easiest of certifications to earn, she described the process as a matter of capacity- building – one necessary for the UAE to reach the goals it has set for itself. “Companies have to be willing to invest in skills development for employees, and maybe even look into partnering with other organisations to become accredited,” said Chant. “As I said, it’s an undiscovered opportunity,” she reiterated, and warned, “But if it remains just that, it could easily turn into a roadblock.”

(The writer is the Assistant Editor of Climate Control Middle East.)