Urges Arab real estate developers at Cityscape Global to emulate Dubai by switching to district cooling

According to an announcement by Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower), it has urged Arab real estate developers participating in Cityscape Global 2010, which took place at Dubai World Trade Center to switch to district cooling solutions, following the example of major Dubai-based developers. The event took place from October 4 to 7.

Empower reportedly stressed the importance of district cooling, which according to it is regarded as an ideal and economical solution, to be used in residential areas, businesses and hotels, due to multiple benefits such as reduced operating costs, cheaper maintenance, energy conservation and environment protection.

The report quoted Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, as saying: “The adoption of district cooling in the UAE is gaining great momentum. We are looking forward to the day when we will stop using conventional air conditioning and totally switch to district cooling solutions, especially in the major real estate projects in the UAE.”

Empower said that it is providing district cooling service to a range of projects in Dubai, including Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai Healthcare City, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Business Bay and City Of Arabia.

According to Empower, it is building a district cooling infrastructure in Dubai because the company firmly believes that district cooling has huge potential in the region as an alternative to conventional air conditioning systems.

The operational savings percentage in a residential unit compared to conventional air conditioning technologies ranges between 40% and 45%, empower said.

In this context, it needs to be remembered that Empower was established to provide energy-efficient district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments. Empower, therefore, obviously believes that district cooling service achieves economies of scale by using centralised plants instead of individual cooling units in each building. The centralised system results in lower capital and operating costs, thus reducing air conditioning set-up and energy costs per building, believes Empower.

Nearly 66% of the participants at Cityscape Global were from the UAE, and 12 Arab companies exhibited at the show, the report stated.