ASHRAE DC Design Manual was expected to be approved

An official delegation of Empower, the district cooling service provider, participated at the American ASHRAE conference held between 26 and 30 January in Dallas, Texas, Empower announced. It was expected that the first District Cooling Design Manual would be approved on the second day of the conference (January 27) through voting by members of the technical committee of ASHRAE, in the presence of the chairman of ASHRAE and Ahmed bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, the announcement added, and highlighted that Empower was the only company sponsoring the international manual. The official launch of the manual would reportedly take place on the sidelines of the conference.

According to Empower, the company’s delegation was headed by Bin Shafar and comprised Tariq Al Yasi, Chief Operations and Maintenance Officer; Mohamed Kahoor, Director of Business Support Services; and Moustapha Assayed, Senior Engineering Manager.

Bin Shafar said that Empower’s participation in this year’s conference had special significance as the UAE was the only country in the world that was sponsoring the release of the manual as the global reference for air conditioning and heating designs. Bin Shafar added that Empower had funded all the studies and research done for the document, making it accessible to specialists in air conditioning and heating in the world.

Bin Shafar said that he believed the Gulf region was well qualified to lead the world’s district cooling industry as it had high usage of air conditioning throughout the year, unlike western countries where air conditioning was seasonally used. Bin Shafar added that Empower was the exclusive company to review the manual and emphasised that that it was a matter of pride for Empower to be the only district cooling company that was contributing in the fruition of the project. He further explained that participation in such an international event was driven by Empower’s strategy to adopt latest solutions and technologies in district cooling, and pointed out that the global district cooling industry looked at Empower as a key player and regarded the regional district cooling industry as a mature segment committed to raising standards.

The Gulf region had the financial and human resources to present itself as a key player in the district cooling industry in the world, Bin Shafar concluded.