Rise in demand in Dubai attributed to increase in awareness about district cooling as an alternative to conventional AC systems.

Empower has announced expansion plans to meet the rising demand for district cooling. The plans include bidding for more projects which want to benefit from the advantages offered by district cooling, including its environment-friendly features.

Ahmad Al Shafar, CEO of Empower

According to Empower, the announcement comes at a time when the total square footage committed to district cooling provided by it has reached 40 million square feet, covering 80 buildings in 2009, as the demand for district cooling has increased rapidly in the last decade.

In this context, Ahmad Al Shafar, CEO of Empower, said: “We succeeded in building world-class district cooling infrastructure that is considered an ideal economic and environmental solution for residential and commercial units, offices and hotels.

In Dubai, residential units are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of using district cooling system as an alternative to conventional AC systems, leading to energy saving and environment conservation, as well as lower operations and maintenance costs. This is in sharp contrast to lower awareness of its importance in other parts of the Middle East.”