Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower.
Empower’s achievement in 2009 of 40 million square foot (3.7 million square metres) of district cooling services, over 80 buildings, has prompted the company to expand its services in 2010, despite the economic downturn.
CEO Ahmad Bin Shafar says the company’s plans include bidding for more projects keen to benefit from district cooling’s environment-friendly features. The operational savings percentage in a residential unit compared with conventional AC technologies ranges between 40% and 45%, he adds.
Demand for district cooling has been increasing rapidly in the last decade. In the UAE, it was pioneered in the 1970s at Dubai International Airport. It started being adopted commercially in 1998 with the subsequent real-estate boom. The adoption rate of this technology has increased remarkably in the past five, years especially among largescale projects, notes Bin Shafar.
“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.
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