Environment & Energy | Thursday 1 June, 2017 4:47 am |

With an aim to promote sustainable development of cities through energy efficiency, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower), the world's largest district cooling services provider, participated in the 3rd Annual Partners Meeting of the ‘Global District Energy in Cities’ initiative by United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), which was held on 30thMay, at United Nations (UN) Environment offices in Paris.

In the presence of Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, the 3rd Annual Partners Meeting focused on ‘Supporting Implementation’ at various cities. In addition, Ahmad Bin Shafar also brought to focus at the meet the ‘Communications Fund’ that will promote an integrated landscape for implementation of district cooling services.

“Empower is committed to enhance and foster the growth of district cooling solutions around the world. As such, we are pleased with our participation in the Annual Partners Meeting for the third time, consecutively. While the meeting was held as an integrated effort to achieve energy efficiency targets, we aim to contribute to climate change agend and improve human well-being by bringing to focus potential areas that ‘support implementation’ of district cooling solutions. The ‘Global District Energy in Cities’ initiative, by UN Environment, not only helps us to join hands with solid foundations for district cooling, but also reinforces our efficiency and environmental standards,” said Ahmad Bin Shafar.

Based on its experience and feedback from participating in and leading the capacity surveys and workshops at cities focused by UN Environment for introducing district cooling, Empower highlighted a list of insights, recommendations and commitments at the Annual Partners Meeting, to improve its strategic direction, operation and resource mobilisation plans for supporting implementation of district cooling solutions in various cities across the world.

Bin Shafar also presented case studies and participated in panel discussions by providing insights on the status of district cooling industry. He also showcased some of the latest best practices adopted in the UAE’s district cooling industry and the routes of empowering the industry globally, in addition to other relevant topics that support expanding the global footprint of district cooling technologies.

“District cooling systems are more than twice as efficient as conventional decentralised chillers and can reduce electricity use significantly during peak demand periods through reduced power consumption and use of thermal storage. It gives us great pleasure to be able to transfer our knowledge to other parts of the world. We are confident that implementing this initiative in developing cities will lead to the development of energy efficient cities with low-carbon footprints,” added Ahmad Bin Shafar.

The Annual Partners Meetings was chaired by UN Environment, which was aimed to review the assessment results of district cooling solutions in countries such as Bosnia, Herzegovina, Chile, China, India, Serbia and Morocco among many others. In addition, the meeting also served as a strategic platform for exchange of knowledge between cities adopting district cooling, outline the overview of the latest activities adopted by the cities for district cooling solutions and discussed the next steps to spread district cooling in more cities across the globe.

The Partners Meeting included panel discussions, technical presentations, round-table, and question-and-answer sessions. It brought together district cooling power professionals from many countries to discuss the latest industry developments.

Empower currently operates more than 1.250 Million RT, providing environmentally responsible district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments such as Jumeirah Group, Business Bay, Jumeirah Beach Residence, Dubai International Financial Centre, Palm Jumeirah, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Ibn Battuta Mall, Discovery Gardens, Dubai Healthcare City, Dubai World trade Centre Residences, Dubai Design District, among others.