New Initiative To Boost Old Buildings' Efficiency

Abu Dhabi: A continuing 13-year initiative is set to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings across the capital by 30 per cent, senior officials announced on the sidelines of the World Future Energy Summit on Wednesday.

The project, which started last March, aims to increase the efficiency of existing cooling and lighting systems in over 2,700 buildings in Abu Dhabi city, as well as decrease energy loss and retrofit other energy-consuming elements.

It is being undertaken by the Municipality of Abu Dhabi City, in association with Masdar and energy solutions provider Schneider Electric.

As part of the pilot phase, power and water consumption is being studied in 71 buildings located in sector E3 of the city, said Khalfan Sultan Al Nuaimi, division director of construction permits at the municipality.

Conservation measures

"Once this study is completed in March we will look to implement conservation measures in these buildings, and then monitor consumption performance until 2013," the official said.

Based on the performance results collected till 2013, the initiative will then be expanded in 2014 to cover all existing buildings in Abu Dhabi city over the next decade, Al Nuaimi added. Details on the expected level of cost savings in water and electricity bills were however not announced.

But officials said key findings have already been made as part of the study into Sector E3, which is the area bounded by Hamdan Street, Electra Street, Airport Road and Najda Street.

The neighbourhood includes a dense mix of residential units, offices, mosques, schools and hospitals, many of which were built about two decades ago.

"For example, we have found that cooling systems in many of the area's buildings perform at lower than optimum levels due to worn out parts and dated control technologies," Claudiu Iarca, project manager at Schneider Electric, told Gulf News.

Minimising use

"While it will be harder to make changes to structural elements of these older buildings such as the wall insulation, other steps like using more energy-efficient lighting fixtures can go a long way in minimising energy use," he said.

As these findings are translated into recommendations to be implemented in Sector E3 later this year, municipal officials will also reach out to tenants and building users to stress on behaviours that minimise water and power consumption.Source: Gulf News