Dubai Municipality, which is a member of the Supreme Council of Energy, is to reduce its dependency on traditional non-renewable energy, as it moves to more environmentally friendly ways of powering the growing country.
The municipality, which is charged with the maintenance of facilities and management of services in Dubai, aims to cut the amount of electricity it uses over the next five years by harnessing the power of the sun.
Solar power in particular is seen as instrumental in powering the country in the foreseeable future, and will be used to light up, for example, parks and public spaces.
These changes form part of a wider strategy to make the emirate more sustainable, especially seeing as it is expanding in terms of economic productivity and population growth, with many professionals from around the world moving to Dubai for career opportunities.
Other initiatives include reducing the amount of water consumed by 20 per cent by 2017 and retrofitting existing buildings with state-of-the-art systems that will help them reduce the amount of energy they use.
Later this year, Dubai will host the World Energy Forum. It is the first time that the summit has been held outside of the United Nations headquarters in New York.
Dubai beat off stiff competition because of its impressive commitment to being an environmentally friendly region, on top of its increasingly important geographical location and its “status as a global hub” for tourism, trade, finance and business.
“The UAE has recently unveiled an ambitious initiative that lays the foundations for a green economy,” Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and leader of Dubai, commented.
“This initiative underlines our country’s firm commitment to maintaining a sustainable environment while focusing on long-term economic growth. As we seek to participate in leading the world in its mission towards greener economies, we in the UAE look forward to hosting the World Energy Forum 2012 in Dubai this October.”
The United Nations describes 2012 as the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All.

Dubai sees power consumption grow

Solar power has become even more important after Dubai has seen a significant jump in the amount of power the emirate consumes in the second quarter of 2012, compared to the same period in 2011.
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) revealed that the use of power went up by 3.8 per cent, indicating that with significant economic growth taking place in the country, the demand placed on its energy sector is increasing.
“Our main focus at DEWA is to continue improving our production, distribution, and transmission capacity to strengthen the infrastructure and meet the growing demand of all sectors on electricity and water,” commented Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, managing director and chief executive officer at Dewa.
He explained that the emirate was committed to developing its infrastructure to match the growing energy needs of its people and businesses, which will help to further strengthen its position as one of the definitive centres for finance, business and tourism.
Construction work is currently underway at 26 of Dubai’s main substations to make ensure its supply matches demand.
Information correct at the time of publishing.
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