Leading regional green economy experts and international companies operating in the energy field will highlight the strategic role of district cooling in fighting climate change at an upcoming industry event in Dubai, UAE.

The seventh 'International District Cooling Conference' will be organised from November 13 to15 at Jumeirah Beach Hotel under the theme of ‘A Climate Solution.’

The event will reunite all the elite green experts who will provide the participating companies key insights into the district cooling techniques and green air conditioning, said the event organisers Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower).

The conference will kick off with in-depth talks at a dedicated workshop to the best practices in district cooling system in term of design, operation and optimization, stated Ahmad bin Shafar, the chief executive of Empower.
 
"We promise fruitful three days of knowledge and experience exchanges. We are bringing valuable input from many sectors like design, architecture, engineering, environment and related businesses into the environmental question, to share with all participants and to benefit the local and regional needs in the GCC countries," remarked bin Shafar.

"District cooling technology is very specific topic and we are proud to reunite experts and specialists in a think tank that aims at saving natural resources of the world as far as district cooling is concerned," he added.

The leading industry players at the conference will include Rob Thornton, the president and chief executive of International District Energy Association (Idea); Tim Griffin, chair of Idea and conference general chair; Pablo Izquierdo Lopez and Thomas Bosse of Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence; Anwar Hassan, of Johnson Controls;  Steve Benz of Evaapco; Bob Smith of RMF Engineering; Srinivasan Rangan of Carrier Corporation; Henry Johnstone of GLHN Architects & Engineers; Bernt Andersson of Koma’ge Energy Group; and Mohammed Khan and Gary Hicks of Delta District Cooling Services.

Lopez will detail the contribution of district cooling in the carbon reduction, the role of his organisation and collaboration with Dubai Supreme Council of Energy (DSCE) and the United Nations Development programme (UNDP) in capturing a growing niche market that gets ready for a low-carbon and green economy.

This will be followed by a presentation of “Key Issues in System Design” made by Juan Ontiveros from the University of Texas at Austin.

This in-depth session will introduce the University of Texas at Austin energy model, which is based on keeping fuel at 1976 levels, reducing water consumption, using TSE and TES, recovering water from buildings for plant use and optimizing continually the energy and water control and conservation.

Benz will discuss about the thermal energy storage types, and best practices for optimizing chilled water dispatch; while Henry Johnstone from GLHN Architects & Engineers will address the question of managing Delta T in buildings.

Two sessions are planned for the afternoon with respectively the focus on “the role of controls, metering and the use of tools and data in optimizing performance” and "Leveraging Technology and Innovation” with the impressive experiences of Empower, Johnson Controls and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries from Asia.

The panel discussion will take place the second day of the conference with insights on deployment, operations and business best practices of district cooling as an environmental strategy in support of the Paris Agreement (COP 21).

This will be followed by a discussion on financing district cooling via the system life cycle, moderated by Thornton.

"We are proud to take part at this event which constitutes a leading global gathering of well-known experts and confirmed connoisseurs of the green solutions and of the theme of the conference in particular," stated Thornton.

"I will be moderating several panel discussions and I am happy to meet all the speakers and to get the opportunity to interact with the delegates in order to come up with doable strategies that would help in dealing most efficiently with the energy conservation," he added.

According to him, the district cooling industry is growing rapidly in the Middle East, yet many challenges are faced in managing resources, meeting climate objectives and creating customer value.

This global conference will dive in the local policies adopted globally and regionally as it will feature presentations on the environmental innovations, the design considerations and the applications around the world, stated Thornton.

Practical cases from the Middle East will be discussed on the third day of the conference, with real experiences from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Jordan.

Low Carbon Champion Award will be presented at Idea conference in an effort to recognise outstanding achievement towards reducing CO2 emissions by using district cooling, said the organisers.

This award helps in the transition to a low-carbon and green economy through the consolidation of knowledge by looking to district cooling as an enabler of efficiency and great contributor to CO2 saving and to minimising the impact of climate change, they added.-TradeArabia News Service