Etisalat, the UAE's leading telecom operator has announced record savings through its Emirates Energy Star (EES) program for its customer Higher Colleges of Technology.

The HCT had recorded a savings of 2,431 tonnes of CO2 in four months since implementation, resulting in energy savings of 4,120 Mwh till September 2013. The announcement came during Gitex Technology Week in Dubai.

A leading educational institution in the UAE with a focus on implementing cutting-edge technology, HCT was the first educational institution to implement the EES program in six of its colleges - Abu Dhabi Women’s College, Al Ain Men’s College, Al Ain Women’s College, Dubai Men’s College, Dubai Women’s College and Khalifa City Campus.

The Emirates Energy Star program, launched in partnership with Pacific Controls two years ago, has already registered energy savings of 43.8m Kwh, which has amounted to cash savings of 15.6 m.

Many buildings in the UAE, particularly older office facilities, are extremely energy inefficient and contribute heavily to the UAE’s carbon footprint.

The Emirates Energy Star program involves retrofitting such existing buildingswith machine-to-machine (M2M) sensors and Managed Energy Monitoring Services to help reduce energy consumption and the overall carbon footprint of the UAE.

So far, Etisalat has helped save 5,588 trees by helping enterprises eliminate more than 26,025 tonnes of unnecessary CO2 emissions solely through 24/7 monitoring, streamlining and reducing energy usage of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment in the facilities.  

The EES program aims to reduce 20 per cent energy consumed and 20 per cent of carbon footprint of buildings under its purview in the UAE by 2015. The program is close to achieving this much before deadline as it has already registered 17 per cent average energy savings across all its facilities till now, remarked Saleh Al Abdooli, the chief executive officer of Etisalat (UAE).

“Our early investment in machine-to-machine (M2M) technology has helped reap rich dividends for the country and the sector. The Emirates Energy Star program is one of our initial M2M deployments and its early success is a clear indicator that we are in the right direction," he noted.

“The successful partnership with HCT will help us work in line with the strategic objectives of harnessing the immense potential of this technology to enable smart government and create a smarter ecosystem,” he added.

Dr Tayeb A. Kamali, the vice chancellor, HCT pointed out that joining hands with an integrated solutions provider like Etisalat will help the college take the next step in contributing towards the development of a sustainable future.

"As the first educational institution to adopt the EES program, we hope that our decision to adopt the EES program will serve as an inspiration internally and externally -- to our students and other institutions -- to understand how they can make a difference," he noted.-TradeArabia News Service