Emirates Central Cooling (Empower), a leading district cooling service provider, has urged developers taking part in a real estate event in Dubai to accelerate the pace towards green cities in the Middle East.

The three-day Cityscape Global 2011, a premier event for the real estate industry, opened today (September 27) at Dubai International Exhibition and Convention Centre.

Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, said that Dubai paved the way in the region in the use of district cooling technology in new real estate projects.

He called on regional countries to emulate Dubai’s experience in switching from conventional air-conditioning to district cooling systems that are environmentally friendly, with low energy consumption and higher quality to the end user.

Bin Shafar added that the UAE stands at the forefront of countries that are leading the way in establishing green cities with environmentally friendliness criteria.

He added: “Empower's district cooling systems provide effective and efficient means of air conditioning. Water is cooled in central plants and distributed through a network of piping systems to individual customer buildings.”

Empower was established to provide energy-efficient district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments.

District cooling service achieves economies of scale by using centralized plants instead of individual cooling units in each building. The centralized system results in lower capital and operating costs, thus reducing air-conditioning set-up and energy costs per building.

Over 150 exhibitors from 28 countries, including the UK, USA, Malaysia, Turkey, Brazil, Russia and Greece, are taking part in Cityscape Global 2011, as well as regional real estate companies.

Empower is stressing on the importance of district cooling which is regarded an ideal and economical solution to be used in residential areas, businesses and hotels, due to multiple benefits such as reduced operating costs, cheaper maintenance, energy conservation and environment protection. – TradeArabia News Service