Empower registers 30% increase in hotel customers for district cooling services

Empower registers 30% increase in hotel customers for district cooling services

Bin Shafar: “District cooling helps DTCM achieve goal of reducing carbon footprint of Dubai hotels”

Dubai, UAE, 15th May 2012: On the occasion of The Hotel Show 2012, the specialized exhibition in the hospitality industry in the region being held from 15 to 17 May at Dubai World Trade Centre, Emirates Central Cooling Systems Corporation (Empower) has announced that it registered a 30% growth in hotel customers at end of April 2012, compared to same period of last year.

The company called for greater awareness to implement District Cooling (DC) by hotels in the region, as this will bring benefits to hotels themselves, their customers and the entire society and economy.

Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower said: “We support specialized exhibitions like this one in order to spread awareness on DC to hotels. To date, 26 hotels in Dubai use DC services from Empower. We are optimistic that more hotels will move towards this emerging technology which offers great advantages over conventional cooling offerings. While considering the growth rate of hotel rooms in the UAE during this period, Empower’s growth in the segment exceeds the hotel industry rate.”

Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce (DTCM) has mandated that all hotels must reduce their carbon footprint and opt for environment friendly amenities and supplies. This is where DC fits in, according to Bin Shafar.

He emphasised that DC is ideal for hotels as it is environment-friendly, cost-effective and hassle-free. It helps save on cost of cooling, maintenance, installation and capital expenditure.

Bin Shafar added: “The current market tendencies give more room to adopt DC technology for hotel buildings, especially where initial capital investment is a deciding factor. District Cooling saves the customer from investment on plant room, chillers and equipments, water tanks, cooling towers, sub stations, additional drainage facilities, civil structure, cabling works, control and instrumentation, additional space, manpower requirements and maintenance. This will enable hotel financiers to divert more initial funds to other areas of the venture.”

Demand for district cooling has been increasing rapidly in the last decade. In the UAE, it was first used in the 1970s at the Dubai International Airport. It began to be adopted commercially in 1998 with the real estate boom in the country. The adoption rate in this technology has remarkably increased in the past five years especially amongst large scale projects.

In Dubai, residents are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of using district cooling system as an alternative to conventional AC system, leading to energy saving and environment conservation, as well as lower operations and maintenance costs.

District Cooling Technology provides all the benefits of out-sourcing the technology and facilities instead of bearing its establishment cost. The quality of cooling from a DC plant is ideal for the ambience of hotels. More hotels are expected to receive cooling from Empower’s DC plants in 2012.

The Hotel Show is gathering over 14,800 hospitality professionals for 3 days of intensive business networking, industry awards, conferences and hospitality functions. With its proven track record of delivery, spanning 13 years. The Hotel Show is the largest hospitality supplies event for the Middle East and North Africa region.