SOUTHEAST ASIA BUILDING01 Jul 2019
UAE plans retrofitting existing built environments to achieve national and global carbon emission targets
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The UAE is taking significant steps in this direction. The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy has set the goal of reducing Dubai’s energy demand by 30 percent by 2030, and retrofitting existing buildings is an integral part of the strategy. The Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has invested over US$8 billion to retrofit 30,000 buildings, and once complete, it will secure an expected monetary savings of over US$22.33 billion as well as total savings of one million tonnes of carbon dioxide, 5.6bn imperial gallons of water and 1.7 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity by end-2030. To support the nation in its move towards higher levels of environmental sustainability, the Emirates Green Building Council (EmiratesGBC), an independent forum aimed at conserving the environment by strengthening and promoting green building practices, has rolled out its 2019 Building Retrofit Training (BRT) calendar. This year, there are two types of BRT workshops – an introductory and an advanced course. Conducted in partnership with the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy and Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company), the certification-based training are held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.