Corporate Vision January 2017

, Empower is the world’s largest district cooling company, with more than 1.2 million Refrigeration Tonnes (RT) served to more than 65,000 customers across 850 buildings in Dubai. The company is a board member for International District Energy Association (IDEA), the century- old global authority of district energy, and the firm is partner to UNEP’s District Energy in Cities initiative. It provides its services to various landmark projects such as Dubai International Financial Centre, Business Bay, Jumeirah Beach Residence and Palm Jumeirah, among others. Samer tells us about the firms last and unique campaign and how this has benefitted both clients and the environment. “The latest and unique campaign Empower launched for the benefit of our end-users as well as the environment was 24 ⁰ C Summer Campaign, which urged our customers to keep their AC thermostat, especially during hot summer months, on 24 degree Celsius. This is the optimum level of indoor comfort which avoids wastage of energy and saves on CO2 emission. The campaign’s outcome was enormous and very much convincing, which marked significant reduction in consumption during the hottest months. Empower runs the campaign every year at our major projects. Looking for Perfection Established in 2003, Empower aims to enable the real estate sector in UAE, to efficiently utilize energy resources through District Cooling Services (DCS). Samer Khoudeir, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer at the firm chats to us about how they provide reliable and cost effective services. As said previously, Empower is partner to UNEP’s District Energy in Cities initiative and recently, HE Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of EMPOWER has been designed in November 2016 by the UNEP as the special advisor on district cooling within the mentioned initiative. In March 2016, Empower was awarded the CSR Label from Dubai Chamber for the second time, in recognition of its corporate social responsibility and sustainability practices. Empower is pioneer in implementing district cooling plants in line with Green Building principles and that follow the guidelines of Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) and Thermal Energy Storage (TES), for their high environmental benefits for everyone involved. Empower has the region’s first and second Green Building DC plants, certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Samer outlines the firm’s mission and what steps they take to ensure their services are satisfying clients. “Our overall mission is to promote sustainable and optimized use of energy resources by delivering reliable, cost-effective and environmentally friendly world- class district cooling services to achieve customer satisfaction, thereby creating long-term shareholder value. Our goal is to grow wider and to promote the district cooling as an efficient tool for a sustainable and optimized use of energy resources. Our services contribute to reducing CO2 emissions. “We operate under the guidelines of our leaders in Dubai, including the UAE Vision, Dubai Vision, and Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy. And we are proud that we currently operate more than 1,200,000 refrigeration tonnes (RT), providing environmentally responsible district cooling services to large-scale real estate developments.” It is imperative to note that Empower employs the right techniques in order to ensure their overall client outcomes are successful. Samer explains more. “We cooperate closely with our customers and we deal with them not as a service provider, but as an advisor/consultant on their project. So we provide both the technical support and the assistance in the decision-making process. It is important to highlight that we have a wide customer portfolio, from apartment-dwellers, buildings, commercial establishments and offices, hotels, medical facilities and hospitals, transportation infrastructure, universities and schools, and retail outlets. We look for perfection, thus we follow up the implementation in all phases from the pacification and decision making, till the investment, infrastructure deployment, and consumption by end-users. We adopt a realistic and proactive approach toward our clients and we offer professional services facilitated by the use of smart facilities and equipment.” Empower plans to continue their growth into 2017. Samer tells us what they have learnt from recent industry changes, as well as what people can expect from their future work. “Our partners are implementing the DCS in projects like Dubai Technology and Media free Zone, the business village, Ghoroob Mirdiff and City of Arabia among many others that require thousands of refrigeration tons. We are proud to witness such growing demand. “At the last 7th edition of the IDEA district cooling conference that we hosted in Dubai we have come along the best practices in the industry, innovations in storage, new criteria in designing plants and clues to optimize the exploitation. We think this has been valuable to all participants; beside it represents a real benchmark that allows all of us to get keys for developing new services and products.” “The overall mission is to promote sustainable and optimized use of energy resources”