MoCCAE hosts innovative ‘Clean Cold’ workshop in Dubai

DUBAI, 9th April, 2018 (WAM) -- The Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, MoCCAE, today hosted a ‘clean cool’ workshop exploring ways of meeting the country’s rapidly rising demand for air-conditioning with more sustainable cooling technologies. The event was co-hosted with the EU GCC Clean Energy Technology Network and the University of Birmingham in partnership with the Heriot-Watt University. A number of experts from both the UAE and Europe attended the workshop to discuss the opportunities from a wide range of emerging low-carbon cooling systems and examine how to cooperate in accelerating their deployment. Welcoming the participants, Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said, "There are few regions that appreciate the value of cooling more than this part of the world, where summer temperatures soar to over 45C. Around two-thirds of the UAE’s energy consumption in summer months comes from air-conditioning. As the economy grows and the impacts of climate change start taking hold, the UAE urgently needs to find ways to reconcile its fast-growing cooling demand and its environmental goals." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, projects expects that global air conditioning-related energy demand will grow 33-fold by 2100 to more than 10,000 terawatt-hours, equivalent to roughly half the total electricity generated worldwide in 2010. It is estimated that by the middle of this century, the world will be consuming more energy for cooling than heating. Unless clean and sustainable cooling solutions are rolled out, this may cause unacceptable levels of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. The EU Ambassador Patrizio Fondi also welcomed the participants and said, "The European Commission recognises that cooling has been under-represented in energy policy, compared to heat, power and transport, and hence, took a first step with the launch of its Heating and Cooling Strategy in February 2016." While the UAE is leading the world in deploying district cooling systems in cities, a growing number of emerging technologies that enable thermal cooling are being developed and trialed around the world. These range from solar absorption chillers that convert the sun’s heat directly into cooling, the novel use of ice to provide controlled off-grid refrigeration, and cryogenic expansion engines driven by liquid air or nitrogen, which deliver distributed clean cold and power to vehicles and buildings. Findings and recommendations from the workshop will form an important step to help develop new cooling solutions across the region as well as to establish an EU-UAE partnership for academic and industry collaborations to help demonstrate and disseminate these technologies