Ewec is developing a 2-gigawatt solar power plant in the Abu Dhabi desert with Taqa, Masdar, France's EDF and JinkoPower. Wam
Ewec is developing a 2-gigawatt solar power plant in the Abu Dhabi desert with Taqa, Masdar, France's EDF and JinkoPower. Wam
Ewec is developing a 2-gigawatt solar power plant in the Abu Dhabi desert with Taqa, Masdar, France's EDF and JinkoPower. Wam
Ewec is developing a 2-gigawatt solar power plant in the Abu Dhabi desert with Taqa, Masdar, France's EDF and JinkoPower. Wam

Abu Dhabi's Ewec looks to slash emissions by 50%


Jennifer Gnana
  • English
  • Arabic

Emirates Water and Electricity Company is targeting a 50 per cent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from its power businesses by 2025. The utilities company also plans to increase investment in desalination projects with less energy impact to meet growing demand.

The recommendations, approved by the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy, set forecasts for water and electricity demand for six years until 2027, in addition to suggestions for an increase in future production capacity.

"Our strategic decisions to date, and strategic recommendations for the future, show that increasing investments in renewable energy projects will allow us to make a very significant impact in changing the energy sector and prioritising renewable production technologies," said Ewec chief executive Othman Al Ali.

Investments in solar photovoltaic projects, nuclear energy and reverse osmosis-based desalination, will lower emissions to 20 million tonnes by 2025 from over 40 million tonnes last year.

Ewec, which is part of ADQ holding company has been gradually lowering its carbon impact. The company's average carbon dioxide intensity from power generation fell 15 per cent to 350 grams per kilowatt-hour in 2018 from 412 grams/kWh in 2015 due to the commissioning of new energy-efficient plants.

The plan also recommends increasing Ewec's reverse osmosis desalination capacity.

Reverse osmosis is a membrane-based method of desalination that uses less energy compared with the thermal process used to produce fresh water.

Investments to develop 170 million gallons per day of new membrane-based desalination capacity will be needed to meet existing demand, according to the forecasts.

"Increased investment in RO projects means we can lead the region in decoupling water and electricity generation, using significantly less energy-intensive technology to produce water, reduce carbon emissions, and reduce costs," said Bruce Smith, forecasting and planning director at Ewec.

In February, Ewec invited utility developers to submit bids for a planned 150 million gallon per day desalination plant in Abu Dhabi as part of its efforts to enhance the emirate's clean and sustainable water supply.

The Mirfa 2 reverse osmosis plant will be developed as an independent water project.

The scheme will be located adjacent to the existing Mirfa desalination plant, which began operations in 2017 and accounts for nearly 10 per cent of Abu Dhabi's water supply. The desalination plants are located 110 kilometres west of Abu Dhabi city.

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs

Engine: 6.2-litre V8

Transmission: seven-speed auto

Power: 420 bhp

Torque: 624Nm

Price: from Dh293,200

On sale: now

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Company name: BorrowMe (BorrowMe.com)

Date started: August 2021

Founder: Nour Sabri

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: E-commerce / Marketplace

Size: Two employees

Funding stage: Seed investment

Initial investment: $200,000

Investors: Amr Manaa (director, PwC Middle East) 

BACK%20TO%20ALEXANDRIA
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ETamer%20Ruggli%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarring%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ENadine%20Labaki%2C%20Fanny%20Ardant%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3.5%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
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Landfill in numbers

• Landfill gas is composed of 50 per cent methane

• Methane is 28 times more harmful than Co2 in terms of global warming

• 11 million total tonnes of waste are being generated annually in Abu Dhabi

• 18,000 tonnes per year of hazardous and medical waste is produced in Abu Dhabi emirate per year

• 20,000 litres of cooking oil produced in Abu Dhabi’s cafeterias and restaurants every day is thrown away

• 50 per cent of Abu Dhabi’s waste is from construction and demolition

Poacher
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How to help

Donate towards food and a flight by transferring money to this registered charity's account.

Account name: Dar Al Ber Society

Account Number: 11 530 734

IBAN: AE 9805 000 000 000 11 530 734

Bank Name: Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank

To ensure that your contribution reaches these people, please send the copy of deposit/transfer receipt to: juhi.khan@daralber.ae

Shubh Mangal Saavdhan
Directed by: RS Prasanna
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Bhumi Pednekar

BEACH SOCCER WORLD CUP

Group A

Paraguay
Japan
Switzerland
USA

Group B

Uruguay
Mexico
Italy
Tahiti

Group C

Belarus
UAE
Senegal
Russia

Group D

Brazil
Oman
Portugal
Nigeria

David Haye record

Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4

MATCH INFO

Norwich City 0 Southampton 3 (Ings 49', Armstrong 54', Redmond 79')

THE SIXTH SENSE

Starring: Bruce Willis, Toni Collette, Hayley Joel Osment

Director: M. Night Shyamalan

Rating: 5/5

COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Akeed

Based: Muscat

Launch year: 2018

Number of employees: 40

Sector: Online food delivery

Funding: Raised $3.2m since inception 

BMW M5 specs

Engine: 4.4-litre twin-turbo V-8 petrol enging with additional electric motor

Power: 727hp

Torque: 1,000Nm

Transmission: 8-speed auto

Fuel consumption: 10.6L/100km

On sale: Now

Price: From Dh650,000

Company Profile

Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million

Details

Through Her Lens: The stories behind the photography of Eva Sereny

Forewords by Jacqueline Bisset and Charlotte Rampling, ACC Art Books

Why seagrass matters
  • Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
  • Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
  • Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
  • Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality
Company%20Profile
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Key findings
  • Over a period of seven years, a team of scientists analysed dietary data from 50,000 North American adults.
  • Eating one or two meals a day was associated with a relative decrease in BMI, compared with three meals. Snacks count as a meal. Likewise, participants who ate more than three meals a day experienced an increase in BMI: the more meals a day, the greater the increase. 
  • People who ate breakfast experienced a relative decrease in their BMI compared with “breakfast-skippers”. 
  • Those who turned the eating day on its head to make breakfast the biggest meal of the day, did even better. 
  • But scrapping dinner altogether gave the best results. The study found that the BMI of subjects who had a long overnight fast (of 18 hours or more) decreased when compared even with those who had a medium overnight fast, of between 12 and 17 hours.
Zakat definitions

Zakat: an Arabic word meaning ‘to cleanse’ or ‘purification’.

Nisab: the minimum amount that a Muslim must have before being obliged to pay zakat. Traditionally, the nisab threshold was 87.48 grams of gold, or 612.36 grams of silver. The monetary value of the nisab therefore varies by current prices and currencies.

Zakat Al Mal: the ‘cleansing’ of wealth, as one of the five pillars of Islam; a spiritual duty for all Muslims meeting the ‘nisab’ wealth criteria in a lunar year, to pay 2.5 per cent of their wealth in alms to the deserving and needy.

Zakat Al Fitr: a donation to charity given during Ramadan, before Eid Al Fitr, in the form of food. Every adult Muslim who possesses food in excess of the needs of themselves and their family must pay two qadahs (an old measure just over 2 kilograms) of flour, wheat, barley or rice from each person in a household, as a minimum.

Company profile

Name: Thndr

Started: October 2020

Founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr

Based: Cairo, Egypt

Sector: FinTech

Initial investment: pre-seed of $800,000

Funding stage: series A; $20 million

Investors: Tiger Global, Beco Capital, Prosus Ventures, Y Combinator, Global Ventures, Abdul Latif Jameel, Endure Capital, 4DX Ventures, Plus VC,  Rabacap and MSA Capital

Emergency

Director: Kangana Ranaut

Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry 

Rating: 2/5