ABU DHABI // Many buildings in the emirate waste energy used for air conditioning simply because they "leak," officials and consultants said yesterday.
A government proposal to reduce energy consumption would send staff into existing buildings to conduct energy audits. The "Comprehensive Cooling Plan" must still be approved by leadership, but if it goes forward those auditors would search for inefficiencies in air conditioning systems and check for wasteful policies like keeping the building the same temperature all year round.
"There's so much wasted energy," said Edwin Young, a programme adviser for Estidama, the Urban Planning Council's sustainability programme.
One challenge is buildings where windows and doors were not sealed properly during construction.
Simon Clouston, the director of sustainability and energy at WSP Middle East, said auditors can address the problem by pumping non-toxic smoke through a building.
"You can literally see where it leaks," Mr Clouston said. "It's usually around the edges of doors, windows ... and then it's about going around and sealing those gaps."
Other modifications include switching old light bulbs for more efficient technology and installing shading outside windows, said Holley Chant, director of sustainability at KEO International Consultants.
Another measure auditors can take is making sure building staff understand how to operate their temperature control systems. "We did an energy audit at a big hospital in Abu Dhabi last year which had quite good building control systems ... but because the operators didn't understand them, they didn't use them," Mr Clouston said.
Ms Chant said staff sometimes override energy-efficient control systems "because the direction books aren't in their language".
Other energy-saving modifications, like glazing windows or installing better installation, are barely visible, said Rahim O'Neill, an associate planner for Estidama. "You don't see these changes, although it's having a dramatic impact."
Finally, officials can reduce energy consumption by encouraging building owners and residents to make behavioural changes, Mr Young said.
vnereim@thenational.ae
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Visit Abu Dhabi culinary team's top Emirati restaurants in Abu Dhabi
Yadoo’s House Restaurant & Cafe
For the karak and Yoodo's house platter with includes eggs, balaleet, khamir and chebab bread.
Golden Dallah
For the cappuccino, luqaimat and aseeda.
Al Mrzab Restaurant
For the shrimp murabian and Kuwaiti options including Kuwaiti machboos with kebab and spicy sauce.
Al Derwaza
For the fish hubul, regag bread, biryani and special seafood soup.
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
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- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Countdown to Zero exhibition will show how disease can be beaten
Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, an international multimedia exhibition created by the American Museum of National History in collaboration with The Carter Center, will open in Abu Dhabi a month before Reaching the Last Mile.
Opening on October 15 and running until November 15, the free exhibition opens at The Galleria mall on Al Maryah Island, and has already been seen at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta, the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
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