Dubai: The civic body on Sunday announced that it has launched an energy efficiency project that will save as much as 20 per cent of electrical consumption within the next three years

To conserve energy, the municipality will replace the lamp posts in beaches, parks and markets with solar-powered ones.

“A dedicated team has been formed to carry out the energy-saving initiatives, and their responsibility includes the implementation of our energy-saving policy, learning best practices, applying modern technical systems and measuring the results of experiments, as well as identifying viable projects that can be used in our programme,” said Eng Juma Khalifa Al Fuqaei, Director of General Maintenance Department at Dubai Municipality.

Once the project is implemented, it will save an estimated total of Dh12,323,000.

Al Fuqaei explained that the energy conservation project focuses on the preservation of non-renewable resources, its rational use and reduction of negative effects such as carbon emission.

“Every three years, the team reviews the results of the previous energy-saving projects and looks at ways to improve them,” he said.

The project has three main aspects which are technical, operational and administrative.

“We will replace 1,100 normal ballasts with electronic ballasts in a number of municipal facilities and 300 timers with astronomical timers, to light up the parking areas in markets,” said Al Fuqaei.

An electrical ballast is a device used to limit the amount of current in an electrical circuit.

“We intend to soon install 61 solar-powered lamp posts in the running tracks of Jumeirah open beach, replace 1,000 lamp posts with solar-powered ones in Al Mushrif and Al Mamzar parks, use ambient cooling in six areas using chillers, and adopt solar energy mechanisms in Al Quoz graveyard for its water heaters,” he said.

He pointed out that the total cost saving through this project is estimated at around Dh400,000 per annum.

As part of Dubai Municipality’s energy-saving project, its eight new projects include replacing regular light bulbs with LED (light-emitting diode) light bulbs in parks, and constructing 10 toilets using solar energy in Naif Souq and other municipal facilities.