Go green and save money

Green buildings are not only eco-friendly, but budget friendly as well, say Dubai-based experts at the UAE's First International Green Building Conference.

Last updated: May 12, 2005 | 01:00

By Mildred Fernandes, Special to Gulf News

1 MIN READ

The popular perception is green buildings are far more expensive than conventional ones. Not so, say Dubai-based and international experts who gathered for the UAE's First International Green Building Conference

Mario Seneviratne, director, Green Technologies.

The assembled experts, representing the UAE, the Middle East, the Americas, Europe and Australia, presented energy-efficient ideas and technologies as diverse as their points of origin, but all focused on one thing: that green buildings are affordable.

The Madinat Jumeirah is a good example of a green complex in Dubai.

Cost factor

The Al Maha Resort uses solar power to pump, heat and treat water.

A Groundswell of Green

Green Building Council

The two-day conference also yielded a major milestone for the fledgling green building movement in the UAE: the formation of a local Green Building Council.

Interested professionals from the construction, engineering, design, maintenance and related sectors signed up on the spot to be part of the body, which will act as a resource bank of and eventually establish guidelines for green development in the country.

"We need to

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