Onus is on city councils to provide green energy

Abu Dhabi: Since half the world's population lives in urban areas and 50 per cent of all energy generated is consumed in cities, it is up to city councils and officials to ensure energy efficiency and low emission trends, a panel of speakers at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES) 2011 agreed yesterday.

According to the speakers, commercial and residential buildings together generated 50 per cent of all greenhouse gases. As the urban population increases to about 60 per cent by 2030, city councils must set regulatory frameworks to limit energy use.

Susan Roaf, a professor of architectural engineering at the Heriot-Watt University in the UK, said that city councils — rather than federal bodies — had the ability to reduce carbon emissions while also maintaining the standard of living of their citizens.

"City councils have a lot of power and big budgets, and they are also very far-sighted in the plans. Therefore, cities should be the point of intervention and build energy systems for a greener world," Roaf told the audience of academicians and industry professionals who had gathered on the second day of the WFES.

She said that solar power was the renewable energy technology recommended for cities worldwide. In China, the city of Dezhou in Shadong province generated 90 per cent of its electricity by solar energy, Roaf said.

"The next step for these solar cities would probably be to include smart grids and integrated transport systems, along with hydro power and other renewable energies, so that we could achieve fully solar-powered communities," Roaf said.

Global warming

On the panel, experts discussed the risks of global warming and the subsequent increases in sea level. For example, a one-metre rise in sea level could submerge 20 per cent of Bangladesh.

In the UAE, a three-metre sea level rise could submerge 800 square kilometres of land.

To mitigate such effects, the Department of Municipal Affairs (DMA) implemented the Building Code in the emirate of Abu Dhabi at the beginning of 2011.

This code is designed to ensure energy efficiency for buildings, and therefore lower carbon emissions.

"In Abu Dhabi, more efficient use of water and plumbing, as stipulated in the code, ensures lower energy use and therefore carbon emissions because the water used undergoes an energy-intensive desalination process," said Matthew Plumbridge, a consultant in environmental and sustainability planning at the DMA.