Dubai: As part of celebrations for World Environment Day (June 5), Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) organised several virtual activities on Saturday.
There was also a planting of the local Ghaf trees, led by Dewa CEO and Managing Director Saeed Mohammad Al Tayer, and senior Dewa officials.
The virtual sessions witnessed the participation of government and private organisations to raise awareness on preserving natural resources. Dewa also organised internal awareness sessions in cooperation with Dubai Municipality to educate staff on the wildlife and local environment. Additionally, Dewa organised interactive virtual tours within its Innovation Centre to highlight its role in promoting innovation in clean technologies that provide clean and sustainable energy.
Call for conservation
Dewa urged individuals and public and private organisations to adopt a responsible and sustainable lifestyle and make smart decisions to reduce their carbon footprint, such as installing solar panels, using electric vehicles, and planting ghaf trees that are suitable for the UAE’s environment. The ghaf can survive in harsh environmental conditions and has several environmental benefits, including absorbing carbon emissions to mitigate climate change.
Clean energy push
Al Tayer said: “Dewa promotes sustainability across all environmental, social, and economic aspects and providing a sustainable model for saving energy and water and supporting a low carbon economy. This supports the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050, to provide 75 per cent of Dubai’s total power capacity from clean energy sources by 2050, and realise the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030.”
Saving water
He added: “As part of our efforts to raise energy efficiency, we have implemented several initiatives, which have improved the efficiency by 33.41 per cent, equivalent to a reduction of 64.69 million tonnes of carbon dioxide between 2007 and 2020.
“Dewa has a well-defined strategy to produce 100 per cent of desalinated water by a mix of clean energy that uses both renewable energy and waste heat by 2030. This will allow Dubai to exceed global targets for using clean energy to desalinate water. Dewa also manages the disposal of wastewater from power and desalination plants, and re-uses treated wastewater. In 2020, Dewa reused 98 per cent of the total recoverable wastewater in the Jebel Ali Power Plant and Desalination Complex.”
Huge gains
The conservation programmes and initiatives launched by Dewa have achieved cumulative savings of 2.44 terrawatthours (TWh) of electricity and 6.7 billion gallons of water between 2011 and 2020. This is equivalent to saving Dh1.35 billion and reducing 1.22 million tonnes of carbon emissions, said Khawla Al Mehairi, Executive Vice-President of Strategy and Government Communications at Dewa.
