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^{SOURCE: Gulfnews © Al Nisr Publishing LLC 2007. All rights reserved.}

Dubai: Emirates Central Cooling Corporation (Empower), the largest district cooling service provider in the region and a joint venture between Tecom Investments and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, said it has signed a contract with Vanderweil Engineers to carry out the design and supervision of the distribution pipeline network for its district cooling plant at The Lagoons project.

The contract was signed by Ahmad Bin Shafar, CEO of Empower, and Garen Demirchian, managing principal of Vanderweil Engineers.

The district cooling plant will provide 300,000 refrigeration tonnes (RT) to the 70 million square foot waterfront project, The Lagoons, which is being developed by Sama Dubai in an area adjacent to the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary.

Protection of the environment is a key component of the development, which will encompass a number of parks and green belts, and will feature reduced density housing and building heights in the ecologically sensitive buffer zone.

Bin Shafar said: "We are committed to supporting energy conservation and environmentally friendly systems and methods as part of our mission to provide energy efficient services for supporting Dubai's economic development."

District cooling systems distribute thermal energy in the form of chilled water from a central source to multiple buildings through a network of underground pipes as an alternative to using one local system for each building, thus generating both economic and environmental benefits.

District cooling can reduce annual CO2 emissions by about one tonne for every tonnne of district cooling refrigeration demand served. The envisioned district cooling potential in the Middle East (cumulative total of 2.9 million tonnes of refrigeration demand by 2015) could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by about 2.8 million tonnes annually.

SOURCE: Gulfnews © Al Nisr Publishing LLC 2007. All rights reserved.