How to slash your UAE water, power bill by 20%

A UAE-based firm has conducted what it says is the region’s first staff accommodation water and energy audit.

The study was carried out at the facilities management company Farnek’s accommodation centre in Al Quoz, Dubai, which houses over 1,000 employees.

The study estimated that over the course of a year, the staff housing complex consumed 51,000 litres of water and 2,500 kWh of electricity, costing over Dh1.5 million as well as producing 2,190kg of carbon dioxide (CO2).

“Before you can change anything, it has to be measured. Now that we have completed this study, we can benchmark this survey with future annual studies and identify where utility savings can be – and indeed have already been – made,” said Markus Oberlin, CEO, Farnek, who was addressing industry professionals.

“From a commercial perspective we can also now share this information with other companies looking to benchmark the water and energy consumption of their staff housing complexes. On average we should be able to achieve up to 20 per cent savings, representing an overall reduction valued at around Dh300,000 per annum,” he added.

To enable companies to reduce their carbon emissions, and therefore their utility bills, Farnek recommends installing A/C modules and energy-efficient A/C units, timers and LED lights, parking lights, roof insulation, waterless urinals, water tap aerators, reduced flow shower heads and employ economical car and van washes.

“By investing in some or all of these energy and water saving devices, the financial return can be seen in as little as 18 months,” said Oberlin. “Simple but effective awareness campaigns are also vital, such as encouraging staff to turn off lights when leaving a room and closing windows and doors when the A/C is running,” he added.      

The firm has also identified significant potential savings in terms of efficiencies in the area of staff accommodation cleaning, with training and awareness key to achieving those targets.

Having launched the Middle East’s first carbon-free bus, Farnek has also benchmarked its staff transportation operation. Earlier this year, it acquired its own garage to carry out transport maintenance for its 180 vehicles, confident that it can reduce the amount of water and chemicals which were used to wash their vans, when that service was previously outsourced.

It also said in a statement that it is working hard to cut down on the 430 litres of fuel each vehicle consumes on average per year, resulting in annual CO2 emissions totalling 1,750kg.

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.