UAE urged to save power, water

This summer, it won’t hurt if you put off ironing or washing your clothes in the morning or in the evening. Doing this will not only help decrease consumption of fuel needed for power generation, but will also help lessen the strain human activities cause to the environment. Between noon to 5pm—or the peak load hours—during the summer months, using any electrical appliances and devices will mean that Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) will have to increase its power generation capacity during these hours. Hence, more fuel is consumed and more greenhouse gases are emitted into the air. In order to bust this unnecessary problem, Dewa has launched the ‘Peak Load Campaign’ urging residential and commercial consumers to reduce their high levels of electricity and water consumption during the summer months. “We rolled out the Peak Load Campaign as part of Dubai Government’s environmental strategy to achieve sustainable development and to reinforce Dewa’s role in raising public awareness. Through our current campaign, Dewa aims to encourage responsible behaviour and shared responsibility among our residential consumers in terms of electricity and water consumption and reduce the threat of global warming,” Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, Dewa Managing Director and CEO, said. Limiting the use of home appliances such as electric irons, washing and dryer machines, dishwashers, water heaters, and electric ovens during off-peak hours will contribute greatly to this cause. Air-conditioning systems in homes and establishments account for 60 per cent of the load during peak time consumption. If, for example, residents and companies were to set their ACs from 20C to either 23C or 24C during peak hours, this will result to a reduced energy consumption and lower electricity bills, not to mention saving thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions . The campaign also targets commercial and industrial customers to shift their less-critical energy operations from peak times to off-peak hours.