The UAE is undertaking several efforts to achieve green economy. Some of them are: aiming to achieve zero flaring of oil and gas, implementing CCS technologies and achieving sustainability in everyday life. Read about more such efforts.
EcoMark Global Accreditation is the sustainability accreditation framework for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). It has been designed to boost the competitiveness of MSMEs in the global green economy by streamlining and standardising the regulatory processes surrounding sustainability benchmarking worldwide.
The EcoMark certification, which is based on ISO standards and is digitally enabled, includes a full suite of resources to help MSMEs attain the EcoMark status. It covers document requirement guidelines and a roadmap to progress from basic to advanced levels of sustainability.
The development of the EcoMark Global Accreditation as an accessible and universally recognised platform will help MSMEs compete in new markets around the world, and meet the growing demand for sustainable products and services.
The ‘Green Industries’ environmental labelling programme launched by Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi involves granting a ‘green’ environmental label to those organisations that comply with environmental regulations. The programme aims to build mutually supportive partnerships to enhance and appreciate industrial facilities’ contribution to environmental protection.
The ‘Green Industries’ environmental labelling programme encourages industrial facilities to find innovative pollution control solutions and apply best environmental practices leading to an increase in environmental compliance levels across all sectors.
The programme will award facilities, a ‘Green Industries’ label based on the following:
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The flaring of natural gas as a by-product of oil production wastes contributes to severe air pollution and GHG emissions.
The UAE has succeeded in reducing flaring of natural gas from the oil and gas industry since the 1990s and its policy is shifting from minimal flaring to zero-tolerance.
Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) group aims to eliminate routine flaring and had reduced flaring by 76.4 per cent in 2013.
Within the ADNOC group, an offshore exploration and production (E&P) company has already achieved zero flaring at its Zakum oilfields for the first time.
Onshore, an ADNOC gas E&P company developed a flare management strategy for its Shah Gas Development Project, with the aim of minimising flaring from well-testing and clean-up operations.
Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) has accumulated knowledge on formulating policies and projects to reduce flaring and has been serving as a partner of the World Bank's Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership since 2009.
To share its advanced experiences of flaring reduction, Abu Dhabi has been hosting the annual Flare Management and Reduction Summit since 2012.
These include various techniques to enhance oil extraction such as enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods that help inject natural gas contained in old reservoirs to add pressure and boost output.
Another technique is carbon capture and storage (CCS) that helps enhance oil recovery and slow down the pace of climate change.
In 2013, ADNOC set up a joint venture with Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar) to implement carbon capture and storage projects by which, 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emitted annually from Emirates Steel's plant will be piped 50 km to onshore oilfields to enhance oil recovery.
Abu Dhabi Ports and Khalifa Industrial Zone (Kizad) announced the launch of construction activities of National Food Product Company (NFPC) in a 752,000-sq metre production facility in Kizad. The factory will be an energy-saving facility and one of the first fully automated one in the world.
The first phase of the NFPC facility with energy and water saving features will comprise a 5-gallon water bottling plant, a dairy, a juice and small water bottling plant under one roof.
The second phase of the project will comprise a fully automated packaging factory producing tailored containers for the food industry, a modern recycling plant to manufacture products using waste materials and the largest fully automated cold store.
Dubai Aluminium (Dubal) and Emirates Aluminium (Emal), which were merged into Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) in 2013, introduced a co-generation and combined cycle configuration in their power stations, achieving 46-48 per cent thermal efficiency.
According to UAE State of Green Economy Report 2014, Dubai's greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity in production was reduced by 12 per cent in five years.
The UAE aims to upgrade infrastructure and make industries sustainable, with increased resource-use efficiency and greater adoption of clean and environmentally sound technologies and industrial processes.
Natural gas is a viable cleaner alternative fuel to gasoline as it produces fewer emissions and the running cost of vehicles is around 30 per cent less.
ADNOC's gas processing and fuel distribution subsidiaries are leading the way to expand the use of the compressed natural gas (CNG) for vehicles by investing in the infrastructure to ensure that there are enough filling stations to support additional demand for such vehicles.
The first phase of the Natural Gas for Vehicles (NGV) project involves the installation of CNG pumps at 16 stations in Abu Dhabi and Al Ain as well as in the emirate of Sharjah, with a capacity to fill 10,000 vehicles per day.
In Dubai, Emirates Gas (EMGAS), an ENOC subsidiary, started an initiative to popularise CNG as an automotive fuel in 2006. Moreover, more than 3,000 public transport vehicles have been adapted to run on CNG.
In addition, a pilot project was conducted with Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) that converted diesel-operated wooden abras (water taxis) running on the Dubai creek to operate on CNG.
In addition, CNG is introduced to fleet users such as Dubai Municipality, DP World, Emirates Group, Transguard and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) among others.
Green diesel
In July 2014, the UAE became the first country in the Middle East to make use of 'green diesel' in all commercial diesel vehicles mandatory. The new Cabinet decree and the updated guidelines from Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) requires replacement of the diesel fuel that contains 500 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur with diesel fuel that contains only 10 ppm similar to Euro 5 standards. This reduction in sulphur levels will significantly reduce particulate matters (PM) and pollutants and contribute to cleaner and healthier environment.
Introducing green service stations
ENOC introduced the first 'green service station' in the Emirates Hills neighbourhood in Dubai. This station applies a variety of state-of-the-art technologies and features including:
The station generates half of its energy requirements from renewable sources as it uses solar-powered pole and light-emitting diode (LED) lights. Diverse sustainable water features have been installed to reduce water use by a quarter.
It uses sensor water taps and two-stage flush systems in the toilets and recycles carwash water while also providing customers the option to use a waterless carwash system with an all-in-one eco-friendly liquid.
Clean fossil fuels
Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is a means of mitigating climate change by capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from large point sources such as power plants and storing it safely underground instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
The potential impact of CCS is huge. The Intergovernmental Panel on climate change expects that CCS could contribute between 10 and 55 per cent of the cumulative worldwide carbon mitigation effort over the next 90 years.
The UAE is developing a major CCS project in Abu Dhabi, which is managed by Al Reyadah: Abu Dhabi Carbon Capture Company. It is the first in a planned series of CCUS projects in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The source of CO2 for this Project is an off stream from Emirates Steel Industries (ESI) factory in Mussafah, UAE.
Demand-side management (DSM) focuses on reducing and optimising energy consumption as an additional option to meet network demand. DSM activities generally comprise a portfolio of policies and programmes for improving energy efficiency and demand response.
At the core of this demand-side approach is the introduction of smart metres that can provide more precise information about energy use and ensure faster responses to changing supply and demand through automatic reconnections.
In Abu Dhabi, the Department of Energy launched a DSM programme defining a holistic energy efficiency strategy that ensures a shift towards the development of a smart grid that will support the future needs of the society.
It has completed an implementation roadmap for the programme and has already made significant progress in rolling out advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) over 400,000 of the existing 680,000 consumer points in the municipalities of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain.
AMI collects consumption data remotely via smart metres, which is validated and transferred through data management systems to its customer billing system.
In Dubai, as the emirate set a target of 30 per cent reduction in energy demand by 2030 as a key objective of the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy 2030, DEWA has developed a DSM roadmap and action plan over the short, medium and long-term to 2030.
These include 8 DSM programmes and 24 initiatives covering all the potential saving areas and include cost-benefit analysis, implementation and financing mechanisms and measurement and verification methodology.
In addition, DEWA replaced conventional metres with 200,000 smart metres all over Dubai.
The UAE is a leader in adopting district cooling systems (DCS) as the preferred alternative to conventional air conditioning. In general, DCS consume 50 per cent less energy than the conventional systems. A number of district cooling utility companies have emerged and more than one in ten residents now use the systems.
In 2010, the UAE Cabinet approved the Green Building and Sustainable Building standards to be applied across the country. Application of these standards started in government buildings early 2011.
The project is expected to save AED 10 billion by 2030 and reduce around 30 per cent of carbon emissions.
Abu Dhabi introduced the five-level Estidama Pearl Rating System. It is mandatory for all new buildings to obtain a one-pearl rating, while all government buildings and residential villas must obtain two pearls.
Dubai introduced the green building regulations containing 79 specifications, which is now mandatory for all developments.
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