Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) | Customers save AED 1.2 billion in water and electricity consumption over the last decade thanks to DEWA conservation programmes

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced that its conservation programmes and initiatives over the past 10 years have achieved significant savings in electricity and water use within various stakeholder groups. Cumulative savings between 2009 and 2018 reached 2 terrawatthours (TWh) of electricity and 7.4 billion gallons of water, equivalent to AED 1.2 billion. These savings were achieved in the residential, commercial, and industrial sectors, educational institutions, governmental and semi-governmental organisations. These savings contributed to reducing one million tonnes of carbon emissions.

HE Saeed Mohammed Al Tayer, MD & CEO of DEWA, praised the results achieved by customers in the different sectors. He emphasised that these savings proved the importance of participation of all customer sectors in conservation efforts to protect the environment. He also commended consumers in the commercial sector who achieved the most savings in electricity and water.

“In line with its vision to become a globally leading sustainable innovative corporation, DEWA adopts an integrated strategy to raise awareness on the importance of rationalising consumption and involving all society members in efforts to protect the environment and preserve natural resources. DEWA’s conservation programmes that it launches throughout the year, include a number of innovative awareness initiatives and activities that target all customer sectors. The aim is to ensure that rational consumption of resources becomes part of the social culture and a daily practice, to encourage society members to adopt a conscious and responsible lifestyle. This supports the UAE’s efforts to protect the environment, preserve its natural resources, and reduce its carbon footprint to achieve the goals of the Dubai Clean Energy Strategy 2050 to make Dubai the city with the lowest carbon footprint in the world; the Carbon Abatement Strategy to reduce carbon emissions by 16% by 2021; and the Demand Side Management Strategy to reduce energy and water use by 30% by 2030,” said Al Tayer.

Over the past decade, savings in the commercial sector amounted to 1.2 TWh of electricity (10%) and 4.3 billion gallons of water (28%). The residential sector achieved savings of 68 gigawatthours (GWh) of electricity (18%) and 500 million gallons of water (27%). The industrial sector achieved savings of 112 GWh of electricity (15%) and 211 million gallons of water (29%). Government and semi-government organisations achieved savings of 426 GWh of electricity (12%) and 1 billion gallons of water (21%). Educational institutions achieved savings of 213 GWh of electricity (10%) and 1.3 billion gallons of water (24%).

These savings are equivalent to an annual electricity consumption from approximately 305,000 apartments and annual water consumption of 241,000 apartments. This has contributed to reducing one million tonnes of carbon emissions equivalent to planting 1.2 million trees and the consumption of 122 million LED lights, while water saving was equivalent to filling up 13,000 Olympic swimming pools.