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Dubai: The UAE is drafting new laws that will help slash levels of its carbon emissions, said Minister of Environment and Water Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahd.
Speaking to reporters at the third Greenomics Conference in Dubai yesterday, Bin Fahd said the Environment Ministry is “drafting a law for energy efficiency” amid a sweeping review of Law 24, the UAE’s law to protect the environment.
New tenets in the energy efficient draft legislation would reduce the demand on electricity generating plants and desalination plants and in the process cut the amount of fossil fuels consumed to generate supply.
Bin Fahd said that “80 per cent of our footprint comes from carbon from generating water and electricity.”
He acknowledged that the UAE has one of the highest carbon footprints in the world but attributed it to the fact that “we in the UAE live in a harsh environment.”
One of the first steps in creating energy efficiency will happen in homes and offices across the country when the new legislation bans the sale of new electrical and water appliances that do not meet rigid energy-saving standards.
“It’s going to be the bad ones, the inefficient ones will be taken out of the market, not allowed in the UAE,” Bin Fahd said. “We are moving to a low-carbon economy…energy efficiency is a must.”
Appliances such as dishwashers, washing machines and driers could be expected to save up to 30 per cent more power than existing machines that waste valuable electricity, he said.
Ki Wan Kim, President and CEO of LG Electronics Middle East and Asia, said his company has developed energy-saving appliances for years resulting in machines today that save up to one-third of the electricity compared to their older counterparts.
He noted that one of the newest LG washing machine models “can reduce water [usage] by 30 per cent” and has been approved by the Saudia Arabian government.
Kim said that LG is working to apply the same energy-saving technologies in its refrigerators and air conditioners to help consumers and electricity providers ease demand.
He said that LG, sponsor of the Greenomics Conference, will “invest nearly $18 million into green businesses, including solar cell and next-generation lighting by 2020.