Dewa receives students at sustainable building

Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) received, at its Sustainable Building in Al Quoz, students from "Smart Summer 2014,” a summer camp organised by Dubai Educational Zone. The students visited Dewa to learn about its experiences in smart services. The visit is part of Dewa's strategy to support students, develop their skills and prepare them to be future leaders. "The visit is part of Dewa's corporate social responsibility strategy and initiatives to achieve the vision of Dubai Government in the social, economic, and environmental domains, enhance the sustainable development of the U.A.E., and raise awareness among all segments of society,” said Khawla Al Mehairi, VP of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Dewa. "Dewa always supports students to promote learning and development, and upgrade education and of knowledge levels which U.A.E. society is keen to improve during the journey towards progress and development. We also seek to improve students' skills, capabilities, and talents since they'll be the leaders of tomorrow,” added Al Mehairi. During their visit, the students toured Dewa's facilities and learned about working mechanisms at the administrative, operational, and service levels. Dewa officials provided an overview about the smart transformation of Dewa, highlighting the smart services that enable customers to complete their transactions quickly, efficiently and easily. They also presented the three smart initiatives launched by Dewa as part of the Smart Dubai initiative. These include connecting solar energy to houses and buildings, smart applications through smart meters and grids, and electrical-vehicles charging stations. Dewa has completed smart transformation of all its services in less than a year after the smart transformation strategy was announced, enabling 24/7 access to all its services over smart devices. Dewa started adopting smart technologies in 2009 which resulted in launching its smart app with more than 150 services and features, enhancing its smart completion process. Students attended a presentation by the Water and Civil Engineering Sector about the different technologies used in the Sustainable Building, which is the largest government building in the world to receive a Platinum Rating for green buildings from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). The building uses 66 per cent less energy as a result of additional insulation in its walls and roof. Special glass has been installed to reduce heat transfer into the building. This reduces the energy consumed by air conditioning, which also reduces carbon dioxide emissions and saves the environment. Highly-efficient water-cooled chillers cut down energy consumption. In addition, renewable energy is available through an onsite 660 kW solar power plant. The building employs a complete rain-water management plan that ensures recycling of water for irrigation. Special regulators, sensor taps, and low-flow fixtures help reduce water consumption by as much as 48 per cent. All sewage water is treated by a grey water treatment plant and sewage treatment plant. The students expressed their admiration about the way Dewa's operations and processes are managed and praised the awareness campaigns and initiatives related to rational consumption of electricity, water, and the environment. Dewa regularly hosts school and university students, and provides U.A.E. National students with advanced training programmes and scholarships to prepare them for the work field and to meet the challenges of the future.