DTCM implements carbon reduction initiative

The inaugural workshop held at the Tamani Hotel Dubai Marina, was attended by Engineer Hassan Makki, Director of Waste Management Department and head of the 'Clean up the World' team, who joined delegates including engineers, PR executives and other senior management from more than 35 Dubai hotels.

Shaikha Ebrahim Al Mutawa Director Environmental Committee CO2 Reduction Programme, remarked, "The DTCM is committed to a sustainable future for tourism in the Emirate and is actively engaging with the tourism community to promote and expand its environmental initiatives. Dubai hotels must reduce their carbon emissions by 20% by 2011.

We aim to create a close working partnership not only with the hotels but also their energy providers. Detailed brochures have been distributed to all hotels and hotel/apartments in Dubai, clearly outlining our objectives." she added.

According to Farnek Avireal a leading facilities management company, Dubai hotels still lag behind their counterparts in Europe, where the average hotel produces 3,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum. In Dubai that figure is 6,500 tonnes.

The size of the carbon footprint produced by all 300 hotels in Dubai is around 500 million kilos a year. "That is equivalent to 60,000 round-trip flights between Dubai and London," stated Markus Oberlin, General Manager of Avireal Middle East.

Through the carbon reduction programme, participating hotels will learn how benchmarking performances will be reported on 'Hotel Optimiser' - a web-based software developed by Farnek Avireal. The software generates monthly reports with a plausibility check that will immediately recognise any abnormal deviation. Hotels can then be graded, based on their size, facilities and occupancy levels so that a like-with-like comparison can be made.

During the subsequent workshops and ongoing onsite energy audits, engineers and energy providers will be shown where and how they can make savings as a consequence of poor maintenance or simple wastage. Energy-saving technology will also be used to demonstrate how hotels can reduce their consumption levels.

"We have made a series of presentations to key hotel executives to outline exactly how this initiative will work. Reduced carbon emissions mean lower energy costs, so there is clearly a financial incentive as well as an environmental one for all stakeholders including in-house guests and the residents of Dubai," commented Oberlin.

Further presentations were made by Schweyher Solar, who addressed the case for solar energy in hotels and Phillippe Torrin of Movenpick Hotels and Resorts, who presented a case study on his own experience of using 'Hotel Optimiser'.

"We have been using 'Hotel Optimiser' at more than 20 Movenpick locations throughout the region. Although we are still monitoring our consumption, we are confident that we have saved an enormous amount of energy and water, savings which go straight to the bottom line," said Torrin.

All participating hotels will receive a certificate from the DTCM to acknowledge that they care for the environment.

"That will undoubtedly attract guests with a similar environmental conscience,"

said Al Mutawa.