Emrill Energy Services launched up to tackle carbon emissions

Newly launched Emrill Energy Services aims to retrofit both commercial and residential buildings in the UAE and help reduce carbon emissions by 40 per cent.

With average UAE consumers using a massive 16 tonnes of oil per person per year, the facilities management specialist Emrill and two of the world's biggest energy efficiency companies are attempting to reduce carbon emissions from UAE buildings by 40 per cent.

Emrill Energy Services was launched yesterday as a strategic partnership between Emrill, a joint venture owned by Emaar, Al-Futtaim and Carillion. Crowley Carbon, based in Ireland, and Carillion Energy Services (CES), based in the United Kingdom, are also involved.

The company hopes to retrofit commercial and residential buildings to reduce some of the US$6 billion (Dh22.03bn) a year the UAE spends on gas and oil.

The new venture will be owned by Emrill, with Crowley and CES acting as strategic partners.

At a launch in Dubai yesterday, company officials said the UAE was the third-biggest energy consumer per head in the world, ranking behind Qatar and Trinidad & Tobago. The United States ranked ninth.

In terms of carbon, it said the UAE produces 22.6 tonnes of CO2 per head per year, making it the sixth-highest carbon consuming country in the world. The UAE, it said, uses 50 per cent more energy per head than the United States.

The company added that according to the International Energy Agency, the UAE subsidises every man, woman and child in the country by $2,500 - the second-highest subsidy in the world behind Kuwait.

"The UAE is now consuming 15 per cent more electricity [produced by gas] than it produces," said Norman Crowley, the chairman of Crowley Carbon. "The world is moving towards some sort of carbon levy and away from subsidies, especially if some sort of Kyoto protocol is agreed. Countries can't afford to keep subsidising energy and so we need to start finding smart ways of using less of it."

He said that electricity prices in Dubai rose from about 33 fils per kilowatt hour last year to about 43 fils per kilowatt hour this year.

"Emrill currently manages 302 million square feet of buildings in the UAE," added Mr Crowley. "Last year, Crowley Carbon saved around 60 clients including Vodafone, Pfizer and the British ministry of defence more than Dh100m through energy saving techniques which include providing more efficient chillers, installing lighting systems which last 35 years without having to change bulbs and water boilers which are seven times more efficient than normal ones."

The announcement comes as Dubai prepares to host the FM Expo today alongside The Big 5, Middle East Concrete and PMV Live.