Dewa: avoid peak-hour energy rush

DUBAI // Dubai Electricity and Water Authority is asking residents to use their electrical devices outside of peak consumption hours.

In a campaign to reduce carbon emissions the authority, known as Dewa, wants people to limit their use of electricity between noon and 6pm.

“To reach a sustainable environment, we all have to follow a lifestyle that fulfils current demands while ensuring that future generations will be able to fulfil their demands as well,” said Saeed Al Tayer, chief executive of Dewa.

“The Peak-Load campaign has been rolled out to encourage responsible behaviour and shared responsibility among Dewa’s consumers in their homes, offices and factories, in terms of electricity and water consumption, and reduce the threat of global warming.”

The authority has released a list of daily chores that people could save for the morning or evening, including ironing, laundry and turning on the hot water.

Tumble dryers, dishwashers and electric ovens should also be used outside peak hours.

By using their time efficiently, people could contribute to savings in fuel used in power generation, leading to a reduction in harmful emissions.

The biggest user of electricity, air-conditioning, represents as much as 60 per cent of the peak load use, said Dewa.

If people turned their air-conditioning up several notches in peak hours, from 20°C to 24°C, energy consumption would drop considerably, it said.

The campaign, which also urges commercial and industrial users to shift less-critical energy operations from peak to off-peak hours, is being carried out in accordance with the Dubai Integrated Energy Strategy, which aims to reduce energy demand by 30 per cent by 2030.

“The main objective of this campaign is to raise awareness on rational power consumption among residential, industrial and commercial use,” said Amal Koshak, Dewa’s senior manager of marketing communications.

“Rational consumption does not mean that we need to stop using electricity or water. It simply means that we only need to shift non-critical loads to off-peak hours and re-distribute use of high power-consuming devices to off-peak hours.

“If we don’t adopt sustainability in consuming electricity, we will always need to burn more gas to generate more power.

“It is important that all community members participate in the Peak-Load campaign to sustain our natural resources.”