DUBAI // Workers in Dubai's Knowledge Village are being encouraged to turn down the air conditioning to help the environment. Employees at businesses in the free zone, which include universities, restaurants and clinics, are being asked to help combat global warming by ditching their suits for light summer clothes so that office temperatures can rise. A spokesman for TECOM Investments, which owns Knowledge Village, said the company was following the example of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, whose Cool UN initiative aims to help cut the organisation's carbon footprint by reducing its air conditioning output by 2°C and shutting it down entirely over the weekend.
The project, which ran throughout August at the UN headquarters in New York, reduced carbon dioxide emissions by about 300 tonnes and saved an estimated US$100,000 (Dh367,000). Dr Ayoub Kazim, the executive director of Dubai Knowledge Village and Dubai International Academic City, said this was the latest in a series of environmentally friendly initiatives carried out on the campus. These include the installation of solar energy cells and cutting the use of halogen lamps, a move that is estimated to save an estimated 174 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.
"We hope our efforts will not only have a sustainable impact on our immediate surroundings but also motivate others to emulate our example," he said. "Dubai Knowledge Village continues to launch initiatives that aim to safeguard the environment. Employees [and] our business partners are encouraged to be part of our mission to save energy by wearing light clothing instead of suits and turning up the thermostat by two degrees."
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