Page 68 - magazine June 2021

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HOW SMART LIGHTING CONTROL SYSTEMS CAN combining sustainability and innovation to optimize gives way to predictive maintenance and intelligent

HELP TO ACHIEVE THE CITIES OF THE FUTURE consumption, achieving lower costs and reducing the optimization of energy use.

CO2 emissions. In this way, it saves 110,000 MWh In short, I believe in the importance that governments

per year and avoids the emission of 33,000 tons of allocate part of their budget to the public lighting as

By Pablo Alvarez, ACCIONA Business Development Director for the Energy Services

CO2 into the atmosphere. part of the smart cities target, especially given the

Monitoring the energy consumption - from design current situation: 10% of the 300 million of light points

sustaining economic growth. The country has also to commissioning of the instruments necessary to that exist in the streets worldwide are LED and only 2%

launched ‘The Climate Project’ in cooperation with control the different parameters – is also possible, as are connected. Replacing the old lighting system with

the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International well as remote management and control in real time - energy efficient alternatives will result in significant

Cooperation and the International Renewable Energy to analyze deviations from the benchmark indicators cost savings and reduction in CO2 emissions. At the

Agency (IRENA), headquartered in Abu Dhabi. - or verification and savings measures. end of the day, it should not be forgotten that energy

As the UAE’s economic wheel-turner is its fast- In addition, through our Innovation team, we have efficient cities are the cities of the future.

paced infrastructure development, legislations to managed to incorporate into the Control Center the And talking about the UAE, if you look back at its

Global climate change and its impact on our planet is ensure and promote green construction is crucial most advanced data collection and management climate mitigation and sustainable initiatives in the

no more a conspiracy theory. It is a known fact that if for it to achieve its sustainability targets. Sustainable technologies- through Big Data and Machine Learning last ten years, it is clear that this relatively young

global temperatures continue to rise and greenhouse urban development has been at the heart of UAE’s - by developing prediction algorithms and new data country, which rapidly rose from the barren desert, is

gas emissions produced by human activities keep development agenda and here is where the energy management systems. In this way, classic monitoring headed in the right direction.

increasing at the current level, the Earth will eventually management, as part of the “smart cities” concept,

become uninhabitable. should be taking into account.

Energy efficiency has positioned itself, in recent years, Street lighting and the generalization of the use of LED

as one of the priority objectives on the government lights (light-emitting diode) - among other technological

agendas around the world. Not only because of the advances - also play a key role in the transformation

impact that this has on the carbon footprint, but also of smart cities, going from the current energy model

because it implies considerable economic savings. towards an intelligent resources management. In

As a country that has pursued iconic infrastructure this way, there is greater energy efficiency resulting

development projects in the last decades, the UAE from the reduction of energy consumption, the smart

has but shown enormous political will and vision to control of street lighting and the reduction in carbon

embrace a sustainable future and accelerate action emissions. Having a centralized management through

to mitigate the carbon footprint. smart lighting control& monitoring system is key in

In 2005, the UAE ratified the Kyoto Protocol to the the energy management.

UN Convention on Climate Change, becoming one Energy management allows both the public and the

of the first major oil-producing countries to do so. In private sectors to monitor their energy consumption,

solidarity with the efforts to reduce global warming, detect and solve possible incidents or inefficiencies

the UAE has pledged to reduce carbon emissions by in consumption, change the color temperature and

a quarter by 2030. brightness, while achieving substantial savings.

The UAE Vision 2021, the UAE Centennial 2071, the However, the benefits go beyond personal profitability,

UAE Energy Strategy 2050, and the National Climate since it also favors the energy transition towards a

Change Plan 2050 announced by the UAE cabinet in low-carbon economy.

2017 aims to consolidate its efforts in promoting clean Our Digital Energy Services Control Center, monitors

energy by managing greenhouse emissions while and optimizes more than 3,000 GWh per year,

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