District cooling is designed to be a sustainable system with immense savings for the community and customer alike. A few examples of the savings that district cooling offers is a significant reduction in energy consumption, in fact it consumes around 50% less energy than the conventional cooling systems, such as split and window air conditioners. A reduced demand in power generation means a reduction on the need for natural gas. With less energy consumption comes a decline in the amount of CO2 emissions produced which in turn lessens pollution and provides a positive impact on carbon emissions.
As district cooling removes the need for on-site chillers and other such technology it frees that space, normally situated on the roofs and in basements.
This provides the opportunity for the building owner to utilize this freed space, for roof-top pools or gardens and allows underground/basement parking, all of which benefit the occupants of the building, as well as the surrounding neighborhood. Having a centralized cooling plant as opposed to individual cooling units, per property, allows for cost savings, the cost of maintenance is decreased whilst the reliability of the service increases, it removes the need for regular maintenance and replacement of parts, everything is run from one cooling plant ensuring the end-user receives a clean energy efficient reliable cooling service.
Qatar Cool is the first and remains the largest cooling service provider in Qatar, amongst the top 5 in the world, with over 18 years of experience. Over this time, we have developed and enhanced our technology, expertise, and positive impact on the environment. In 2015 we employed one of our most valuable infrastructural enhancements, by converting our West Bay plants to use Treated Sewage Effluent (TSE) in our cooling plants’ operations. This conversion was a significant change to how we operate and consume natural resources. By making the enhancement we were able to reduce over 6 million m3 of potable/fresh water needed to run our cooling plants.
Operationally, with the built-in sustainable characteristics of district cooling coupled with our innovations from inauguration in 2003, we have contributed substantially to the reduction in environmental impact. Since 2010, the inauguration of our cooling plant on the Pearl Qatar, largest in the world, we have documented the environmental savings generated from our operations. Adding our new cooling plants as they became operational. Over these 11 years, Qatar Cool has achieved a saving of over 2.8 billion KWH, that’s enough energy to power over 10 thousand houses in Qatar for one year. The savings in energy when converted to CO2 is over 1.6 billion tons of emissions reduced. To put this into perspective that is the same as planting over 17 million mature trees, these trees would fit into almost 60 thousand football stadiums, or to look at it another way, it’s comparable to removing over 305 thousand cars off our roads.
Aside from operational sustainability, Qatar Cool has numerous office-based initiatives and programs aimed at waste reduction, recycling, and energy efficiency, to name a few. We also have a comprehensive CSR calendar with local NGO’s and schools working on sustainable practices through interactive programs.
District cooling remains and will continue to lead as one of the essential viable solutions to achieve national and global sustainability. As a Qatari company we are committed to making our country an environmental hub and leader in the efforts towards a sustainable future.
