January 08 2014 | Last updated 1:15 January 08, 2014

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Cut up to 

40 per cent off your utility bills with these
cost-effective and easy ways to conserve energy
By Syed Ameen Kader | Special to PW
Published: 20:00 January 7, 2014
 Image Credit: Smart4Power
A recent project by Smart4Power and Emrill in five villas
in Dubai found the average electricity consumption to be
almost 60,000 kWh per year, which was equivalent to
Dh20,500 per year

As increasing utility costs continue to lighten pockets, it’s

important to go beyond the conventional means and
adopt some of the smart measures. Thanks to
technology and retrofit solutions, you can take a number
of cost-effective and easy-to-execute steps that can
help you achieve additional savings of 30-40 per cent.
All you have to do is ensure some proper planning and
adopt energy-efficiency best practices.

The first and foremost step you need to take is to

conduct an energy audit of your apartment or building to
know your consumption patterns and wastage, if any.
Jesus Gutiérrez, Co-Managing Director, Smart4Power,
an energy management company in Dubai, says: “We
recommend undertaking an assessment of the facilities
(energy audit), which will highlight the existing energy
efficiency of the building, the opportunities for energy
savings as well as set the consumption baseline from
which to compare any future saving measures.”

Since each one of us has different consumption patterns

and electricity-run gadgets at home, it’s critical to know
how much energy you consume for what. Mashood
Rahman, Regional Business Development Manager,
Middle East, Building Efficiency, Johnson Controls, says
energy consumption varies based on different
application and occupancy levels. “So it’s important to
conduct an energy audit — something which is the key to
success and is a proven way to reduce the operating
costs and greenhouse gas emissions. It helps reduce
energy consumption and become more energy
efficient,” he adds.

HVAC systems

Since heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)

accounts for 60-70 per cent of our electricity bill, it’s
important to fix this first by installing machines in the right
sizes. Often, it’s found that most buildings are equipped
with over-sized HVAC systems, which means the cooling
load is significantly higher than is actually needed for
most part of the year. And the operations sequence of
the buildings are not properly set up according to cooling
demands, driven mainly by a building’s occupancy level
or outside temperature.

“Most of the utility bills are from cooling the home; this is
a hot country and it takes a lot of energy to keep
everything cool,” says Ben Churchill, Managing Director,
Emrill Services. “The main thing for a resident to
remember is to turn things off — if it is not on, it is not
using energy! But even when things are on, a couple of
degrees higher setting on the AC thermostat will mean
significantly less energy use with not many people
actually noticing the difference in temperature.” His
company, through its subsidiary mplus+, is partnering
with Smart4power to launch home energy-saving
packages that include optimisations for AC units, LED
lighting, water heater timers and aerators for taps that
reduce water consumption — all with a sub 12-month
payback.

Retrofit solutions

As consumers, energy experts suggest we can achieve

significant savings through the introduction of ready-to-
install retrofit solutions as well as by making small
changes in our consumption patterns. “Fortunately, there
are tested and cost-effective retrofit solutions in the
market that can minimise the wasted energy. These
retrofit solutions (chiller managers or optimisers) provide
intelligence to the chillers and other elements of the
HVAC system such as chilled water pump, condensor
pumps and cooling towers,” says Gutiérrez. Simple
retrofit solutions such as a programmable thermostat for
the fan coil unit controls can change the set point
temperature during no occupancy, and CO2-based
retrofit controls help to optimise the fresh air intake and
exhaust fan operation.

He says many of these retrofit solutions have a minimum

return on investment of 60 per cent with a payback of
less than two years. On top of that, the operational risk is
quite low since most of the retrofit solutions have been
widely tested and provide a minimum guarantee of two
or three years. Sometimes savings can be achieved
even with marginal investments. In a recent audit
conducted for a large industrial group in Dubai,
Smart4Power identified Dh600,000 in savings for the
first year by just rescheduling the operations 
of HVAC
and lighting and surrendering the excess cooling
demand.

Churchill says that retrofitting could be a costly exercise

initially, but his company has developed models to make
it an easy decision. “We will guarantee the savings to
ensure that the payback is known quantity. We also offer
project financing under something called an energy
performance contract (EPC). In this scheme there is no
up front cost to a client; the project is financed through a
specialist, such as energyX, and the capital is paid for
through the savings,” he says. In the case of jointly
owned property, the homeowners payback is immediate
as they start to save as soon as the project goes live.

Pilot project

Smart4Power and Emrill recently conducted a pilot

project in five villas in Dubai and found that the average
electricity consumption was almost 60,000 kWh per
year, which was equivalent to Dh20,500 per year at an
average price of Dh0.32 per kWh. The average annual
water consumption was almost 200,000 IG with an
annual bill of Dh10,350.

“The main objective of our pilot project was to prove and

quantify the energy savings that could be achieved
through the installation of simple retrofit solutions and to
be able to pack these solutions according to the size
and energy consumption of the villas. So it will be easy
for the customers to choose once the programme is
launched,” says Gutiérrez. One of the villa owners who
participated in this pilot project had managed to cut
Dh13,000 off his utility bill through the energy-efficient
makeover.

They achieved these savings in the villas through the

installation of different retrofit solutions for air
conditioning (Aircosaver and window films), lighting (LED
and CFL as replacement of incandescent and halogen
lights) and water (aerators and water reducers). “As part
of this exercise, we conducted energy audits in each of
the villas to define the baseline scenario and to identify
the specific areas of the villas to focus on and to quantify
the solutions to be installed. The audit also helped to
report water leakage in the system and other water-
saving measures such as soil additives for landscaping,”
Gutiérrez says, adding that they are planning to
undertake similar initiatives in residential buildings in
collaboration with facility management companies and
owners’ associations.

“Though all the owners and tenants interviewed were

quite conscious and aware about the need to make a
more responsible use of our limited resources, we
noticed that the level of knowledge and information they
had about what they could do to reduce their
consumption and carbon footprint was quite limited,”
says Gutiérrez.

LED lighting

Lighting also makes up a significant part (19 per cent) of

electricity consumption. Switching to energy-efficient
lighting can directly contribute to reducing carbon
emissions, as it lowers the energy consumption and
eases power demand. According to lighting specialist
Philips, switching to LED lighting solutions can reduce
utility bills by up to 80 per cent. “In comparison to their
GLS counterparts, LEDs have a longer life, therefore
also reduce maintenance costs. In addition, they emit
less heat, saving user’s money on cooling bills,” says
Paolo Cervini, Vice-President and General Manager,
Philips Lighting, Middle East and Turkey. His company
has already signed an MoU with the Dubai Municipality to
transform their 262 buildings using energy-efficient and
sustainable lighting technologies.

Though sustainability is quite a hot topic in the region,

the majority of the installed lighting base in the Middle
East still use conventional or energy-inefficient lighting
technology. Hence, the potential for energy savings
through lighting in the Middle East is vast.

“The rate of transition to new technology is still very low

because people often don’t see the electricity costs
associated with lighting and are not aware of the new,
energy-efficient lighting technologies. Although energy-
efficient lighting technologies cost more initially, they
offer attractive levels of payback and save large
amounts of both energy and money during their lifetime,”
says Cervini.

Policy initiatives

Energy consumption in the Middle East is among the

highest in the world and is growing at a fast pace,
leading to a higher carbon emissions per capita (in
tonnes CO2/capita) than the world average.

In Dubai, residential markets account for 29 per cent of

the electricity and water demand and the consumption
per capita is one of the largest in the world. It varies
greatly between horizontal communities (villas) and
vertical communities (towers). “In a villa you pay for
utilities directly — a typical bill in the summer can range
from Dh2,000-Dh6,000 per month. In a vertical
community (towers), a small amount is paid directly to
Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (Dewa) for water
heaters, appliances and fans, etc. which may only be a
few hundred dirhams per month; the majority of building
cooling and lighting cost is hidden in the service charge
— the energy component of which can easily be
Dh1,000-Dh1,500 per month per apartment,” says
Churchill.

That’s why utility costs in Dubai have gone up

considerably over the past few years, thanks to slab-
based tariff systems and a fuel surcharge introduced by
Dewa. As result, residents and commercial companies
are today paying almost 80 per cent more on average
than five years ago.

Though painful, Gutiérrez says, this also means that

energy-saving initiatives can be paid back in shorter
times and people have more incentives to make a more
responsible use of electricity and water.

Churchill is of the opinion that one sure-fire way of

solving the problem is to charge the true cost of
generation to the end users. “The relatively recent
addition of a Dewa surcharge certainly had the effect of
focusing people’s minds on the problem. Some owners’
associations are installing meters in individual
apartments and dividing the building’s cooling costs
based on consumption rather than apartment size. This
certainly drives the right behaviour when it comes to
waste,” he says.

Cervini says policies are already in place to implement

energy conservation across the Middle East. “The next
step is facilitating the transition from traditional to
sustainable lighting. We see four levers that support this
transition — technology, policy measures, financing and
communication.”

Gutiérrez feels households need to play a key role in this

transformation. “I believe it will be very complicated to
engage them by law. The government can create more
subtle and indirect ways to ensure that households
support these goals. One way is through restricting the
offering at retail stores of ACs, light bulbs and home
appliances that do not comply with minimum energy
efficiency standards.”

As Dubai recently launched the 2014 State of Energy

Report, which talks about cutting carbon emission by 29
per cent, switching 30 per cent of its economy to
renewable energy, clean coal and nuclear, and taking
various energy- and water-saving initiatives by 2030, it’s
important for both households and governments to work
together to realise that target.
Top 10 tips to bring down your utility bills

1 Install AC optimisers (Aircosavers) that reduce the

running time of the compressor of the AC units by 15-20
per cent on average while keeping the room temperature
the same.

2 Ensure AC units are properly serviced. A badly

maintained AC consumes 10-20 per cent more
electricity.

3 Keep room temperature set at 24 degrees Celsius

and use ceiling fans to enhance comfort factor. Try to
create natural air flows inside the house, particularly
during those months where the temperature moves
between 20 and 30 degrees.

4 Turn the AC off if you plan to leave the room for more
than three/four hours. Or keep it at a slightly higher
temperature (26-28) while you are not in the room.

5 Improve the insulation of your villa/apartment and

therefore reduce your cooling-load needs by installing
solar control window films in those rooms that have
direct exposure to the sun.

6Install LED and CFL lights as a replacement for

halogen and incandescent light bulbs respectively.

7 Avoid watering the plants at midday and use sprinklers.

Plant trees and shrubs that use less water. Artificial
grass can be also an option.

8 Make responsible use of water while showering and

brushing your teeth. Adjust the washing machine water
levels according 

to the load of laundry. Install water
aerators and reducers in your faucets and shower
heads.

9 Turn on the water heater only when needed.

Alternatively, you can install a timer.

10 Turn off the lights and put the electrical equipment in

the sleep setting when you are not using it. If you plan to
be away from home for a few days, turn off your
appliances.