DUBAI: The number of skyscrapers keeps on rising, and it looks like it won’t slow down any time soon. To keep up with the steady growth in population, an average of 3,500 housing units should be built per year, according to a study prepared by Dubai Municipality.
Abdullah Rafie, assistant director general of the planning and engineering section at the municipality, said it is expected that the number of population in the year 2021 will be around 3.3 million people, and 5.2 million people in 2030. According to Dubai Statistics Centre, the population of residents in Dubai as of January, 2016 was 2.4 million, with a growth rate of five per cent.
“To meet the demand of a growing population, Dubai Municipality’s aim is to have seven per cent of clean energy from the total energy used by 2020, and that this percentage increase to become 25 per cent in 2030, and 75 per cent in 2050,” said Rafie.
He pointed out that as the city continues to grow, authorities aim to cut carbon emissions by 15 per cent by 2021, and also reduce the demand for energy and water by 30 per cent in 2030. Rafie explained that people spend as much as 90 per cent of their time in buildings, whether in offices or homes, “and consumption of energy in these buildings can range from 80 to 90 per cent.” One example of cutting energy consumption, which in turn lowers electricity bills, can be carried out through insulating the building.
Wafa Al Sabagh, an official from the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, said: “We implemented a five-year-strategy and used thermal insulation systems across 3,200 federal buildings, which included three mosques, three health centres, schools and a hospital.”
“The new insulation cut our costs by as much as 20 per cent. As the electricity bill for these buildings add up to Dh700 million, we aim to drop it down to Dh400 million by 2021 through using this environmentally-efficient methods,” she said.
