By Andrew Gibson
The conservation efforts of Dubai airports have been paying dividends, not only with regards to the environment but also financially for the company. It has been reported that in 2011 they save 72, 793 tonnes of CO2, saved 131.9 million gallons of water and managed to make significant fuel savings worth AED US $4.33 million.
CEO Paul Griffiths explained that they are very serious about their environmental responsibility and they are working hard to limit their carbon footprint, which has been paying off for them.
The airport, Dubai International is the place where flydubai and Emirates are based. They have fuel efficient planes and the location of the airport reduces flying time and the necessity for connective flights. They also work hard to save energy in a selection of ways. They have energy saving lamps with occupancy sensors and combined with an increase in air conditioning temperature from 21 to 24 degrees they managed to save $2.21 million in 2011. They have also used water savers and saved energy that way. They also installed the largest solar panel array in any Middle East airport which is 92 panels providing 21.6 KW. The power produced can offset the lighting and plasma displays at the airports photo exhibition and is expected to continue to do so for 25 years. They have a stand hold policy on their runways as well making sure that aircraft are not taxiing unnecessarily and using fuel for no reason. They also joined organisations all over the world on 31st March in marking Earth Hour by switching off all non-essential lights.
