Feature
Story
District Cooling
Growing in Middle East:
IDEA-member profiles tell the story
Across the Middle East, district
cooling has become the preferred
standard for air conditioning new
real estate projects and development.
Based on recent IDEA research, real estate
projects planned or under way in the Gulf
region total more than $1 trillion and new
district cooling systems are projected to
expand by more than 10 million tons of
capacity by 2010, representing a capital
investment of more than $10 billion.
To help convey the current state of
district cooling in the region, IDEA requested profiles of the area’s IDEA-member district cooling companies. Six companies
responded and have provided information
ranging from their ownership structure to
their number of plants. (See p. 20-21.)
IDEA thanks them for their participation.
In 2005, IDEA received a three-year
matching grant titled “IDEA Initiative:
Promotion of District Energy in the Middle
East and China” under the Market Development Cooperator Program of the International Trade Administration of the U.S.
Department of Commerce. As part of
the grant initiative, IDEA is forming a
Middle East chapter and will hold the
International District Cooling Conference
Jan. 14-17, 2007, in Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates. At the conference, IDEA
will debut its new “Best Practice Guide for
District Cooling.”
For more information on the cooling conference, see p. 22. To become a
Middle East chapter charter member,
download information and an application at www. districtenergy.org/pdfs/
MidEastFlyer.pdf.
Today the Middle East is a focal point of district cooling growth and progress. In the past, wind towers,
such as the one shown here, were used to cool buildings. A handful of wind towers still exist in most
of the region's cities, carefully preserved or reconstructed at museums and heritage landmarks. Traditional wind towers rise five or six meters above a house. They are usually built of wood or stone, but
can also be made from canvas. The tower is open on all four sides and catches even small breezes.
The breeze creates a low-pressure zone, which draws air up from the house and creates natural ventilation. (Source: Tabreed.)
