His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, in his capacity as Chairman of Dubai Supreme Council of Energy, was presented with the ASHRAE District Cooling & Heating Design Manual from Empower, the worlds largest district cooling service provider.

Empower supported the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), in the preparation, research and publication of the design manual for district heating and cooling plants and networks. ASHRAE is the leading authority in the heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration (HVACR) industry.

Empowers support of the research and subsequent publication of the District Cooling & Heating Design Manual stems from our strategy to streamline district cooling practices both in our home region of the Middle East and worldwide. This is fully in line with Dubai governments overall strategy to build a green economy for sustainable development in the Emirate, said Ahmad bin Shafar, CEO, Empower.In order to ensure further collaboration and sharing of information, it is crucial that we share the manual with prominent academics, dignataries and experts in the HVAC sector as well as other industries, starting with HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, bin Shafar added.

The manual has helped to standardise the design of district cooling plants and chilled water networks and is already being recognised as a global benchmark for best practice. Initial feedback is overwhelmingly positiveengineers in the UAE and around the world consider this manual as the only authentic document to refer to during the planning and design phase of projects. We are proud that the UAE is the first country that has supported the publication of such an important piece of research. The manual has also received widespread praise during the ASHRAE Annual Conference held in the USA early this year, concluded Bin Shafar.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum is also President of Dubai Civil Aviation Authority and CEO and Chairman of Emirates Airline and Group. HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed accepted the manual in his office.