That’s another good point! Why doesn’t the UAE use solar energy?

AQS: Al-Bustan Rotana is the only hotel where I could implement a solar energy system. In summer we used to achieve hot water at almost 90ºC. The hot water energy costs in any hotel is around 10 to 12% of total energy cost. Out of this 10 to 12% we saved 75% of the hot water energy cost (or 9.75% of total hotel energy cost) It is ongoing and saving a huge amount in that hotel. It’s fantastic — people have to think like this.

SZ: From the drawing board phase you have to think like this. You need the space for the solar panels — I don’t have this space. You can have all your water, all your AC run by solar but you need something like the whole roof to be covered with the solar panels. There is a big investment, but there is a very big saving.

MK: It brings down your operating costs too.

TC: We have already put solar heaters in the staff accommodation.

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AQS: If a law can be implemented for the CCTV, why can law not be implemented for a building with solar technology?

MK: Some countries have started making this mandatory. In parts of Europe they have made it mandatory to use only CFL energy saving bulbs and stopped producing domestic demand on high energy consumption incandescent bulbs.

In our building, almost 75% of the public area is LED and cold cathodes — if you take 40w of normal bulbs versus 4w of LED, it has the same effect for the desired public areas and has a life span of 50,000 (LED) hours versus 1000 (incandescent) hours. So not only do we we save 36w per spot, we achieve the cooling effect in the building and the longevity of the bulbs is 50 times more.

WF: The short answer for your question of why is this not implemented now is because it is optional now. It is not mandatory.