Unlocking the Potential of District Cooling: The Need for GCC Governments to Take Action

by Tarek El Sayed, Walid Fayad, Simon-Pierre Monette, George Sarraf

Published: July 19, 2012
Air conditioning is a costly necessity in the Arab Gulf, consuming half of total electricity output. A more economical and sustainable method is district cooling, which allows businesses and residences in dense areas to share a pooled cooling facility.

Despite air conditioning being crucial to commercial and residential well-being in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, governments there have not regarded its provision as requiring public policy and planning. Rather than treating it like other utilities, such as power and water, they have permitted an unregulated market to determine when and where to use different cooling systems, and to decide how to pay for them. Cooling methods employed in the region are largely conventional window units and central air systems, which are electricity guzzlers and environmentally damaging. read more >