The Saudi Green Building Council (SGBC) underscored the importance of transforming the way buildings and communities are designed in order to reduce environmental hazards and save costs. In the recently held three-day Interactive Panel Discussion of the 3rd Annual District Cooling Saudi Arabia Summit at Four Seasons Hotel, Riyadh, Ali Al-Najim Deputy Chairman of SGBC, said "SGBC tries to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy and prosperous environment that improve the quality of life." He said cooling loads in GCC countries is too high. Buildings consume 80 percent of the electricity, with 70 percent used by ACs. As a result, peak power demand in the Kingdom is expected to grow from 46GW in 2010 to more than 120GW in 2030. "District cooling is a suitable solution for offices, hotels and shopping centers. District cooling shows energy savings between 50-90 percent compared to conventional technology," Al-Najim pointed out. The SGBC Deputy Chairman further said the main guidelines of Green buildings should be observed to minimize the environmental impact of the DC plant and the different hazards, among them, are: – Sustainable site: requires protection of natural areas. – Water efficiency category: requires less use of potable water/use water efficiently. The potential threat from district cooling, environmentally, is water. Potable (sweet) water is a precious commodity. – Indoor environmental quality category: requires monitoring aquatics needs. – Energy and atmosphere category: Green buildings can play a key role in reducing energy use and increase energy efficiency, through passive cooling. That will reduce cooling loads to minimal. Consequently, the size and cost of DC plants will be highly affected.
