ABU DHABI // With energy prices climbing and some emirates facing electricity shortages again this summer, experts have questioned whether the UAE should invest in large, centralised plants for its cooling needs.
The issue was at the heart of debates at the Climate Control Summit in Abu Dhabi where, for two days, industry experts compared the concept known as district cooling to traditional systems used in single buildings.
Air conditioning accounts for up to 70 per cent of the country's electricity. Ensuring homes and offices are cooled as efficiently as possible is a national priority.
District cooling chills the water needed for air conditioning in a central plant, then uses it to cool several buildings or an entire development.
District cooling systems are already in operation at several developments across Abu Dhabi and Dubai emirates.
The process is more efficient due to economies of scale, said George Berbari, the chief executive of the engineering firm DC Pro, and an advocate of district cooling. "The economy of scale itself allows us to hire better designers, better contractors and better operators," said Mr Berbari.
A district cooling plant uses up to 0.95 kilowatts of electricity per tonne of cooling, compared to a stand-alone system that takes up to 1.6 kilowatts per tonne, he said.
Performance can be further enhanced by a practice known as thermal storage, which chills water and stores it for later, when there is higher demand.
Energy savings are compounded when domestic hot water, electricity and cooling are produced together at the district plant.
But while district cooling has the potential for significant energy savings, the reality can be different, said Salah Nezar, the technical core team manager at Qatar Project Management. "On paper, district cooling is more healthy for society," he said. "But the reality is that not all district cooling plants are meeting the energy efficiency they are theoretically supposed to."
Plants designed to handle huge air conditioning loads often worked at less than half capacity, creating financial problems for the district cooling providers and for end-users who faced large air conditioning charges, said Mr Nezar.
Mr Berbari acknowledged the problem, saying the UAE was using less than half of its two million tonnes of installed district cooling capacity, with the slowdown in property development leading to reduced demand.
"This is also a combination of lack of knowledge and experience on the part of the [cooling] provider, and the master developer feeding them wrong information and some bad practices with businesses that build big systems for commercial interest," he said.
However, air conditioning systems in individual buildings can also be too big, he said."The same case is happening with the stand-alone industry, which has eight million tonnes actual capacity, while the installed capacity is close to 16 million," said Mr Berbari.
Representatives at the event were split into two camps. But there would never be a simple choice between one or the other, said B Surendar, the editor of an industry magazine, Climate Control Middle East, and organiser of the event.
"This entire summit was not meant to pit one camp against the other," he said. "End users are looking for air conditioning that can provide them with cooling comfort and that is reliable and affordable. Energy efficiency is a fourth parameter that needs to come into the equation."
Greater government intervention was required, said delegates. "The practice is affected by short-term profit," said Mr Nezar. "The real estate industry needs to shift from looking at short-term profit and include the life cycle costs of buildings. The Government can encourage innovation by providing incentives."
vtodorova@thenational.ae
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Starring: Raed Zeno, Hadi Awada, Dr Mohammad Abdalla
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Rating: 3/5
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
More coverage from the Future Forum
Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
Sonchiriya
Director: Abhishek Chaubey
Producer: RSVP Movies, Azure Entertainment
Cast: Sushant Singh Rajput, Manoj Bajpayee, Ashutosh Rana, Bhumi Pednekar, Ranvir Shorey
Rating: 3/5
Maestro
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How it works
Each player begins with one of the great empires of history, from Julius Caesar's Rome to Ramses of Egypt, spread over Europe and the Middle East.
Round by round, the player expands their empire. The more land they have, the more money they can take from their coffers for each go.
As unruled land and soldiers are acquired, players must feed them. When a player comes up against land held by another army, they can choose to battle for supremacy.
A dice-based battle system is used and players can get the edge on their enemy with by deploying a renowned hero on the battlefield.
Players that lose battles and land will find their coffers dwindle and troops go hungry. The end goal? Global domination of course.
