emPost

09 November 2009

Categories: Environment

The world’s water desalination capacity is increasing at a record rate, and nations must take care to minimise the environmental impacts, a report released yesterday in Dubai said.

The document, compiled by Global Water Intelligence, an industry publication, also said that Saudi Arabia and the UAE were, respectively, the world’s first and second biggest producers of desalinated seawater. The two countries also jointly have 10 of the largest desalination plants operating or under construction.

“As capacity grows, environmental impacts grow with them,” said Tom Pankratz, a director with the International Desalination Organisation (IDA) and editor of the Water Desalination Report.

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13 September 2009

Flamingo colony makes UAE home

Categories: Environment

For the first time in the UAE, the rare Greater flamingo, has been discovered breeding in large numbers in the wild.

A colony of 18,000 birds, including 800 chicks, was discovered earlier this year in an intertidal area close to Abu Dhabi city. The site, near the Musaffah Channel, is the largest of its kind in the UAE.

The number of the birds is large enough to put the site on the world map for bird conservationists and is significant in that it shows flamingos breeding outside of their usual habitat. Flamingos usually spend winter in the UAE but do not breed here, preferring the shores of the Caspian Sea and other parts of Central Asia.

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05 July 2009

Dubai refrigerated beach on ice

Categories: Business Environment

The developer of a luxury five-star hotel in Dubai has scrapped plans for a refrigerated beach due to concerns over the environmental impact, its managing director said in remarks published on Sunday.

Emirates Sunland Group’s Soheil Abedian said the idea of a chilled beach “sounded good at the time”, but consultants concluded the cooling system’s high energy consumption would be environmentally unsustainable, UAE daily the National reported on Sunday.

The beach would have been chilled through a system of pipes under the sand.

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29 June 2009

Dubai's first sea mining firm to be set up in TechnoPark

Categories: Business Environment

TechnoPark, the science and technology facilitator of Economic Zones World announced that it has signed a land lease agreement with First Sea Mining Factory LLC to be built in TechnoPark

The First Sea Mining Factory uses cutting-edge technology from I.E.S. Germany and will implement advanced one-of-its kind Seawater Brines Recycling Technology that will completely eliminate the harmful pollution caused by brine discharges from Seawater Desalination Plants.

The establishment of the new company is a landmark step towards ecological preservation of UAE's marine seawater resources and its fishing industry.

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Abu Dhabi wins battle to host renewable energy global HQ

Categories: Environment

Sharm al-Sheikh/Berlin - Abu Dhabi will host the global headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Association (IRENA), it was decided Monday.

The decision was announced at the IRENA meeting at the Egyptian resort city of Sharm al-Sheikh.

While IRENA's headquarters will be in the United Arab Emirates capital, the former West German capital Bonn will host the organization's 'innovations' branch, and Vienna will host IRENA's office for liaison with the United Nations and other international energy organizations, the German Ministry of Environment announced.

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03 April 2009

Red tide threatens Dubai shore

Categories: Environment

Swimmers were advised to stay out of the sea yesterday as government scientists continued to test for a harmful algae bloom that has devastated marine life in other emirates.Evidence of the bloom, known as red tide, could be seen off the coast of the Palm Jumeirah and close to the Atlantis Hotel. Nakheel, the Palm developer, yesterday issued a statement from EHS-Trakhees (Environment, Health & Safety) informing residents that because of the “potential risk due to direct exposure to algae we advise the public to avoid contact with affected water”

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