The Department of Energy (DoE) has concluded its integrated campaign "Powering the Special Olympics" supporting the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019. The campaign ran throughout the Games and was based on four pillars: involvement, interaction, power and sustainability.
The campaign included a number of events, organized in solidarity with the national team participating in the Special Olympics, including organizing "Energy is Interaction" open day, which was hosted by the UAE National Team competing in the Special Olympics in Al Ain and attended by the DoE's employees and officials, society members and the media.
The participants presented a model for community participation, bringing together people from all segments of society to support the national team, raise morale ahead of the Games. The events included also "Energy is Involvement" march at Um Al-Emarat Park in Abu Dhabi in the presence of the DoE officials, a number of employees, more than 400 volunteers from various community groups and youth delegations from Abu Dhabi Youth Council.
DoE's interactive and entertaining stands "Energy is Power" have witnessed a great turnout from the public and were organized in three main locations: Abu Dhabi Corniche, Zayed Sports City and Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre. The initiative is meant to raising community awareness about the role of energy in improving the quality of life and switching to "clean energy".
As part of its initiatives aiming at enhancing sustainability in the society, DoE organised the ‘Save Energy and Water at Home’ competition to raise energy efficiency at homes of the families of the athletes participating in the Special Olympics. The DoE compared the total energy consumption at homes of the participants' families during the Olympics on a daily basis. The public were encouraged to check out the leaderboard daily via the event website.
The DoE through "Clean Energy on the Move" initiative dedicated a number of electric cars along with an eco-bus for environmentally friendly transportation to transport participants, players and the public to the locations of Games in Zayed Sports City and Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre and other locations. As many as 7,817 km have been travelled so far by the electrical cars; i.e. equal to planting 46 trees and reducing 2,790 kg of carbon emissions.
The "Sustainable Energy at the Venues" initiative included the establishment of a solar plant by Photovoltaic panels at Zayed Sports City, which saved up to 50% of the energy required to operate the interactive and entertaining stands set up by the DoE for the duration of the Games. The total capacity hits 577 kilowatt during the Games; i.e. equal to planting 9 trees and reducing 512 kg of carbon emissions.
The initiative also included installing advanced technology solutions at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) to measure and analyse energy consumption in order to enhance the efficiency of consumption at the facilities during the event.
H.E. Eng. Awaidha Al Marar. Chairman of DoE said that the DoE has been honored to be the official partner of the Special Olympics World Games Abu Dhabi 2019.
"We are keen through this partnership on making the games a platform for people with determination to be integrated in the society and to involve members of society in the environmental, social and economic sustainable development," said Al Marar.
"We appreciate the efforts exerted by our partners, who cooperated with us to achieve the objectives of our Olympic campaign and also appreciate the efforts exerted by the DoE's team and we are proud of its achievements. We pledge to continue to strengthen the energy sector in Abu Dhabi and the UAE in line with the directives of the wise leadership, national strategies, Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 to create a sustainable environment and to optimise resource utilization," Al Marar added.
"DoE is committed to its responsibility towards the integration and the ongoing development of energy sector to fulfill the current and future needs. We work continuously to benefit from all available opportunities and transfer challenges into opportunities, through which we realize our strategic goals. The Department has been instrumental in highlighting the role of energy and the involvement of the community in the sustainable development process," said H.E. Eng. Mohammed Juma Bin Jarsh Al Falasi, Undersecretary of the DoE.
He noted that “the DoE pays great attention to spot light on the role of energy and involve all society members in the sustainable development process and these were the foundations, on which our initiatives during the Games were based. This constituted a model for our commitment to adopt the latest technologies and modern solutions that reduce energy consumption."
"We renew our call for all individuals and companies operating in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to adopt such solutions and contribute to improving the quality of life".