Source: Â www.zawya.com
The Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), all affiliated agencies included, is seeking to nurture a clean & sustainable environment free from anything that might adversely affect the ecosystem or the public health by applying effective strategies, using the latest technology and sharing the expertise of countries and cosmopolitan cities which have gone far and wide in this regard.
Among the important initiatives launched to this effect, RTA‘s Rail Agency has recently hosted the British Society of Engineers together with Atkins Global Co. to shed more light on this vital and crucial issue. Mr. Keith Clark, CEO of Atkins Global, delivered a lecture at RTA‘s Head Office entitled “Building a low-carbon community – Actions beyond words,” in the presence of Adnan Al Hammadi, CEO of Rail Agency and more than 100 persons representing directors and mangers of the Agency in addition to representatives of both the British Society of Engineers and Atkins.
Al Hammadi stressed RTA‘s continuous attention of the RTA to reduce the level of carbon emissions, or the so-called carbon footprint, by applying the best practices and diffusing the common culture of environmental responsibility. “To address this issue, RTAestablished Quality, Health, Safety and Environment Offices in all affiliated agencies, and moved ahead to conserve natural resources, such as water and electricity, through rationalizing their use and reducing wastage. It also embarked on recycling waste paper and launched field inspection campaigns that take into account the conservation of the environment and natural resources used in RTA‘s projects,” said Al Hammadi.
“RTA always conducts extensive studies and intensive field surveys to diagnose the amount of carbon waste in all its buildings, public transport modes, and infrastructure such as the metro stations, buses, and bus depots. Dubai Metro is considered the best and closest environment-friendly means of transport as it is powered by sophisticated & clean electric power. RTA public buses feature high-tech engines that use the best type of fuel worldwide where the sulfur content is not more than 50 PPM, in addition to operating CNG-powered abras, as well as other initiatives in this vital area,” continued Al Hammadi.
For his part, Mr. Keith Clarke, Chief Executive of Atkins Global Company, touched on to this phenomenon, saying, “The delay in curtailing carbon waste does not only pose threat to the environment and public health, but also has serious potential negative impacts thereon, let alone the massive financial losses. The delay in taking a practical action to curb this phenomenon for a period of ten years will double up the annual rate of the required reduction.”
“Some studies recommended that stability in the rates of gas emissions triggering the global warming symbolized by (CO2e) at concentrations less than 450 PPM led to higher levels of carbon emissions in 2010. But there will be a great opportunity to significantly slash these concentrations by 6% to 10% after 2010. However, if no corrective actions were taken during the ten years following 2010 while the current pattern allowed to continue unchecked, the concentration of these gases would increase to 550 PPM and by then it would be extremely difficult to reduce these concentrations after 2020 and the reduction rates would then be as low as 1% to 2.5% after 2020.
The CEO of Atkins stressed the leading role of engineers in capitalizing on the high concentration of carbon waste as a trigger and a catalyst to induce the required environmental change, which in turn, will have bearing on nurturing a clean and sustainable environment, improving the public health level and raising the productivity of both the individual and community; something that has to be taken into account in all development projects.
The CEO of Rail Agency expressed his thanks and appreciation to the British Engineers Society and Atkins for this valuable lecture, which “strengthened our entity as engineers in playing an effective role in reducing the carbon waste and carbon footprint to the universally agreed thresholds thus contributing to the international efforts made in this concern,” said Al Hammadi in a concluding remark.
