Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s head off ice building is the first existing building in the Arab world to achieve the LEED certification, putting it in an exclusive club of 204 buildings in Canada and the US , and three buildings in India and Sri Lanka. “Dubai Chamber’s LEED story reflects the determination and the passion of the Chamber to lead by example, implement green thinking and demonstrate that even existing older building can be significantly improved for the benefit of the environment, building users, operators and the broader community,” says H.E. Hamad Buamim, Director General, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry. In an e-mail interview, he elaborated on the legacy of energy and water conservation initiatives at the Dubai Chamber, including the challenges faced and the milestones achieved on the path to the LEED certification.

What motivated Dubai Chamber to go green?

When our chief engineer took over the operations and management of our head office in 1997 he noticed the wasteful practices and began implementing initiatives with his team that have saved us a lot of water and electricity over the years.

Did the decision to go green precede the decision to apply for LEED, and if so, what were the green practices being followed?

Yes, they started more than a decade before we decided to apply for LEED in 2009, and involved numerous initiatives to save water and electricity as well as address other green building aspects like waste management, operations and maintenance. The table supplied lists the key initiatives.

Water

Installing a PLC-based control system and infra-red detectors for urinal flushing linked to lighting system saving 42,000 litres a day n Installing automatic faucets with infra-red sensors, allowing water to run only when required saving 1,000 litres a day n Installing air-cooled chillers to eliminate need of water for cooling and reducing waste water substantially saving 50m3 / day n Collecting condensed water from air handling units since 2004 to use for the fountain saving 850,000 litres a year n Installing aerated water flow fixtures on taps reducing water flow by 40% n Using desert or desert adapted vegetation like the date palm or cactus which thrives in this climate and requires less water n Using drip irrigation to minimise water loss through evaporation using treated sewage effluent or TSE water

Electricity

Optimising lift weighting loads since 2003 to reduce energy consumption by 20% n Optimising chiller operating loads leading to the permanent shut down of five of eight chillers n Installing temperature sensors to reduce cooling loads by maintaining comfortable temperatures (24 degrees C during working hours) n Installing CO2 sensors and a variable air flow system n Building envelope and roof insulation that conform to ASHRAE 2004 standards for thermal transmittance, solar heat reflectance and solar heat absorption properties n Adopting an energy management code of practice n Efficiently using a building management system to regulate lighting and air-conditioning n Using LED low-mercury globes that use 25% less energy and last up to 10 times longer n Insulating chiller water line using glass wool compliant with ASHRAE 2004 and reduction in chilled water circulation requirements leading to savings of 100,000 kWh/yr n Shutting down of air-conditioning systems after hours

Other

Preventive maintenance practices to avoid breakdown and improve efficiency n Ensuring that all cleaning and maintenance is done during regular office hours, so that the building can be shut-down after hours saving energy, enhancing security, and reducing other costs such as the supervision of staff n Green roof compliant with international best practices for emissivity (the white tiles are non-heat absorbing) n Providing day-lit workspaces with views due to building orientation and windows that reduce lighting loads and improve user comfort n Recycling paper, glass and plastic and donating old items to charity for reuse in order to minimise waste

When did you decide to take the road to LEED certification, and why?

We decided to apply for LEED certification in 2009 because we wanted to demonstrate that an existing building in the Middle East can be brought up to international green building standards even without a major retrofit or renovation. This also gave an independent stamp that verified our claims that we had greened our existing building.

What were the enabling factors that helped Dubai Chamber commit to a programme of achieving LEED certification?

Firstly, we were assisted by the fact that we have a well-designed and constructed building envelope and orientation.

Secondly, we were fortunate enough to have a strong group of passionate employees, who were committed to applying LEED on top of their regular workload. Thirdly, the fact that many of these same employees had worked hard to ensure that our building benefited from excellent operations and maintenance over the years and extend the performance and working life of our systems was a great help too. Fourthly, we have strong commitment from Dubai Chamber’s leadership to lead by example and be a role model for the business community.

Lastly, we benefited from external experts who conducted an independent building commissioning and assisted us in applying for LEED.

Does the LEED certification have a direct bearing on Dubai Chamber’s core business?

Not directly, we are a non-profit organisation representing the Dubai business community, not a real-estate business, but indirectly it does, because it helps us fulfil our strategic objectives of creating a favourable business environment (where international best practices are applied), supporting the development of business (since it demonstrates how businesses can save money and assist the environment) and promoting Dubai as an international business hub (as our example is being celebrated worldwide).

What are the costs involved in converting an existing building into a green building? Is there a relation between the size of the building and cost? In Dubai Chamber’s case, how was the budget or funds mobilised for going green?

Since we began our green initiatives more than a decade ago, we have always used the regular operations and maintenance budget to implement initiatives. Many of our initiatives had a net benefit, and we could use these savings to invest in improved technologies. Now that we are renovating our building, post-LEED, we are choosing the most green solutions within our renovation budget. So there is no extra budget or costs for going green, it is part of how we maintain our building, and while there are sometimes higher initial up-front costs for greener technologies, these have always paid back quickly and saved us money over the short or medium term.

What are the financial and nonfinancial benefits of going green for an existing building? What was the base year for calculating the benefits?

Between 1998 and 2008, we were able to reduce water and energy consumption by 77% and 47% respectively, saving approximately Dh7.1 million or USD1.93 million. Currently, we are renovating our interiors and applying many more energyand- water-saving technologies, which will allow us to reduce consumption further.

What have been the major accomplishments after embarking on the green initiative? What were the targets set out, and how much of these targets were achieved?

The biggest accomplishment is that we have made a difference and reduced wastage and damage to the environment, which has been the biggest concern of the passionate group of employees who have led our green building initiatives over the years. Aside from that, a secondary accomplishment is that we have raised a lot of awareness about how to green an existing building and helped break down the myth that existing buildings in the Middle East cannot be greened without substantial investments.>

International studies show that any building can reduce electricity consumption by at least 29% with no net cost; we have shown that much more than this is possible. Our efforts were never done for awards but because of how we believed a well managed building should be run; our targets were set around the technologies that we wanted to implement which made more sense from an ethical, environmental and economical perspective.

What were the underlying strategies and methods used to arrive at these accomplishments? For example, did you re-visit the area of building commissioning? Did you invest in a more efficient building management system? Did you modify existing building management procedures or practices?

We had been continually doing building commissioning in-house since we took over our building, but to achieve LEED certification we had to do an independent building commissioning, which was done in 2009. This building has always had a building management system that we managed efficiently, which allowed us to reduce energy consumption by timing lights, air-conditioning and other areas. We changed many practices and also regularly do training for support staff to ensure that they operate our systems in the most efficient way. Now that we are renovating our interiors, we have installed and are programming a more efficient building management system. We are also installing new chillers, as after 15 years they need an upgrade.

As far as strategies go, when we decided to apply for LEED certification we formed a green building committee to review LEED requirements, document the necessary elements, implement any required improvements, and apply through the US Green Building Council. Members of this committee were involved in the energy-and-water-saving initiatives that had been implemented over the last decade as well as the renovation committee, which assured that we could capture the correct data and bring the learning for the certification process into the design of our new offices. This committee continues today with quarterly meetings to review the various aspects of our green building and ensure that our standards are upheld.

Could you elaborate on the specific measures to achieve water efficiency in the building? What were the savings achieved?

There were many initiatives undertaken since 1998 and 2008 (such as condensate capture and the infrared flow detectors), which helped us save around 41.5 million units (gallons) of water (equivalent to Dh1.6 million) the approximate yearly consumption of 315 UAE households. Since we began renovating our building in 2009, we have undertaken further initiatives to conserve water, such as the utilisation of 4.5-litre flush valves (which has more than halved the volume flushed each time) and grey water for our toilet systems (which is saving thousands of litres of desalinated water each hour).

What type of grey water recycling system is being used in the building? What is the source of the grey water? What is the recycled water being used for?

The grey water is from the Dubai Municipality mains. It is not RO technology; we are only polishing the partly treated irrigation water using chlorine, bromide and charcoal and, then, using it for our toilets, so that we no longer require regular water for this purpose.

What were the main challenges confronting Dubai Chamber when it decided to apply for existing building LEED certification? What are the lessons that you can share with other existing building LEED aspirants?

The team faced several challenges in achieving its objective, given the unprecedented nature of the project and the fact that there was no prior experience to bank on. It was hard collecting the required documentation, such as the flushing rates of toilets or the VOC levels of paints, from suppliers. It was also difficult estimating the workloads and timelines because it was a pioneering project and we weren’t sure how long it would take us to gather all the required information. Lack of awareness was also a big challenge. As this certification was new for us, we had to learn a lot, such as what constitutes an eco-friendly cleaning product.

We also had difficulty sourcing greener alternatives such as green cleaning products, so implementing new policies and systems was a challenge too. The entire project was a challenge because it required the cooperation of a large group of internal and external stakeholders and moreover, had to be managed on top of our regular workload.

There are several lessons we have learned. Probably the most important is to spend a lot of time building awareness and ensuring good communication, by reminding individuals of what documentation or work is required and why, as well as regularly following up with them and providing training as required. It is also important to get an experienced LEED member on the team, who can assist in understanding the certification requirements and communicating with USGBC. Lastly, one must ensure that the team works closely with suppliers and contractors, so that they understand the benefits and can help in sourcing greener alternatives.

If you had to sum up the main success factors that made the LEED certification possible achievement possible, what would they be?

The factors above, noted as necessary to achieve LEED certification, sum it up, but I would say that the main ingredient is passion. As mentioned earlier, studies have shown that all buildings can reduce energy consumption by 29% at no net cost, even the poorly designed ones! Without passionate employees, though, none of these economies would be realised, because disinterested employees would not learn about new technologies that could be applied or undertake the efforts required get the sign-off for these technologies from the top management and ensure excellent operations and maintenance, etc

How did you support of end-users or tenants for this initiative, since this is an existing building?

Here, we were lucky. It is our building, and we are the main tenants, two of the other tenants being our own initiatives – Dubai International Arbitration Centre and University of Dubai. So we were able to make these changes without any issues. It should be said that most of these changes were behind the scenes anyway, most did not require major behavioural changes for the occupants, so they could be easily applied in any case.

Has Dubai Chamber carried out any kind of ROI or payback analysis?

As mentioned earlier, all our green building initiatives, undertaken over more than a decade, which allowed us to achieve LEED certification, were implemented using the regular operations and maintenance budget for our building. They provided a net benefit, and we used the savings from one aspect of the budget to apply greener technologies, elsewhere. We did not need to conduct a detailed ROI, because it is not rocket science; it was obvious that setting up a condensate capture system or cooling our server room with a heat exchanger in the outdoor fountain instead of building a cooling tower would have an ROI of only a few months and yield enormous savings over time. Other initiatives like installing aerators on taps, optimising chiller operating loads, leading to the permanent shutdown of five from eight chillers or installing more energy-efficient light bulbs, when the less efficient ones died out, paid back immediately.

Post-LEED certification, what is next on the agenda?

We need to continue awareness-building, which includes training building operators and staff, in order to maintain our green building standards, as well as sharing our example with others through media, presentations at conferences, and green building tours. We also want to reapply for LEED once our building renovation is completed, in order to demonstrate how many further improvements are possible when upgrading a building, with an eye to the latest standards in green building. We also plan to optimise our current systems, policies and procedures because with the renovation, we have implemented many new systems (such as new chillers, grey water treatment, an enhanced building management system, and a heat exchanger through our fountain), and we need to ensure they are set in the most efficient manner possible. We also need to continue reviewing green building aspects through ongoing waste and energy audits, for example, to ensure standards are maintained and performance is enhanced where necessary.