DC Pro Engineering is urging the GCC’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) industry to adopt new technologies to address energy efficiency and environmental concerns.

Speaking during a sustainability workshop at The Big 5 construction show in Dubai, the UAE firm’s CEO George Berbari urged regional players to adopt a more sustainable, energy efficient and environmentally-friendly approach to HVAC.

He also recommended that firms assess current technologies such as electric district cooling, variable refrigerant flow (VRF), fresh air systems and air-cooled refrigeration.

“District cooling technology needs to evolve into an industry that embraces the future and offers serious solutions to global warming at competitive rates that customers can afford,” Berbari said.

“Air-cooled systems continue to dominate 70% of the HVAC market without offering any significant power-saving features.”

Berbari also stressed that district cooling should embrace renewable energy such as solar PV (onsite or remote) and deep geothermal energy. This, he noted, would save 75% of primary energy as compared with electric district cooling.