Energy efficiency: Schneider Electric walks the talk

Despite abundant energy resources in Saudi Arabia, there is an ongoing drive for attaining energy efficiency, according to Francois Carle, hotels solutions vice president at Schneider Electric.
He was speaking to Arab News alongside the Fourth Annual Summit held at the Intercontinental Hotel in Riyadh recently. Schneider was one of the platinum sponsors of the grand event, which drew a large number of visitors and exhibitors from the region.
More than 250 top executives from the hotel industry took part in the two-day event, which ran an exhibition concurrently with the summit.
During the summit, Carle gave a presentation on “Enabling the hotel business to create the right answers to energy management challenges and business performance.”
He said: “We at Schneider Electric actually ‘walk the talk;’ efficiency remains a key component of the Schneider Electric Hotels’ offering. Our solutions help reduce capital and operational expenditure, aid future proofing, add to the bottom line, and multiply asset value as Energy Efficient Buildings will be sold at a higher price than non-efficient buildings.”
Speaking about the energy management strategies of hotels, Carle said they vary widely. “Some adopt specific solutions such as LED lighting and guestroom controls, while others opt for holistic solutions that address every aspect of the operations. Irrespective of the property’s size, energy management can result in savings of up to 30 percent on existing buildings and significantly reduce carbon footprint, he said.
Elaborating on the company’s total solution offering, Carle cited the example of the Information Technology and Communication Complex (ITCC) in Riyadh, one of Schneider Electric’s largest ongoing projects. “Our solutions are designed to cater to all requirements. For instance, the ITCC Riyadh is a real case of how our expertise is delivering a state-of-the-art, game changing solution consisting of security, IP connectivity, electrical distribution, and guest comfort solutions. Our involvement from the planning stage allowed us to provide valuable inputs at certain points,” he said.
“Our portfolio of services and solutions for the hotel industry is in significant demand in the Kingdom, particularly in the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. We believe that the boom in religious tourism has driven this demand. The Kingdom Hotel Expansion Summit has offered a platform to showcase our energy efficiency solutions to key decision makers. We have also highlighted the wide ranging benefits of partnering with us from the initial planning stages,” he added.
In Saudi Arabia, Schneider Electric is also working closely with the Hilton group, Marriott and Accor among other hotel partners, he added.
With both religious and business travel set to grow exponentially and a government drive to develop the domestic tourism market, Schneider Electric’s operations and presence in Saudi Arabia is expected to register a rapid expansion.
During its last road show in Riyadh, Alkhobar and Jeddah in April, the company announced that Schneider solutions could reduce energy by 30 percent in existing buildings and 70 percent in new installations started by the company.
Due to the increasing population and rapid development of industrialization projects throughout the Kingdom, there is an increase of 8 percent in the energy demand annually.
Existing buildings could be modified with Schneider solutions to reduce energy consumption.
“If it is a new building, we can deploy all our mechanisms to optimize the energy consumption by making it a smart building in keeping with the modern technology,” the announcement said, adding that such buildings will be efficient enough to give the best benefit to the end-users whether at home, factories, or commercial complexes.
The ITCC in Riyadh is one of Schneider Electric’s ambitious largest and most important ongoing projects.
The others include King Saud University (KSU) Girls’ Campus electrical infrastructure solution, for which Schneider Electric received the Best Electricity Project of the Year Award at the Buildinfra Awards; Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Microsoft Innovation Center (MIC) at Al Yamamah University, and the Arab National Bank (ANB) that saw Schneider Electric implementing advanced mission critical data center solutions. It has also completed the new commercial buildings in Makkah, Riyadh and Jubail.