Green Oman

ESO Spearheads Sultanate-Wide Campaign to Reduce Electricity and Water Consumption and Save Over Twice As Much Power as 2011 Earth Hour Event

Muscat, 10th March, 2012: The Environment Society of Oman (ESO) is spearheading the Sultanate’s participation in the global “Earth Hour” event that will be held on the 31^st March from 8.30pm to 9.30pm. The annual event aims to create awareness about global warming and the need for smarter electricity and water conservation.

Company Reinforces Commitment to Preserving and Enhancing Sultanate’s Environment by Its Innovative World Class Water Reuse Project
Muscat, 23rd January, 2012:  Haya Water has announced it is sponsoring Oman Environment Day 2012 and supporting a wide range of eco-friendly initiatives that are being organised by the Ministry of Environment and Climate Affairs throughout January.

The company is fully committed to creating growing environmental awareness among Omani society as it develops its pioneering water reuse project across Muscat that will make a huge impact on the conservation of valuable water resources.

As a business with environmental benefits and water reuse at the heart of its activities, Haya Water is very proud to be sponsoring and pledging its full support to this annual initiative to encourage better environmental practices and create more awareness among the broad public in Oman.
Over 70 per cent of all waste water collected by the company’s water reuse project that is now being implemented across Muscat Governorate is being made available for use for irrigation purposes and helping to keep Muscat green without using either scarce natural groundwater or more expensive desalinated water.

Muscat: As part of its commitment towards educating the public on to the perils of inadequate information security while promoting responsible environmental stewardship, and offering the most reliable and sustainable solutions to dispose unwanted and obsolete records, the Secured Shredding Services, first professional secure information destruction and paper waste management service provider in Oman, participated actively in the recent held KOM in Green initiative.

According to Wissam Ayoub, Executive Director at the Secured Shredding Services, a part of “ARAD” group of companies, "The KOM in Green initiative, which was launched by the Knowledge Oasis Muscat, has played a vital role in spreading awareness and educating the public on the benefits of waste management in general.  The initiative to include college students was a very smart step as we believe environmental awareness must start with education. The reaction that both college students’ had shown was overwhelming.  The excitement we felt from the students and the efforts they made proved to us that, there is an aware generation that is worried and eager to take care of the environment in Oman in the very near future. At SSS, we assisted with the logistics of the campaign by providing collection containers and collecting the waste paper.  We also provided the results and the statistics for each college."

Treated Water from the Company’s Water Re-Use Project Used to Irrigate Muscat Parks and Other Areas


Muscat, 18th July, 2011:  Residents in Muscat will be able to enjoy a “Greener” experience this Ramadan thanks to the efforts of Haya Water in supplying tens of millions of litres of treated water to ensure that the trees, grass and plants of Muscat Parks and other major parks and public areas stay healthy.


As Ramadan progresses more and more families love to take the opportunity to get out and about to enjoy the cooler evening weather and fresh air – with thousands of them visiting Muscat’s many parks and landscaped open areas


But as they walk around the parks and enjoy the range of trees, plants, flowers and grassed areas to sit and play on few would realise the impact that Haya Water’s world-class water re-use project is having on ensuring the health and vitality of this “green” environment.
This is all part of the company’s continued to commitment to work towards helping Muscat to become a much better city for its residents to live in and where commercial companies can prosper in the future.

Event on Opening Day of COP16 Demonstrates Importance of Business, Government and Civil Society Collaboration to Drive Breakthrough Climate Solutions

CANCUN, Mexico- Dec. 2, 2010 --(BUSINESS WIRE/ME NewsWire)-- On opening day of COP16, CEO’s of leading global multinationals and the head of WWF joined together to emphasize the urgency of building a low-carbon economy for our global prosperity, health, security and safety. While expectations for COP16 may be dampened from those in Copenhagen, these business leaders showcased the depth and breadth of business commitment to action against climate change as they outlined what they are already doing and how governmental leadership and civil society collaboration can help to accelerate and scale impact.

November, Muscat: Ramada Muscat has joined hands with neighbouring Al Sahwa School to support the environmentalists of tomorrow. Al Sahwa School has an Environmental Club that drives students to reduce their carbon footprint. Some of the ideas initiated by the students include paper and plastic re-cycling and raising awareness through campaigns to encourage students from a young age to ‘Think Green’.

Ramada Muscat Hotel and Al Sahwa School got together recently to plant trees in the school premises. Twenty managers from Ramada Muscat and the students from Al Sahwa School planted lemon and fig trees along with other saplings obtained from a nursery in Seeb.

Albert Fahil

Many industrially developed countries are the greatest environmental polluters. For example, United States and China produce highest quantity of hazardous elements. Although United States consists of only 5 percent of the total population of the World, it produces about 30% of waste products of the entire World while China is taking over this status from the USA within the past decades.

Since 1950, the USA has been taking initiatives to restrict environmental pollution and as a result, many parliament acts were introduced such as Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, and Noise Control Act. The world's disasters that killed great number of people such as the Great Smog in London (1952), Bhopal Disaster in India (1984), Amoco Cadiz oil tanker wreckage, Britain (1978) etc., all but sufficient indications to illustrate how mismanagement of artificial products can create havocs powerful enough to diminish lives from the Earth.

Sustainability expert to help regional Mövenpick hotels attain Green Globe Certification, cut 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and save $5 per room-night

Mövenpick Hotels and Resorts in the Middle East, as a part of a corporate commitment to the environment, has embarked on the Green Globe Certification (GGC) programme for sustainability, which could cut their annual carbon emissions by more than 150,000 tonnes as well as saving utility costs equivalent to about $5 per room-night.

UAE-based Farnek Avireal, which currently holds the exclusive rights to utilise the Green Globe brand, the premier worldwide sustainability stamp for the tourism industry, in 20 different countries throughout the Middle East, will be responsible for assisting Mővenpick to meet the 248 exacting standards.

Markus Oberlin, General Manager of Farnek Avireal, commented, “Initially Mövenpick aims to certify 20% of its hotels by the end of next year and the rest of its international property portfolio by the end of 2013. All Mővenpick hotels will have access to our energy benchmark auditing system which uses internet based software ‘hotel-optimiser’ to calculate CO2 emissions.”

This includes the financial cost, allowing hotels to track their energy and water consumption as well as non-recyclable waste production. Many of the chief engineers of Mövenpick properties across the region have already been trained in implementing the technology at an intensive workshop in Cairo.

Farnek Avireal, the leading sustainable facilities management company in the region, was the recipient of the Emirates Energy Award for research after conducting a survey which revealed the average CO2 emissions from five-star hotels in Dubai, are around 6,500 tonnes a year. This compares with 3,000 tonnes from a similar hotel in Europe, labeling the Arabian Gulf with one of the world’s highest CO2 emissions on a per capita basis.

“In total, we estimate that if Mővenpick’s 24 properties in the Middle East region comply with Green Globe standards they could reduce their carbon emissions by more than 150,000 tonnes annually,” said Markus Oberlin, General Manager of Farnek Avireal.

Moreover, water consumption per guest in a five-star hotel in Europe is around 490 litres, whereas in the region the lowest consumption rates start at 650 litres and can go considerably higher. Furthermore many hotels in the region consume an average of between 275 to 325 kilowatt hours of power per square metre per guest, some 225% more than similar hotels in Germany.

“Complying with the GGC audit will not only reduce the energy consumption of their hotels it will also have a direct effect on their utility bills. Our research has shown that the annual utility costs for a five-star hotel in Dubai are around $2 million. Reduced energy consumption could save an average 250 bedroom hotel around $5 per room-night,” added Oberlin.

Indeed nearly 50% of travellers polled by Travel Weekly said they would be prepared to pay up to 10% more to stay in a sustainable hotel and 66% had serious doubts about environmental initiatives posted on hotel websites.

“In the current climate, hotels must be environmentally friendly and need credible international certification. By committing to GGC as a group of hotels rather than individually, Mővenpick will gain a considerable competitive edge,” said Oberlin.

For more information, please visit: www.farnek.com or alternatively log on to www.hotel-optimizer.com