Atkins' CEO Uwe Krueger: Vision, partnerships and technology key to energy efficiency in the face of rapid urbanisation - 20 January 2014
Atkins' chief executive officer, Prof Dr Uwe Krueger, recently spoke at the third Innovation Lecture Series, hosted by the UAE-UK Business Council's Energy Working Group in Abu Dhabi.
The lecture, entitled "Energy Efficiency: Engineering Smart Cities of the Future", outlined some of the steps required to better generate, distribute and use energy in the face of the latest urbanisation trends. The purpose of the event was to highlight the pressing need for innovation and collaboration in order to deliver energy sustainability in the age of smart cities.
Uwe commented: "Seventy-five per cent of the world's population will be living in cities by 2050. Urbanisation is not just about building more though; it's about building better and creating smart cities where people want to live. This encourages us to address all allied challenges such as water infrastructure, transport, food, health and wealth-creation and of course energy needs as cities of the future need to become environmentally resilient, socially cohesive and as efficient as possible."
The UAE is demonstrating examples of smart cities like Masdar City that has taken this very first and important step towards developing an energy efficient city. Masdar City is not only committed to building one of the most sustainable cities in the world and one that is an attractive place to live, but also to achieving this in a commercially viable manner.
Many of the Energy Working Group members have been working to support the UAE's energy and infrastructure growth for many years.Energy partners such as Shell and BP have been in the UAE for over 70 years, working in partnership with the government on oil and gas exploration and production, and Atkins is working closely with the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation in establishing a civil nuclear programme for the UAE.
Uwe added: "Through partnerships - political, technical and social - we must bring together the best of technology at a city, national and international scale. Innovation in all spheres is reshaping our world and the pace of change is increasing, bringing us closer to sustainable smart cities now and in the future."
The lecture was attended by oil and gas, renewables, nuclear energy and engineering professionals from the UAE and UK's energy industries, in addition to government officials, urban planning and sustainability experts.
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Notes to editors: Atkins Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is one of the world's leading design, engineering and project management consultancies*, employing some 17,400 people across the UK, North America, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Europe. Our people's breadth and depth of expertise and drive to ask why has allowed us to plan, design and enable some of the world's most complex and time critical projects. *14th largest global design firm (Engineering News-Record 2013) and the third largest multidisciplinary consultancy in Europe (Svensk Teknik och Design 2012). Recent projects Atkins is working across urban regeneration, masterplanning, national energy programmes, major transport schemes, water and environment projects - applying smart design solutions on projects including:
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