Repton School Dubai has entered into a partnership with Dubai-based energy services company, Taka Solutions with the aim of reducing its total energy consumption by 14,201,866kWh by 2027. This is equivalent to over 10,041metric tons of CO2; CO2 emissions from 1,700 homes’ electricity use for one year; CO2 emissions from 1,280,587,687 smartphones being charged; or greenhouse gas emissions from 2,169 passenger vehicles driven for one year.
Repton Dubai plans to engage with students and teachers to transform the project into a ‘living lab’, so students can see what was installed, monitor energy, create competitions and gamification between classes. The partnership forms part of Repton Dubai’s ongoing sustainability initiatives across its 1.3 million sq. ft. campus, which include – the Repton Garden, designed out of recycled products and launched by the Expo 2020 Repton Junior Club in line with Expo 2020’s theme of ‘Sustainability.’ In 2017, the Repton Project RAM student team won the Sustainable and Best Newcomer awards at the international Land Rover 4×4 Schools Technology Challenge for designing a sustainable remote controlled 4×4 using recycled milk bottles and airless tyres, increasing durability and longevity of the tyres, in addition to wearing recycled uniforms made from 50% recycled water bottles.
Since December 2018, Taka Solutions has worked extensively with Repton School Dubai to conduct an investment-grade energy audit of the school, which entailed a detailed energy and water engineering analysis of the campus based on its current operations and its past energy and water consumption.
Key findings illustrated that the Nad Al Sheba campus could significantly benefit from an upgrade of the building control systems, primarily in automated systems that control the air conditioning and a replacement of lighting systems with new high efficiency lights, which will be implemented over the next six months. Results also revealed a total projected energy saving of 2,028,838 kWh per year for Repton Dubai (1,434,470 kg of CO2 per year), which translates to the below potential savings in energy and water:
- Energy Savings:
| 890,898AED Annual Energy Savings | 20.6 AED/m2 Savings/ Year | 46.9kWh/m2 EUI Reduction | 23% Energy Savings |
- Water Savings:
| 87,660 AED Annual Water Savings | 2.0 AED/m2 Savings/ Year | 35 IG/m2 WUI Reduction | 9% Water Savings |
David Cook, Headmaster at Repton School Dubai states, “Repton Dubai is constantly evolving its sustainable processes to positively impact the environment and community, therefore we are proud to enter into this partnership with Taka Solutions to take our environmental contribution to new heights. Environmental sustainability and energy saving processes are the future and for us it is much more than just AED savings per year – it is driving positive change for the future through students.We have searched for the ideal partner for a number of years, and now through this innovative collaboration with Taka Solutions we will be able to intrigue, excite and teach students about championing the best sustainable processes in any situation.”
Charles Blaschke IV, Director of Development & Innovation says, “We are happy and excited to continue our work with Repton Dubai and Evolvence Knowledge Investments. The school and the team are one of the highest quality and caliber all around. Repton Dubai is the perfect example of how Taka Solutions can help building owners, operators and managers to save energy, water, carbon and money. Using our innovative financed paid from savings business model, we will only get paid a portion of the savings we actually generate. This helps us to deploy the best engineering, equipment and software to save as much as we can over the long-term contract. Integrating the students and teachers is a unique aspect of school projects we are excited to start, so the kids understand what we are doing and how they are making an impact.”
Taka Solutions provided Repton Dubai with an extensive understanding of the campus’s energy consumption and a detailed list of 11 recommendations called energy efficiency measures (EEMs). The implementation period of the EEMs began on 22nd September 2020 and will run until 1st February 2021, during which time Taka Solutions will undertake a detailed design of the materials necessary for construction, selecting contractors as well as other administrative requirements such as site-specific risk management processes, COVID-19 plans, and various performance indicators. The operational period will run thereafter, concluding in 2027.
The EEMs that will be installed across Repton School Dubai include:
- Energy Control and Management System (ECMS)
- Energy Metering
- Building Management System Upgrade
- AC Cooling Optimization
- Variable Speed AC Pumping
- Variable Speed Chiller Pumps
- Chilled Water Pressure Reset
- Fresh Air Demand Controlled Ventilation
- Swimming Pool Heating
- Interior Lighting Retrofit
- Aerator and Flow Control
The implementation period will follow a strict guideline following all the health and safety requirements including COVID-19. Repton School Dubai and Taka Solutions have carefully planned a schedule to perform most of the implementation process during campus non-academic hours, during the nights and weekends.For processes to be carried out within student occupied areas,operations and delivery zones will be isolated, maintaining dust control and ensuring operational sounds will be as limited as possible.