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ENOC ‘green’ station pumps eco-sensibility

DUBAI - At a time when oil companies across the world are feeling the heat from environmentalists on global warming, ENOC’s newly opened ‘Green’ station in Emirates Hills, is a modest attempt at pumping eco-sensibility into the petrol station experience.

While pumping gas may never be ‘green,’ with the future of transportation in the oil-rich Middle East most likely to remain firmly rooted in fossil fuels, any effort to lessen the environmental damage is worthy of praise.

ENOC’s ‘Green’ station is the first of its kind in the region to generate half of its energy requirements from renewable sources, from low voltage Solar-powered LED lights (with a 12-year lifespan). It has also adopted sustainable water features that cut water consumption by a quarter. The new service station recycles carwash water and also provides customers the option to use a ‘No-Wet’ waterless car wash system that utilises a naturally-made eco-friendly car wash liquid.

According to ENOC’s Chief Executive Officer, Saeed Abdullah Khoory, the ‘Green’ station is one in a series of eco-friendly initiatives the oil company has been supporting for a greener future. “With the opening of the station, we are setting a trend not only in the UAE but across the Middle East. We are encouraging Dubai residents to reduce their environmental footprints by using the green services we provide,” he said.

Khoory also added that the ENOC green station is the first of many eco-friendly stations that the company aims to build in the future. “We plan to make eco-friendly practices cost-effective as well,” he said, addressing consumer worries that green alternatives may be heavy on the wallet.

The world’s first ‘Green’ gas station, BP’s Helios House in Los Angeles, was built with cutting-edge earth-friendly design, using such materials as farmed wood and less-polluting paint, a rooftop made of 90 solar panels and a rainfall collection system used to irrigate plants nearby.

“BP’s initiative is much more than other oil companies have even considered, but it’s really not going ‘beyond petroleum,” Brian Grishaber, a Dubai-based Green entrepreneur and environmentalist said, referring to BP’s motto. The Los Angeles native was a consultant in 2007 for the Helios House project. “Three years on and the station still doesn’t offer charging stations for electric cars, which are quite popular in the United States. At the end of the day, these kinds of initiatives are just a form of green-washing the oil-reliant public.”

From recycled-glass floors to a living cacti roof, Helios House has been the inspiration behind the Middle East’s latest attempt, having received approval from the Leadership in Energy Design certification system (LEED).

ENOC’s ‘Green’ station may not be constructed of wholly recycled materials and hydroponically grown plants, but it does offer high-tech eco-features, the first of their kind in the Middle East. A centralised vacuum system and integrated sound barrier to support power conservation and reduce waste and noise, a waste segregation system and environmentally-friendly engine oils such as PROTEC Green and VULCAN Green for consumers are some of the features that places the new ‘Green’ station in a better light.

A fuel-saving device called Hicione is also available at the station, which, when added to vehicles, can decrease fuel consumption by 20 per cent and carbon footprint by 60 per cent. Even all the furniture used at the station are made from recycled materials.

Despite all of these state-of-the-art ‘Green” technologies, the irony is obvious. The station attendants are armed with green-living brochures in one hand and gas pumps in the other. “A green gas station is like a vegetarian who eats fish,” according to Grishaber. “However, short of getting an electric car, this green station is as close to ‘environmentally friendly’ as an oil conglomerate can get in this region,” he added. Considering the limitations of technology and the desert climate, ENOC’s effort at creating sustainable eco-friendly practices for an unsustainable resource like petrol is a positive, albeit tiny, step in the green direction.

news@khaleejtimes.com