Dnata will save at least 650 metric tonnes of carbon and 1.5 million kilowatt hours (kwH) of electricity per year following the installation of a new, innovative technology at its Singapore Changi Airport (SIN) facilities.
The introduction of Cooling as a Service (CaaS) provides chilled water and air conditioning through a reliable, efficient and sustainable solution. Supplied by provider Kaer, CaaS was implemented at dnata Singapore in January 2022 to provide cool water and air to its cargo, catering and support facilities. Under the CaaS model, Kaer retrofitted the cooling systems serving the two facilities with high efficiency, low-Global Warming Potential (GWP) technology and have deployed their suite of data mining, machine learning and carbon monitoring software.
This has resulted in a 54% reduction in energy consumption at dnata’s cargo base, and a 35% reduction at its catering and support offices. The technology also allows for real-time monitoring and reporting of service levels, as well as energy use and carbon emissions for ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) reporting.
The carbon saving of 650 metric tonnes each year is equivalent to the greenhouse gas emissions from 530 petrol-powered cars for one year, or over six million miles (9.65 million kilometres) driven by an average petrol-powered car. It is also equivalent to the Carbon Dioxide emissions from 464 average homes’ electricity use for one year.
dnata’s Singapore facilities were already benefitting from sustainable technology through the use of a rooftop power plant which comprises of 6,500 individual solar panels, generating over 4,300 megawatt hours of green power each year. This enabled dnata to reduce its electricity-related carbon emissions by 20%. The energy savings achieved by the new cooling systems is the equivalent to installing an additional 2,400 rooftop solar panels.
Charles Galloway, dnata’s Regional CEO, Airport Operations – Asia Pacific, said: "We are proud to be an early pioneer in low-GWP refrigerant, and making our Singapore operations even more efficient and sustainable. We have plans to expand our CaaS initiatives to additional areas of our operations, and look forward to working with our partners to further reduce our environmental footprint."
Justin Taylor, Chief Executive Officer, Kaer, added: "We are excited to welcome dnata into the CaaS movement and to be a part of their journey towards carbon neutrality. Our ongoing partnership with dnata allows us to scale up our investments in low carbon technology in the coming years and showcase how the implementation of CaaS, alongside the use of solar panels can deliver clean and sustainable cooling."
