In line with the governments’ initiatives to enhance the region’s position as the world’s leading sustainable tourism destination, DuPod, an AMANA company, has announced the launch of its Smart Pods—a sustainable and planet-friendly modular solution.
The Smart Pod prototype, developed in collaboration with AMANA’s Energy-Saving division, offers features such as wireless Internet of Things (IoT) sensors, water and electricity consumption metrics, and indoor air quality metrics. Catering primarily to the hospitality industry, Smart Pod’s AI-enabled innovative actions include leak detection, preventive maintenance, and consumption prediction.
Commenting on the product launch, Ihab Ramlawi, Managing Director and Co-founder of DuPod said: "At DuPod, we’ve created an environment that embraces technology and innovation to go beyond the conventional construction solutions into a new and exciting territory of productization, targeting higher efficiency. Smart Pods can facilitate measuring, managing, and automating the energy consumption of a building—primarily developed for wet areas of hotels and residential buildings. This intelligent new solution controls the water and energy consumption, allowing stakeholders such as hotel owners and operators greater energy efficiency."
Earlier this year, a directive from Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) mandated that all hotels comply with the sustainability requirements for hotel establishments by July 1, 2021, as set by Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST). Under the directive, hotels must also resume monthly submission of carbon emission drivers. The system has the long-term objective of advancing sustainability performance across the sector. Saudi Arabia, with a target of bringing in 100 million visitors per year by 2030, is another country looking to become the next sustainable tourism destination through ambitious projects that combine luxury hospitality with environmental conservation and revitalisation efforts.
"Combining advanced technology with a modular product such as bathroom Pod, this smart solution could be a game-changer especially when it comes to the hospitality industry," Ramlawi added.
In line with AMANA’s mission of championing intelligent solutions that improve the way we build, DuPod offers a multitude of intelligent modular solutions for developers, architects, and contractors across key markets in the region. As part of AMANA’s field-tested modular platform active in the MENA region since 2012, Pods are manufactured off-site in a factory-controlled environment, increasing efficiency and decreasing waste as well as pollution, which are problems typically associated with traditional construction. DuPod also adapts advanced Building Information Modeling (BIM) engineering to enable enhanced project coordination, collaboration, and efficiency between all stakeholders.