January 27^th. The Faculty of Engineering at the University participated in the 4^th International Energy Conference which was organized by the Engineering Association at Farthi Arafat Hall in Ramallah under the auspices of His Excellency, President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Faculty’s delegation consisted of Dr. Nabil Dmaidi, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Mu’tasem Ba’ba, Head of the Construction Engineering Department, Dr. Imad Ibrik, Director of the Energy Research Center, Prof. Marwan Mahomoud and Mr. Shadi Sawalha from the departments of Electrical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, as well as Engineer Muhammad Dwaikat, Director of the Engineering Communication Center and a number of students and volunteers.

Commenting on the Faculty’s participation in the conference, the University President, Prof. Rami Hamdallah, said that the University, represented by its Faculty of Engineering and engineering centers has achieved substantial progress with respect to energy issues whether through the projects that the Energy Research Center implements or through the applied research and scientific studies conducted by the Faculty of Engineering.

He called upon the concerned both in the public and private sectors to invest in the field of engineering and support skilled engineers in order to achieve more progress in the field of energy locally. The President also thanked the staff and students of the Faculty of Engineering for their participation in such a major event.

Dr. Dmaidi on his part informed that Palestine is among the countries in which energy costs are very high due to the limited resources that the country has and the difficult situations that it experiences under the Israeli occupation. This requires more efforts to be exerted in this field in order to face current challenges through collaboration between academic and scientific research institutions.

Engineer Ahmed Adili, Chief of Engineers at the Engineering Association, said that the conference included more than 36 work papers that discussed traditional energy issues, renewable energy, possibilities of investment in the field of energy in Palestine and more.

The University participated in the organizing committee and the scientific research judging committee, as well as presenting several work papers and studies such as those that were made by Dr. Ba’ba’, Dr. Ibrik and Prof. Marwan Mahmoud.

The University also participated in Al-Quds Exhibition for Energy Technology with three graduation projects made by students from the departments of Electrical, Chemical and Construction Engineering. The first project was on the design of energy networks; the second one was on building a green, environmentally aware school that is also energy-efficient. The third project was conducted on the production of gas from plants.

The two-day conference consisted of a number of sessions in which a number of experts from Germany, Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom and Turkey presented several work papers on the different fields of energy generation. Dr. Omar Kittaneh, Minister of Energy and Natural Resources at the Palestinian Authority, spoke about the status of energy in Palestine.

Other participants included Engineer Fawzi Kharbat, Secreteray-General of the Arab Union of Producers, Transporters and Distributors of Electricity, Engineer Marwan Abdel Hamid, Vice-President of the World Federation of Engineering Organizations (WFEO), Dr. Imad Khatib, Secretary-General of the Palestine Academy for Science and Technology, Engineer Ahmed Al-Salaymeh, Director of the Energy Research Institute at the University of Jordan, Professor Joy Galancy from Netherlands spoke about renewable energy and its use in Palestine, and Engineer Adel Al-Kharafi, President of the WFEO.