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Abu Dhabi is using profits from its oil sales to build the world’s first sustainable city in the desert – powered by solar energy. Terry Carter and Lara Dunston take a virtual tour of the eco-city
Fifty years after oil was first discovered in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Arabian city is turning its attention away from what lies under the desert and sea, and looking upwards to the infinitely renewable energy source in the sky – the sun. Masdar – meaning “source” in Arabic – is an ambitious initiative to develop sustainable technologies to meet the world’s energy demands.
Its showcase is a new city completely powered by renewable energy – the world’s first carbon-neutral, zero-waste city. “Residents and commuters will live the highest quality of life with the lowest environmental footprint,” says Dr Sultan Al-Jaber, the CEO of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), which is driving the project.
While countries such as Japan, the US and Germany have begun to use photovoltaic energy – electricity derived from light – it’s predicted that only 0.4 percent of the world’s energy will be derived from solar power by 2010. The Masdar project, therefore, makes an audacious statement about the viability of solar energy, and also about Abu Dhabi’s intentions as one of the world’s largest energy providers.
A walled city covering six square kilometres and powered chiefly by photovoltaic energy is the first stage of the US$22bn project. But even before the metropolis, home to 50,000 residents and 1,500 businesses, is built, the energy for its construction will be provided by a photovoltaic energy plant built just outside the city walls.
When completed in 2016, structures within the city will have building-integrated photo-voltaics (BIPVs), while the narrow laneways will feature photovoltaic canopies, providing shade and energy. The city walls will house energy, environmental and recycling services.
To keep the streets cool in Abu Dhabi’s harsh environment, where sweltering summer temperatures often touch 50°C, the walls will allow cool sea winds to flow through, while blocking hot desert winds. A low-rise wind farm will provide additional energy.
The desalination plant for the city’s water supply will be 80 percent more efficient than existing plants, and all waste-water will be recycled and used to water trees. As the number of residents rises, so will the number of trees.
Anyone who has experienced Abu Dhabi’s traffic and parking problems will be relieved to learn that Masdar city will have no cars. Walking and cycling will be the norm, with the developers, UK-based architectural firm Foster + Partners, promising that no part of the city will be more than 200m from a transport link. A Light Railway Transport system will take people to other parts of Abu Dhabi and, eventually, to Dubai on the proposed Abu Dhabi-Dubai Express Rail Service.
“The Masdar initiative has provided us with the opportunity to realise – on a large scale – many of the issues relating to architecture and sustainability that have been driving us since as early as the 1970s,” Lord Foster says. “We feel privileged to be working with a visionary client to push boundaries, question assumptions and think about new ways that we might live in the future.”
“Old” Abu Dhabi won’t be forgotten, however. The urban architecture of the new city will reflect Abu Dhabi’s idiosyncratic style of high-density, mixed-use planning that sees shops, offices and accommodation in nearly every building along main thoroughfares. Masdar will employ the classic Gulf architectural motif and symbol of Arab ingenuity, the wind tower, to cool buildings. Plans include distinctly Arabic touches, such as mashrabiya patterns and overhanging balconies – but with the addition of Segway personal transporters whizzing down walkways.
The headquarters of the Masdar organisation will be another world-first. According to designers Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill, the “positive energy” building will produce more energy than it consumes, through one of the world’s largest array of BIPVs, as well as low-impact air-conditioning. “The project represents the perfect integration of architecture and engineering, resulting in a dynamic, inviting building that outperforms any other structure of its type in the world,” says Gill.
But the research carried out inside the city’s buildings could be the most significant legacy of the project. The first postgraduate educational and research-driven institute in the region, the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST), will be established in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
“The Masdar Institute will serve as the nucleus of the Masdar Initiative,” Dr Sultan Al-Jabar explains, “feeding it with talent and innovative technologies to enhance economic development and promote new industries.” It’s hoped that MIST’s research will lead to commercially viable products or processes, including the manufacture of photovoltaic panels in Abu Dhabi itself. To entice talent to Masdar, an innovation and investment unit is offering funding to firms developing green technologies. Major players including BP and Credit Suisse are on board, and Masdar is a flagship project for the World Wildlife Fund’s One Planet Living programme, which aims to show it’s possible to improve the quality of people’s lives and live within ecological limits.
The founder of the UAE, the late President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al-Nahayan, was made a United Nations Champion of the Earth posthumously in 2005. He was passionate about making Abu Dhabi – one of the world’s biggest energy consumers per capita – a green city. Today, his dream seems within reach.
FOSTER + PARTNERS
The firm was founded by Lord Norman Foster in 1967. A world leader on ecological awareness and energy consumption, the company also places a special emphasis on how architecture can affect the quality of life of workers and residents. Earlier this year, Foster told Time magazine: “Through this project, you’ll see a society that you could argue is anticipatory. It’s getting ahead of the game and others will follow us. As a particular kind of architect, you feed on challenges, and to do it in this environment, in any environment, a zero-waste, zero-carbon city is like putting a man on the moon.”
www.fosterand. partners.com
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