The Emirate with the most oil Ab, You Dhabi, is well aware that crude oil will cease to flow at some point. What will happen then? The authorities created and promoted Masdar City in an epic effort to forge ahead with their destiny. Foster and Partners designed this ambitious, self-contained, renewable energy city that is rising in the desert, 11 miles from downtown. It is now in its sixth year of growth in the town, being run by the local group Masdar (with significant support from the federal government). It is well on its way to being completed. For an experimental purpose, the city is intriguing. It’s also a viable option for commercial real estate. The jury isn’t out.
With a total area of one million square meters (247 acres) constructed so far, which is about fifteen percent of Masdar City’s master plan — and with 4,000 people living there, Masdar City is no small task. The city’s “green print” shows how a town can rapidly grow while controlling water, energy, and waste. It is important to remember that although “sustainable” is nice, it must be economically feasible in the long run.
Most electricity comes from an enormous solar power plant with 87,777 panels, 10 megawatts, and solar panels for buildings. The electricity demand is controlled with various features that eliminate the requirement to cool the air despite its desert setting. The building is elevated above the surrounding land to take advantage of cool breezes from the Persian Gulf; the short streets are narrow and laid out to maximize the amount of shade available throughout the day; decorative terracotta grills protect the building glass; and the 45-meter wind tower draws air from the top and forces them across the streets, creating an effect of cooling. This results in temperatures the developers claim are typically fifteen degrees lower than those in the desert.
For water, the aim is to reuse around 80 percent of water generated by bathtubs, sinks, showers, washing machines, and dishwashers into “greywater” meant to be reused multiple times. Every building must meet the standards in LEED Gold certification–a rating awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council–and use sustainable palm wood whenever feasible. Incredibly, there aren’t faucet handles or light switches within the urban area. All of the lights and faucets are controlled by motion.
One of the repercussions of design modifications triggered by the financial meltdown 2008 was those Logan’s Run-style driverless travel pods that could have swarmed throughout the city. Instead, an electric fleet of vehicles is in use currently. Still, the primary aim is to make the city bike- and walk-friendly, removing the necessity for fossil fuel-powered transportation.
As the city grows within Masdar’s Institute of Science and Technology, which specializes in sustainability and energy, additional tenants comprise those from the International Renewable Energy Agency, Siemens, General Electric, and Mitsubishi. Together, they employ around a couple of thousand residents. However, the final plan of $20 billion that may not be completed until 2025 (if it ever happens) will accommodate an estimated 40,000 residents and an average of 50,000 daily mass transit commuters.
The most important question is, can Masdar City ever stand on its financial footing, allowing it to be replicated even in countries where billions of dollars from the government can’t be found? It appears that we won’t know for the next ten years. However, architects and urban planners can now take the most innovative concepts from this expensive green playground and apply their ideas to benefit the world. Bring a few extra liters of water for your cycling tour to ensure the wind isn’t blowing.
The article was first written by the editor’s team of the XPRIZE, which designs and runs incentivized competitions that make revolutionary breakthroughs to improve the lives of all humanity.