The desert is currently littered with solar panels – 25 different models being tested for their energy efficiency, one of which will help supply the capital’s most ambitious project to date. Masdar City is a zero-carbon, zero-waste initiative that could house up to 90,000 people and run almost entirely on renewable energy. At first glance, the project presents the reality of an oil-rich emirate taking environmental issues seriously. But is it the catalyst for the globe going green or simply a response to declining oil reserves?
Aside from war, no issue dominates global news and political discussion more than the environment. Just ask Al Gore. It raises debate and sparks promises from governments and multi-billion dollar industries, such as airlines, but it is one that has been largely ignored in practice. The latter is starting to show its environmentally friendly intentions, including last month’s first commercial flight to be powered partly by biofuel flying from London to Amsterdam, as well as continuing alternative fuel tests on the largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380, but it is whole-hearted action from governments that is most in-demand.
Abu Dhabi has seized the initiative and come up with Masdar, a multi-billion dollar investment in renewable, alternative energy and clean technology, fronted by a 6 sq km walled city, by far the most ambitious sustainability programme ever launched by a government. There’s no doubt the capital has been aiming to put itself on the map in recent years, and to make a mark bigger and more imaginative than anybody else’s. The name ‘Abu Dhabi’ can be seen around the world on World Rally Championship cars, advertising hoardings at Chelsea Football Club and Harlequins Rugby Club in the UK, and at art festivals in Paris. Icons of music have performed here, and by the end of next year, Abu Dhabi will be firmly on the Formula 1 motor racing calendar. But if 2007 was full of sporting and cultural ambition, 2008 is looking set to be the year for going green.
Despite the obvious ‘no fear’ attitude of the government when it comes to planning and implementing its projects and tourism drives, it is somewhat of a shock that the capital is intent on becoming the global leader and example for environmentally friendly practices. After all, it currently gets none of its energy from renewable sources, it is the fifth largest exporter of oil in the world and sixth largest producer of natural gas, and combined with the other six emirates has capitalised on rising prices and earns US$225 million in revenue from petrol every day. Among the UAE tourist attractions, there are scores of air-conditioned shopping malls, coastal artificial islands, and, as soon as Marina Mall’s SnoWorld is complete, two indoor ski slopes.
According to sources at ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the oil reserves still have at least 80 years left, so it is unlikely Masdar City is a panic-response to a dwindling oil supply. It could be seen as the beginning of a lengthy back-up plan for when the oil finally does run out, or, more cynically, as a PR stunt in response to a generation fuelled by talk of carbon footprints; the UAE has been earmarked as the nation with the biggest by the World Wildlife Fund.
Or is it a combination of all three? But having the PR stunt theory put to him by Time Out, Khaled Awad, director of Masdar’s Property Development Unit, instead chose to promote Masdar City’s impact on Abu Dhabi’s economy and significant involvement in helping the world’s environment: ‘It will help drive the economic diversification of Abu Dhabi, maintain and expand Abu Dhabi’s position in evolving global energy markets, help Abu Dhabi become a developer of technology, and make a meaningful contribution to sustainable human development.’ Coming from one of the key figures in the development of Masdar City, we can hardly expect any admittance that the project is stemming from low-on-oil paranoia or an attempt to sustain the nation’s squeaky clean image by showing a forward step that doesn’t leave a carbon footprint, but perhaps the cynics are forgetting one thing. One thing that has prevented other governments from making similar inroads into their supposed commitments to the environment. Colossal amounts of funding. Masdar is being driven by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC), a wholly owned company of the government through the Mubadala Development Company. The projected cost of the entire development is US$22 billion, US$15 billion of which has been pledged by the government to the entire initiative, with US$4 billion of it going directly towards the city. The remaining US$18 billion is coming via direct investments. Ironically, the government’s financial involvement is an example of the profits from fossil fuels funding green projects. Where other nations may not have this luxury, Mr Awad doesn’t see why the world cannot follow. ‘It takes sustainable development and living to a new level,’ he says. ‘Designed to lead the world in understanding how all future cities and towns should and could be built.’
By all accounts, it is a guinea-pig project aiming to tick a number of ‘world’s first’ boxes. Designed by Norman Foster and Partners, the architects behind the Swiss Re London headquarters, or ‘Gherkin’ building, in London, and New York’s Hearst Tower, construction is set to be completed in 2013, by which time it will house 1,500 businesses and 50,000 residents, potentially rising to 90,000, use 75 per cent less power than a conventional city and less than half the desalinated water, achieved by a solar-powered desalinisation plant. Electricity will be generated by photovoltaic panels, while cooling will be provided again by using solar power. Natural shade, wind tunnels and canopies will also be used to lower the temperature by 20-25°C.
The city will be the first to operate without cars and trucks, with a Personal Rapid Transport (PRT) system, essentially a monorail, linking every point, with a light railway system used to get to the city. It will reportedly create 70,000 jobs and aims to allow individuals to live and work without a personal vehicle, but Masdar was unable to answer whether people who live outside the city will be inconvenienced by driving to the railway departure points, parking their car and then having to get two railways to get to their final destination.
The plans and statistics make for positive reading, though, and Masdar’s vision of offering its residents the highest quality of life appears firmly in sight, as Mr Awad highlights: ‘Masdar City will require approximately 200MW of clean power as opposed to more than 800MW of power for a similar city; around 8,000m3 per day of desalinated water rather than over 20,000m3 per day for traditional cities; and a city of this size would have required millions of square metres of landfill area, whereas Masdar City will need virtually no landfill area. It enables a zero-waste lifestyle through the reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery of waste materials.’
This, however, sparks one of the key issues in the capital. Sustainable technologies in the city, according to Masdar, will save the equivalent of more than US$25 billion in oil over the next 25 years. So why is this waste management strategy, and other technology, being invested in a super-city rather than trying to improve the environmental practice on the streets of Abu Dhabi, streets which don’t have any obvious recycling bins and are instead laced with huge general trash bins? This was, again, met by closed lips at Masdar, but, according to Habiba Al Marashi, chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), the level of awareness and education needs to be heightened before any action: ‘We always say that the biggest problem is apathy towards the environment,’ she tells Time Out. ‘The level of awareness on environmental issues and concerns is still low, as shown by the continuous wastage and unsustainable lifestyle choices displayed by the people. Further education and awareness building on the environment should be undertaken to engage people from all walks of life.’
The county’s biggest environmental drive is Clean Up UAE, organised by the EEG, however this only happens once a year, offering insufficient opportunity for residents to recycle. ‘It aims to involve as many people and organisations as possible in an environmental activity, while sending the message across to other sectors,’ Al Marashi says. ‘It is not meant to solve the waste problem overnight, but it aims to help in informing people about the urgency to act now.’
With leading experts from a multitude of fields being brought on board for the Masdar project, as well as a proposed world-class graduate-level education centre set to open, Masdar City will be groundbreaking in more ways than one. Domestically, there is still a long way to go, but Masdar City is leading the way and constantly investing in developing technologies from which the capital, and the rest of the world, can only benefit.
In numbers
1
The UAE’s ranking as the country with the highest per capita carbon footprint in the world, according to a recent report by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).
5
The number of years before Dubai runs out of oil, also according to Richard Branson.
11
The number of annual UAE Environmental Days, held on February 4, commemorated so far.
50
The number of years before the Palm and World projects in Dubai are flooded if the issue of climate change is not addressed by global governments, according to Virgin boss and biofuel innovator, Sir Richard Branson.
550
The gallons of water used per head per day in Abu Dhabi. The UAE’s National Ecological Footprint Initiative, founded last October, aims to reduce this to 250 gallons per head over the next five years.
1,250
The estimated number of kilograms each resident throws away every year, one of the highest per capita anywhere in the world.
8,000
The estimated number of tons of waste the UAE produces collectively per day, according to 2007 reports issued by Emirates Environment Group.
