Masdar A Sustainable City No waste here!

The world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city is being built in Abu Dhabi. It might sound a little ironical that an oil-producing nation will be home to a sustainable city like this, but that doesn’t mean that the developers don’t mean business.

Masdar, which means source in Arabic, is being developed by the government-owned Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company and master-planned by London-based Foster and Partners as an integrated green community. The ground-breaking took place in February and the city is scheduled to be completed by 2015. The first phase will be habitable by next year and the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology will be its first tenant.

Even though you might think that ‘zero-carbon, zero-waste’ is unachievable, the ultimate aim of Masdar is to surpass the 10 sustainability principles of One Planet Living, an initiative launched by the Worldwide Fund for Nature and environmental consultancy BioRegional.

Masdar has been carefully designed keeping this goal in mind. As per Masdar representatives before deciding on the location of the city, a carbon dioxide contour study was carried out to identify the best location. The present location was decided upon making sure that there were minimal carbon dioxide deposits from outside sources like air traffic.

The principle of the Masdar development is a dense walled city to be constructed in energy efficient two-stages. Stage one relies on the creation of a large photovoltaic power plant, which later becomes the site for the city’s second phase, allowing for urban growth.

City plan

Masdar is being planned as a traditional Arabic city, where ‘the person, not the vehicle is paramount’. It will come up as a compact city allowing easy pedestrian movement. Heat will not be too much of a problem for the city-dwellers as narrow shaded paths will reduce the temperature by as much as 20° Celsius. The city walls will also serve as a guard against the harsh local climate. Carefully planned landscape and water features will aid in reducing temperatures while enhancing the attraction of the street.

The city is aiming to provide all necessary facilities to its residents including commerce, education, sports, and civic functions. Of the total area, 30% is being allocated for housing, 24% for business and research, 19% for service and transportation, 13% for commercial purposes, 8% for civic and cultural pursuits and 6% for the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.

Tenants

• Masdar Institute of Science and Technology
• Masdar Research Network
• Light industry
• Development units and laboratories
• A carefully selected pool of international tenants

Transportation

As already said, Masdar is to be a car-free city. Transport will be provided in the form of personal rapid transit (PRT) and material rapid transit (MRT). This will be the world’s first carbon-neutral and emission-free large-scale transportation system. Together with pedestrian and public transit methods, the city’s transport system will safely move people, goods, and emergency services.

Water

Masdar will heavily utilize local water resources and brackish water. It will require about 8000 m3of desalinated water per day, which is astounding compared to the 20,000 m3a city this big would normally consume. High-efficiency appliances, grey and black water recycling, seawater greenhouses, dew catchers, and rainwater harvesting will aid the city in reducing its water consumption.

Water will be available from a solar-powered desalination plant, while the landscaping and crops in the city will be watered using grey water and treated waste water from the city’s water treatment plant.

Waste

Even during the construction of the city, 90% of the waste is being targeted to be diverted from landfills. The city will provide an environment that enables a zero waste lifestyle through the reduction, reuse, recycling, and recovery of waste materials. To this effect the following steps will be taken:

• Utilization of organic waste for compost and energy production
• Recovery and reuse of metals, glass, paper and plastics
• Thermal processes will convert residual waste materials into energy
• Divert 98% of waste from landfills by 2020, with the ultimate goal of zero waste to landfills

Energy

The city will fulfill its energy requirements using state-of-the-art renewable technologies like photovoltaics (for electricity), concentrated solar power (for heating and cooling needs), waste to energy etc. A conventional city of this size would need 800 MW of installed power capacity. Masdar, on the other hand, will require only 200 MW!