Masdar Initiative
Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates is building the ultimate sustainable city. Masdar will become a testing ground for new products and services, and generate export revenue for the UAE in a post-oil global economy.
The future of energy
As the fourth largest producer of oil among OPEC countries, the wealth of United Arab Emirates is based on the world’s carbon-based economy. Built near Abu Dhabi by Dhabi Future Energy Company, a wholly owned company of the government , Masdar City will be a zero carbon, zero waste city and home for 50,000 people by its completion in 2016.
“The long-term aim is to create a broad range of innovative industries that will generate a steady flow of new ideas and technologies and advances.”
Masdar will be powered completely by renewable energy, recycle all its garbage and most of its water. Thin canopies encrusted with solar panels will provide shade from 100 degree summers and energy for residents. A 500MW solar power plant based in the nearby desert will power the city, and the desalinization plant that supplies the city with one of its most precious requirements; water. Masdar will be car-free, a city built for walking supported by electronic light rail and an underground personal rapid transit system of six-person pods.
Masdar will be a sustainable community on a city scale. Its first residents are one hundred alternative energy students at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. The institute will be the hub for the development of new clean technologies that will create a post-oil sustainable economic base for Abu Dhabi and the UAE.
The long-term aim is to create a broad range of innovative industries that will generate a flow of new ideas, technologies and advances. Abu Dhabi’s goal is to become a global leader in the alternative energy industry, in technology and in sustainability.
Case Study
Green Microgym
Green Microgym
Turning the human energy spent while exercising into electrical energy to power the Green Microgym in Portland, Or.
NextPlays blog
#SB10 - Biolite wins Sustainable Innovation award
We're stoked that Biolite won SB10's Sustainable Innovation award, announced on the last day of the conference. Jonathan Cedar, co-inventor and the nascent company's CEO delivered a great presentation that made clear the significant impact that could be achieved if Biolite (and stoves like it) replace traditional wood-fired stoves in the developing world. The Biolite stove reinvents stoves used for home cooking in Asia, Africa and Latin America by making the burning process more efficient. The greater efficiency the less fuel is used and less smoke is generated. Less smoke, the less harm to the health of the cooks. Biolite has an additional feature; they've developed a process that converts a small part of the thermal energy into electricity. This means that users can recharge electrical devices while cooking, and that's got to be good for developing world users facing regular megacity brown outs, or for those who are off the grid completely.
Subscribe to our newsletter
twitter feeds