ABU DHABI // Architects need to focus more on simple methods to reduce carbon emissions, such as the shape of buildings and better construction materials, rather than new technologies that have less of an impact on energy efficiency, leading architects and urban planners said at the World Future Energy Summit yesterday. In the economic boom times, many developers announced that they would incorporate "green" technology such as solar panels and wind turbines into their buildings without fully understanding how they could efficiently reduce emissions, said Gerard Evenden, a senior partner at the architecture firm Foster & Partners.
"The focus needs to move away from technology," said Mr Evenden, whose firm created the designs for the carbon-neutral Masdar City in the capital. "There is a need to focus on how we put buildings together, how we position our buildings." Abu Dhabi has emerged as a major test centre for ideas about economic efficiency, especially building design, which could be replicated in cities around the world, said Greg Acker, a senior planning manager at the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council.
"Abu Dhabi's role in the international arena is to test some of these ideas that are applicable everywhere else," he said. Mr Acker is overseeing the creation of the Estidama system, an environmental building code for the capital that will lead to large emission reductions, he said. In his opening remarks at the summit yesterday, the architect Lord Rogers of Riverside said that he was "immensely impressed that the UAE, a country empowered by fossil fuels, is the venue for such a conference". "It proves that it really is looking to the future," he said.
Ché Wall, a green building advocate and managing director of WSP Lincolne Scott, said the world should focus its efforts on upgrading older buildings to become more energy efficient. "We've found the solution for new buildings," he said. "The imperative now is definitely to rapidly retro-green our cities." @Email:bhope@thenational.ae