ABU DHABI // Work on the US$22 billion (Dh81bn) Masdar project, the world's first carbon-neutral city, is progressing on schedule. Six months after ground was broken, construction efforts are focusing on three main areas: the Masdar Institute, a research facility due for completion in September 2009; a power plant that will use solar energy to produce enough electricity to power the institute and the planned Masdar headquarters; and an area known as Project One, situated between the edge of the city and the institute.
"We are on schedule," said Khaled Awad, the director of property development at Masdar. "The best news is that the vision we announced a year ago is still on track. We have not felt that the vision is too ambitious or impossible to achieve." Masdar, the brainchild of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, will be developed in phases and, when complete in 2016, will cover an area of 6.5 square kilometres and be home to 90,000 people.
The city will be carbon-neutral, recycle all of its waste and use several times less water than comparable developments. The zero-waste target will be achieved by an ambitious recycling scheme, while the city will also burn non-recyclable waste. Recycling has already started, with the developer reusing concrete, metal and other materials. Masdar's developers will rely on alternative energy, chiefly solar power, to achieve a zero-carbon balance.
An interim solution is the 10-megawatt photovoltaic plant on which work began at the beginning of this month. But in the completed city, the power of the sun will be harnessed by solar panels on the roofs of buildings. "Most of the buildings will be sending more energy to the grid than they will be consuming," Mr Awad said. Other innovations waiting in the wings include "district solar cooling", a technology that uses the energy of the sun to produce chilled air. Although many of the technologies that will be used in the city have never been tried before on such a large scale, Mr Awad believes that in 10 years they could be "business as usual".
"We are learning every minute," he said. "I think we will have so many inventions from this project." One testing ground for innovation is the building of the Masdar Institute itself, where university faculty members are collaborating with the development team. "This is the first building in the world where a university faculty is using its own building for research and innovation," Mr Awad said.
Piling for the first phase of the building is complete and work on the foundations is expected to start early next month. Work is also progressing on Project One, which includes a car park, where visitors will have to leave their vehicles before venturing into the city, and the beginnings of the city's driverless rapid-transit system. The city will have two levels - a ground level, where the transport system and facilities will be located, and a podium, about 5.5 metres high, for pedestrians - and last week, the team began piling work to build the podium level in the Project One area.
Masdar's driverless, electric rapid-transit vehicles will move along tracks at ground level and each will carry four to six passengers. In its initial phase, due for completion in 2009, the system will carry just 13 vehicles. However, when the development is complete, there will be up to 3,000 vehicles stopping at 85 stations. Work is also under way on the Masdar headquarters. The Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture was chosen in February to design the building and its final vision will be showcased at Cityscape Dubai from Oct 6 to 9. Construction is expected to start at the end of this year.
When completed in January 2011, the headquarters will have one of the world's largest building-integrated photovoltaic installations and the world's largest solar-thermal cooling system. Before the end of the year, Masdar will announce another international design competition, this time for "an iconic hotel building" within the city. "Iconic for us," said Mr Awad, "means environmentally friendly and sustainable."
Masdar was also responsible for establishing an award, the Zayed Future Energy Prize, to recognise innovation and leadership in the global search for energy solutions. Nominations for this year's prize close on Sunday and will be judged by a jury of international experts. One winner and two finalists will be announced at the World Future Energy Summit on January 19 next year. The winner will receive US$1.5 million and the two finalists US$350,000 each to take their ideas and ambitions forward.
The prize has received more than 160 nominations so far, representing nearly 40 countries. @Email:vtodorova@thenational.ae
