British Architect Designs World's First Carbon-Neutral City At UAE

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (AHN) - A Middle Eastern city designed by British architect Lord Norman Foster seeks to be the first carbon-neutral city in the world. The zero-waste and car-free Masdar City, located at a desert on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, will become a housing settlement for 1,500 enterprises and 50,000 residents.

Plans for an environmental-friendly city of the future were shown to the world at the opening on Monday of the three-day World Future Energy Summit. The ambitious green city will cost $15 billion.

At present the site, a little more than 3 square miles has no fresh water and temperature reaches a searing 122 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. Foster's plan is to generate electricity through solar power, which will be the energy source for the city's cooling system and a desalination plant that will produce fresh water. Plants will be watered through an irrigation system that will tap recycled water and treated waste water.

To move residents, a light railways will transport them from Masdar, which means 'the source' in Arabic language, to Abu Dhabi. Personalized rapid transport pods on tracks will be the other mode of travel inside the city.

It is ironical that Masdar will be built in a region known for its production of fossil fuel. Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, director of the World Wildlife Fund International's One Plant Living initiative, commented, "Today Abu Dhabi is embarking on a journey to become the global capital of the renewable energy revolution."

Jeanrenaud added, "We hope that Masdar City will prove that sustainable living can be affordable and attractive in all aspects of human living - from businesses and manufacturing facilities to universities and private homes."

Abu Dhabi intends to start construction work by early 2008. Groundbreaking begins next month. Among the initial facilities to be built are a hydrogen power plant that will generate 500 megawatts of green energy and a 100 megawatt concentrated solar power project.

Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive officer of Masdar, said, "Masdar will continue to build a unique mix of resources, collaboration and expertise that does not currently exist anywhere in the world."