Abu Dhabi – The first phase of Masdar City, an ecologically friendly neighbourhood in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, is already in operation. It includes the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, a post-graduate school established in partnership with the Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), from the United States.
Masdar City is the most ambitious project in the largest and richest of the seven emirates. The idea, in coming years, is to build a true city capable of housing 40,000 people, with minimal emissions. This way, Abu Dhabi hopes to partially recover the environmental damages caused by the burning of fossil fuels, especially oil, its main source of riches.
In this respect, the objective of the school is to develop environmentally sustainable technologies that may be used in the coming phases of the project and improved by other countries and institutions.
According to the enterprise’s head of corporate relations, marketing and communications, Khaled Al Dhaheri, 170 students from different areas and nationalities are already studying at the site with scholarships covered by Masdar itself, which is a subsidiary of Mubadala, a holding belonging to the government of Abu Dhabi.
The complex has libraries, classrooms and laboratories. The professors are North American, according to Dhaheri, who showed the project to a delegation of Brazilians on Thursday (25th). The group includes representatives of the Federation of Industries of the State of Santa Catarina (Fiesc), the Mato Grosso state Brazilian Micro and Small Business Support Service (Sebrae) and the secretary general at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby.
Apart from academic installations, the complex includes residential buildings for students, all built out of ecologically friendly material, such as red sand from the region itself, which colours the buildings naturally and avoids the use of paint.
Engineering and architecture were designed to create shade in open air spaces and to facilitate the circulation of air, which refreshes the environment and helps economise air conditioning. In Abu Dhabi, the heat and sun are strong all year round. The lighting and water systems were developed to optimise consumption.
Electricity, for example, is supplied by a solar energy complex nearby with capacity for 10 megawatts, although Masdar City should only consume 5 megawatts. The remainder should be fed into the emirate’s energy grid. At the top of the school buildings, other solar panels generate another 1 megawatt. Another plant, with 100-megawatt capacity, should start operating in 2012. "And treated sewage should be used for irrigation," said Dhaheri, referring to the water used in the gardens of the complex.
Apart from the education centre, the solar park and an area turned to recycling, what may be seen are pieces of land that, in future, should include housing and commercial areas, including a free zone. The area turned to the project totals six kilometres squared, and only electric cars may be used to go from one side to the other.
The second phase of the enterprise, according to Dhaheri, should start between 2017 and 2018, using what worked out in the first phase and discoveries made at Masdar Institute.
*Translated by Mark Ament
