SETTING THE STANDARD
A decade ago, Abu Dhabi's most ambitious eco-friendly project to date set sail to lay the foundations for the world's most sustainable city, Masdar City.
It was billed as the world's first zero-carbon city, but has since been re-billed as a low carbon city, the brainchild of the Masdar Insitute. Although the project was disrupted by the 2008 global economic crisis, it is already in operation and completion of the second phase is expected in 2021.
Masdar's vision, although complex in terms of logistically implementing a low-carbon city in the middle of the desert, was simple in its objective: to accommodate Abu Dhabi's rapid urbanization while dramatically reducing that population's consumption of finite energy reserves.
The initial plans for Masdar City entailed an urban complex combining Arabic architectural features with advanced technologies to house an expected 40,000 people, besides a further 50,000 commuters by 2030. Part of the city would be powered by the sun, specifically 210,000sqm of photovoltaic panels responsible for 17,500MW-hours of clean electricity produced in the facility annually, making it the largest of its kind in the Middle East.
Epitomizing and actualizing Abu Dhabi's green ambitions, Masdar City has helped cultivate the tech-friendly image of this business and investment free zone, a center for renewable excellence. The city's nucleus hosts Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, a research-oriented university that is working on the Emirate's most advanced projects for sustainable energy generation in the region, and which graduated its first batch of PhD students in 2015. The institute also hosts its own Incubator Building, an innovation hub offering tailored-made spaces to businesses and entrepreneurs.
Masdar City offers an innovative ecosystem and has already cultivated its first projects, such as the Future Build initiative to assist architects, engineers, and contractors in identifying and sourcing green building products and materials to deliver environmental benefits, or the robotic parking technology to maximize the efficient use of space, both adopted in Masdar City's facilities. In early 2017, Masdar also presented the Eco-Villa Prototype, a one-of-a-kind housing project designed to use 72% less energy and 35% less water than existing villas in Abu Dhabi, which can also export power to the national grid when combined with rooftop photovoltaic panels.
The way that the city was built has epitomized the ambitions it was conceived in. Buildings had to be constructed with low-carbon cement and 90% recycled aluminium, and ultimately meet a minimum Estidama Pearl Building Rating (comparable to LEED Gold). This has helped to establish policies that promote low-carbon public transportation with projects to develop a metro line, a light rail transit, a group rapid transit, and cycling lanes.
Masdar City established sustainability benchmarks to ensure the delivery of measurable environmental social and economic benefits. With Masdar Institute attracting a growing number of students through initiatives such as the Young Future Energy Leaders, Masdar showcases the commercialization of research and development projects for the cities of the future. With the beginning of the project's second phase in 2017, Masdar City is consolidating the first R&D cluster that is fully dedicated to renewables in the region.
The project's free zone is home to 400 companies, including multinationals such as GE, Siemens, and Mitsubishi. Masdar City was also chosen to be home to the International Renewable Energy Agency's global headquarters in a 32,000sqm facility powered by 340,000KW-hours produced on the building's rooftop panels. Located in the intersection of Abu Dhabi's trade hub comprised by Khalifa Port, Kizad, and the international airport, Masdar City's Free Zone contemplates an expansion plans evolving to grow its commercial base four-fold by 2020 and expand its leasable area by 32% per year.
Lastly, Masdar City is expected to become a pole for local tourism with an intended 2,300 visitors into the city on a weekly basis. Visitors can enjoy a 60-minute tour guide in a driverless hybrid vehicle passing through the city's most iconic architecture developments, Masdar Institute, and by the end of 2018 the My City Center Masdar Mall, an AED30 billion sustainable shopping center currently under development by Majid Al Futtaim Group.
SETTING THE STANDARD
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Guest Speaker
Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary General , Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
TBY talks to Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), on mutual cooperation between the UAE and OPEC and hosting the World Oil Outlook (WOO) launch in Abu Dhabi.
read articleFocus: Female Empowerment
On the road to equality
Today the UAE stands as a beacon in the fight for female empowerment in the Gulf. The country has adopted an inclusive agenda to further integrate women into the highest levels of management in public and private entities, rewritten part of its legislation to reorient it toward gender equality, and designed programs to foster the creativity of a growing number of female entrepreneurs.
read articleInterview
Khalifa Bin Salem Al Mansouri, Undersecretary , Department of Economic Development – Abu Dhabi (ADDED)
TBY talks to Khalifa Bin Salem Al Mansouri, Undersecretary of the Department of Economic Development – Abu Dhabi (ADDED), on its plans to make the Emirate a better place to do business, the new industrial plan, and how it is fostering innovation.
read articleInterview
Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Alshehhi, Undersecretary , Ministry of Economy of the UAE
TBY talks to Mohammed Ahmed Bin Abdul Aziz Alshehhi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy of the UAE, on the value of creativity, the development of the industrial sector, and supporting SME development.
read articleInterview
Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Group CEO & Managing Director , Mubadala Investment Company
TBY talks to Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, Group CEO & Managing Director of Mubadala Investment Company, on how the merging of two key investment entities will drive Abu Dhabi's diversification strategy.
read articleFocus: Knowledge Economy
Turning the ship around
The government of Abu Dhabi, in coordination with the Executive Council, is investing heavily in a shift from an oil-based economy to a knowledge-based economy, where information supersedes commodities and the highest form of capital is human capital.
read articleInterview
Rashed A. Al Blooshi, Chief Executive, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)
TBY talks to Rashed A. Al Blooshi, Chief Executive of Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX), on the powers of blockchain technology, strengthening bankruptcy law, and enhancing Abu Dhabi's position as a global finance hub.
read articleInterview
Philippe Ghanem, Vice Chairman & CEO , ADS Securities
TBY talks to Philippe Ghanem, Vice Chairman & CEO of ADS Securities, on confirming Abu Dhabi's place in the global financial sun, the importance of smart and predictable regulation, and having had the foresight to diversify before the oil crash.
read articleInterview
Ali Vezvaei, President, Middle East & North Africa of Linde Engineering,
TBY talks to Ali Vezvaei, President, Middle East & North Africa of Linde Engineering, on tying one's belt in trying times, the smart combination of technology and operational elements, and building a blueprint for the CO2 eco-system.
read articleInterview
Mansour Al Mansoori, Director General , National Media Council (NMC)
TBY talks to Mansour Al Mansoori, Director General of the National Media Council (NMC), on the changing nature of media consumption in the UAE, developing local content, and improving literacy in the Emirates.
read articleFocus: MAQTA GATEWAY
Bridging outwards
One of the core pillars of the Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 is to enable economic diversification and growth. Abu Dhabi Ports made its own contribution to this vision by launching the Maqta Gateway in 2014, a port community system that integrates functions and sectors of trade into a single platform.
read articleInterview
Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General, UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA)
TBY talks to Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, Director General of UAE General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), on opportunities in the sector and GCAA's contributions to the development of aviation in Abu Dhabi.
read articleFocus: International Business Universities
Bringing in the experts
The development of a highly skilled and developed workforce is an integral part of Abu Dhabi Vision 2030 and one of the seven pillars upon which the future economic development of the Emirate lays. Education has therefore been placed in the spotlight as one of the key areas to keep a close eye on.
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