A plan by the city’s development agency to address some of “mankind’s most pressing issues” is taking shape in the form of the Masdar Initiative. Just outside Abu Dhabi there is a frenzy of activity to launch Masdar City: A 6km squared area that will house 50,000 people, have no cars, no waste and… wait for it… no emissions. Built with sustainable materials, powered by renewables, run in accordance with WWF’s One Planet Living standards, aiming not just to preserve but to enhance regional biodiversity, Masdar aims to be the greenest city in the world. And by no half measures – it has already won all kinds of prestigious awards for sustainable design before it’s even been built.

The city will house the initiative’s coordinating offices, a research institute to develop environmental technologies, and an investment sector to fund research and development. Despite the huge construction costs, ambitions are to craft Masdar city into a profit making venture. With a university to rival top engineering institutes and a living testing bed on their doorstep, investors hope Masdar to be the pioneer in clean tech – and export their discoveries acround the world. 

The Norman Foster design will run entirely on renewables, and should have enough over spill into the grid to offset the build. The headquarters will be the first ever building to generate renewable electricity for its own construction (the solar roof will be built first). All buildings will have solar on their roofs to compliment the 2 large plants they have planned, including CSP. Masdar is already testing over 40 types of panel at the moment – a much needed task in itself to gauge best practice for panel efficiency. Solar thermal will be in charge of heating water and cooling buildings. The desalination plant will be solar powered, alongside rainwater harvesting, dew catchers and grey water recycling to reduce demand. 

Wind turbines will be erected to capture those desert winds, and the city’s waste will go into biomass “waste to energy converters”. Most importantly, they have left room for technologies in the making such as algae ponds. Not all of the power sources have even beed defined yet, on the basis that better technology will be available to test by completion date of 2016. 

The buildings will be super energy efficient. Instead of cars, renewable energy will power “personal travel pods” on tracks around the centre. Combined with some highly innovative architectural techniques and robust agricultural plans the city seems a genuine attempt at sustainability from an oil rich nation. 

Just don’t be too quick to think the leopard will be changing its spots any time soon. Abu Dhabi has shown no interest in replicating environmental plans across the board, so Masdar will not even scratch the surface of its enormous footprint. An Economist writer that recently visited Masdar observed that just down the road a formula one racetrack is being built, and in the other direction a mall with an indoor ski slope, and the worlds largest aluminium smelter with its very own coal fired power station! In this context the initiative sounds more like a theme park than a sustainable development model. 

And why would they change with enough oil to keep them rich for the next 100 years? (“because the world is running out of time to act on global warming?” “oh yeah, that.”)

However, there will be several lessons learnt from Masdar that could be replicated in cities willing to make a change. And with the £15 billion government investments and huge private sums that the initiative has attracted (£100m from Credit Suisse of late) Masdar will be forced to deliver some pioneering solutions in urban living to turn a profit. Expect some exciting developments to come out of the city. 

There is nowhere like this in the world, and even if it is a token effort by an oil rich government, the output of the city could have a huge global impact. 

To see how you can make your city more green become a member of your local the Transition Town group.