Located in the Middle East and next to Saudi Arabia, oil wealth has given the United Arab Emirates (UAE) the money to plan one of the most audacious clean technology projects in the world. Already thinking ahead, the UAE knows that oil revenue will dry up when the wells do and is planning for that day by luring entrepreneurs and talent from around the world to live and work in a city unlike any other. The Masdar Initiative aims to create the first modern city that has no cars, zero-net-carbon-dioxide-emissions, and zero-waste. Masdar was the subject of one of 2nd Green Revolution’s first posts. It is time for an update of this fascinating project.

$15 billion dollars from the Abu Dhabi government (part of the UAE) is going towards building a city in the desert that will run almost entirely on solar power, use vacuum tubes to send all garbage to one central location, and employ a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system that will replace buses, trains, and even the car as a mode of transportation. This great article from Technology Review, a magazine founded by MIT in 1899, has much more in-depth information. In short, it is the UAE’s attempt to make Abu Dhabi the Silicon Valley of alternative energy. The city will eventually accommodate 50,000 residents and contain start-ups, a university, businesses and research facilities as well as the usual apartments, cafes, and other amenities found in cities. The Masdar Institute, looking to become a kind of Stanford of the Middle East for alternative energy, will start its first classes this fall with 100 students.

Putting an unusual yet erudite spin on sustainability, the project’s director of property development, Khaled Awad remarked, “If it is not profitable as a real-estate development, it is not sustainable.” This is another example of how the economic and environmental are increasingly aligned. General Electric (GE) is on board. GE plans to build a 4,000 square meter facility as the first tenant. Abu Dhabi has a unique set of environmental conditions (such as ample direct sunlight for solar power) that will not allow the same kind of sustainable development in other locations. However, the city could become a template that other cities could alter to take advantage of their own local resources. As the Technology Review article mentions, “If it is profitable, it could really become a driving force for sustainable urban design.”

- Justin Manger