THE WORLD'S FIRST SUSTAINABLE CITY. Designed by Norman Foster
The project includes plans to start building a city with zero carbon emissions and zero waste up to 15,000 residents in the desert in the first quarter of this year. "Achieving a zero carbon city is doable," said Jaber (Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar). In the long term, the project will house 50,000 people. The city is being designed by the British architect Norman Foster.
"This is an extremely ambitious project," said Gerard Evenden, senior partner of the firm of architects in London by Lord Foster, who has had a design team in charge for nine months. "We were invited to design a zero carbon city. To this grim place, we must go back in history and look at how the ancient sites were adapted to their environments.
The buildings will become overcrowded as a 'Kashba', and the cooling system will come from wind towers which will collect the desert breezes and expel hot air. No building will exceed five floors, and the city will be oriented northeast to southwest to obtain an optimum balance of sunlight and shadow.
It will seem to many cities built in the era of horse drawn carriages. Most roads will have only three meters wide and 70 long, to get develop a microclimate that keeps the air moving, the roof will allow between the air and protect the interior of the hot sun in summer.
Nobody at a distance of over 200 meters from public transport, and streets will give colonnaded squares and fountains.
"In no way try to impose an international standard architecture in Masdar. We strive for a balance of light and heat, "said Evenden. "This area suffered only three months of extreme heat, and the rest of the year is quite humid.
The architect's dream is to build a new city, and the team of Foster explains that started from scratch. The idea was reduced to the amount of energy needed to build and to live in that city, leaving after the solar energy will do the rest.
"We will start with a huge solar power station to provide enough energy to build the city. About 80% of the roof space will be used to generate this energy, and as we hope that as the technology improves we build, we hope to later remove the plant from solar energy. Let's say that we would borrow the energy from the outside, but we are trying to prove he is possible to generate all within the confines of the site, "said Evenden.
ABU DHABI .- Abu Dhabi, the largest of the UAE and one of the largest world oil producer, plans to invest U.S. $ 15,000 million in the first phase of an initiative to develop green energy and build hydrogen power plant larger the world.
The investment is part of the Masdar Initiative, a company created to develop clean and sustainable energy, as announced by Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayn Summit Energy Future held in the Emirate. Did not say, however, no specific date.
"I wanted to highlight the commitment of the Government of Abu Dhabi Masdar Initiative to announcing an initial investment of 15,000 million dollars," he said. "Next month will be launched Masdar city, the first carbon-free city in the world.
The money will go into infrastructure, renewable energy projects like a solar plant, and labor, all to place Abu Dhabi as a leader in clean energy market, said Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of Masdar ( or Future Energy Company of Abu Dhabi).
SOURCE: elmundo.es
