Imagine a city of 50,000 deep in the desert powered completely by renewable energy. Residents enjoy complete mobility without using cars. Solar awnings shade pedestrians and outdoor café customers while making power. Water is recycled. There is little if any waste and the town is carbon neutral. Small, clean factories export the environmentally sensitive energy technologies and devices that will be needed in the future. Somewhere in California, you might guess. But no, it’s the planned city of Masdar in Abu Dhabi. “We expect the city will be the blueprint for cities of the future,” said Sultan Al-Jaber, chief executive officer of the Masdar Initiative, in recent testimony to a House Committee. “We will do this by completely re-engineering the way modern cities are built and use energy.” To accomplish it all, the oil rich nation--which has been enjoying an influx of cash with record high petroleum prices--is making use of American ingenuity, working with companies such as Applied Materials in California, U.S. architects, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Segway, and even the U.S. Department of Energy. A conventional city of 50,000 in Abu Dhabi would consume 800 MW of power, according to Al-Jaber. Masdar is being designed to run on just 200 MW. Use of desalinated water, on which the area relies, is being planned at 8,000 cubic meters a day compared to the 20,000 cubic meters 50,000 residents typically use. Extensive recycling and reuse of waste is planned to “eliminate the need for millions of square meters of landfill,” he said. Residents will get around on bicycles, Segways, and through a personal rapid transit system, covered in this column on February 22, 2008. Personal rapid transit consists of an interconnected network of overhead tracks carrying small electric-powered transit cars that whisk you to your destination at 100 miles an hour or faster upon hearing your personal voice command. It is all being accomplished through what Al-Jaber called “intergrated design.” The city’s planned economy is to focus on light manufacturing, research and development, technology, stores, and education. Al-Jaber said the city plans to make environmental and energy technology, including solar energy systems. “We will continue to be a leader in the global energy markets, but go beyond hydrocarbons,” said Al-Jaber. But the question, with the massive outflow of cash to purchase oil, increasingly is whether California and the U.S. will be able to emulate Masdar anytime soon. “Make no mistake,” said Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA). “Masdar is our new Sputnik. It should be a wake up call to America and a challenge to each of us. The city of tomorrow, creating the technology of the future, is now underway in another country.”
