Interview: A Sustainable Future
Issue 44 - August 2008

An interview with Dr. Christopher Drew, Sustainability Manager, Masdar, who discusses one of the most exciting eco-friendly new city developments of the 21st century.

A Masdar City, an integrated "green community" under development in Abu Dhabi, aspires to be both a zero-carbon city and an alternative energy hub. A US$30 bil investment on the part of the government, the city will house 50,000 inhabitants. At the heart of is the development the Masdar Institute, a third level educational and research body dedicated to sustainable technologies and a joint-venture project with the world renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Complementing the university will be commercial and light industrial facilities as well as the residential, retail and leisure infrastructure to support a vibrant city life.

To create a truly sustainable future, Masdar has committed to being completely powered by internally generated renewable energy and to offset the embodied carbon cost generated in the design and construction of city's facilities and infrastructure. RFP caught up with Dr. Christopher Drew, Sustainability Manager, Masdar to ask how a new city can be designed and built to be sustainable.

What is Masdar to you? How do you see Masdar?
For me Masdar is the ultimate in sustainable, selfsufficient development. We will produce all our energy on-site, we will re-use all our waste on-site, we will control the entire water-cycle on site. I think one thing that differentiates us is that this major city can be sustainable and self-contained. Within the boundaries of the property that Masdar owns, everything will happen. We are looking at four key aspects, which are:
. Zero carbon: no use of fossil fuels (including transportation)
. Carbon neutral construction
. Zero waste
. 100 percent on-site power from renewable sources

A lot of people are skeptical about the many huge, flagship developments happening in the Middle East, what would you say to these skeptics?
For what we're doing, I can understand peoples doubts, you read eco-blogs saying: "Why is the UAE investing in a clean city?" While of course I don't know the full rationale for MASDAR, I can see a strong desire in the UAE to become a technology hub for alternative energies. This isn't motivated just through some greening desire, it's also a business decision. Oil is a finite resource and the Middle East generally has quite a lot of wealth, so it makes sense to invest these resources into alternative energies.

So, will the city be powered by alternative power sources?
For MASDAR city the primary energy source will be photovoltaics but we are also investigating alternatives. For example, most of the energy used in the Middle East is for cooling, which has a high energy demand. So for cooling we may go along with a concentrated solar Masdar City will be built to be completely self-sustainable, or as near as possible. All images courtesy of Foster + Parners system, which heats up a liquid solution, (something such as an anti-freeze or even molten salt as is used in Spain). This heat can then be converted into cooling energy through the use of absorption chillers. For things such as hot water generation we may decide to use some kind of liquid or solid desiccant cooling system which would involve the use of geothermal tubes.

We're also testing out systems that concentrate the sun's rays onto a tube or tower, which generates extremely high heat which can be converted directly into electrical energy. Other systems include waste-toenergy, and a little bit of wind power which has two restrictions: the wind velocity is not that high on the site, and being adjacent to an airport affects the height we can build to.

Is this technology new? Are you driving the technology forward?
In the grand scheme of things, we are not the world's biggest user of solar energy or waste-to-energy or wind. In terms of energy generation within MASDAR city I don't suppose we are really driving technology forward by ourselves. When you have a city of 100,000 people, you simply don't have the leverage to develop new technology. What we are doing is developing a pricing structure, creating a market for new technology.

How important is the construction side of things, and how can the project go carbon neutral?
One thing that a lot of people seem to overlook is that, as a project becomes more sustainable, the embodied energy of the materials becomes higher. Even taking life-cycle analysis into consideration, there is a big impact which needs to be faced. We created an online dashboard to count the carbon cost of everything we are doing, from the business travel of our team and consultants to the construction materials. This cost will eventually be offset by generating additional energy from renewable sources at MASDAR.

Crucially, the dashboard includes a materials system, which allows for a comparison of different materials based on their embodied energy and the transportation needed to get them on site. For example, we can decide whether to use recycled and recyclable aluminum formwork for concrete instead of board, and if we should source timber from renewable sources in Northern Europe or non-renewable in Asia. This means we can really leverage suppliers to provide sustainable materials and products, and to consider the entire supply chain.

How are the different stakeholders taking to the sustainable approach and when can we expect to see Masdar completed?
We have three projects underway- the Masdar Institute, MASDAR City Headquarters, and the supporting infrastructure such as roads and utilities. Everybody is getting really excited by the possibility of creating a green city, and bringing new ideas to the table. These projects are scheduled to come online in 2009, and within the next decade Masdar City will be the world's first truly sustainable city.

RFP

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