Enter the Planet’s First 0-Carbon and 0-Waste City

Published by Sierra Monica B., on Feb 29 2008, in the categories: Gadgets, News



Back in 2007, at Cityscape Dubai, the world’s largest business-to-http://www.techpin.com/wp-admin/link-manager.phpbusiness real estate investment and development event, Masdar Institute of Science and Technology presented an amazing project consisting of building a 0-carbon and 0-waste city with the finalizing date estimated for the year 2009.

Enter the Planets First 0 Carbon and 0 Waste City

This area was projected to cover the Masdar Institute surroundings, research facilities, high-end laboratories, commercial spaces, light manufacturing facilities, residential space for employees, a science museum, and a special zone for international investors and developers of the next-generation energy solutions and technologies.



“There is nothing like this in the world. We are creating a synergetic environment; it is a true alternative energy cluster,” sayd back in 2007, Sultan Al Jaber, Masdar CEO. “Here you will find researchers, students, scientists, business investment professionals, and policy makers all within the same community. It will be a living example of sustainable development that will position Abu Dhabi and Masdar at the forefront of intelligent resource utilization. It will combine the talent, expertise and resources to enable the technological breakthroughs necessary for truly sustainable development.”

Enter the Planets First 0 Carbon and 0 Waste City

A 0-carbon city means no cars, compact network of streets, renewable energy power, digital services and real-time data access.
The environment will include wind, research plantations and photovoltaic farms, while the city would offer to the companies government services, hundred per cent foreign ownership, transparent laws, tax-free environment and intellectual property protection, among others.

What started as an ambitious project continues today with a new plan in collaboration with WWF for the so-called Masdar City, located near the Abu Dhabi International Airport and covering six-square kilometers.
The new Sustainability Action Plan is based on the following ten principles of One Planet Living global initiative and will become fully functional in 2015:

Enter the Planets First 0 Carbon and 0 Waste City

-zero carbon;
-zero waste;
-sustainable transport;
-local and sustainable materials;
-local and sustainable food;
-sustainable water;
-natural habitats and wildlife;
-culture and heritage;
-equity and fair trade;
-health and happiness.

While the electricity will come from photovoltaic panels, the cooling process will be ensured by concentrated solar power, the water will come from a solar-powered desalinization plant, and the fields will be irrigated by the grey water and treated waste coming from the water treatment plant.

Masdar City construction will start in a couple of months and will become the home of international businesses and top leaders in the alternative energy sector.

Enter the Planet’s First 0-Carbon and 0-Waste City

“Today Abu Dhabi is embarking on a journey to become the global capital of the renewable energy revolution. Abu Dhabi is the first hydrocarbon-producing nation to have taken such a significant step towards sustainable living,” said Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, Director of WWF International’s One Planet Living initiative. “Masdar is an example of the paradigm shift that is needed. The strategic vision of the Abu Dhabi government is a case study in global leadership. We hope that Masdar City will prove that sustainable living can be affordable and attractive in all aspects of human living – from businesses and manufacturing facilities to universities and private homes.”

Enter the Planet’s First 0-Carbon and 0-Waste City

“Masdar City will question conventional patterns of urban development, and set new benchmarks for sustainability and environmentally friendly design – the students, faculty and businesses located in Masdar City will not only be able to witness innovation first-hand, but they will also participate in its development,” declared Dr. Sultan Al Jaber.

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35 Comments on “Enter the Planet’s First 0-Carbon and 0-Waste City”

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  • Nielsen said on 02/29/2008:

    This is amazing!

  • MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ said on 03/01/2008:

    ATLANTIS= UNDER WATER

  • Inthian said on 03/01/2008:

    Is this Utopia? Where is the Catch? There is got to be something

  • cjs said on 03/01/2008:

    The catch might be the amount that Dubai is aiming to relying on tourism, zero-carbon footprint obviously doesn't factor in how people are going to get into the desert to go to Dubai in the first place.

  • jorge said on 03/01/2008:

    is it viable? what about the cost-benefit of this city? wouldn t be better save our natural enviroment than try to create a artificial one that we don t know if is going to work? it s all about the money. why not stop globalisation, which is the biggest cause of the destruction of the planet? its all about the money, but someone will say it s progess, new tecnologies. give me a break.

  • Ben said on 03/01/2008:

    But is it Zombie proof?

  • Snake said on 03/01/2008:

    @Ben
    Its a trap man,once Zombies come in we'll be trapped.

  • ed said on 03/01/2008:

    Thats great i will mention it in the next Episode of http://Conspiracast.com :)

  • ... said on 03/03/2008:

    Huxley's Brave New World, anyone?

  • Oliver said on 03/03/2008:

    well, you are clearly not an aplha, good sir. do your soma.

  • Oliver said on 03/03/2008:

    *alpha


    dang

  • Bwago said on 03/03/2008:

    Made by Dubai, a place made rich by exporting the primary source of Carbon emissions.

    That is, they can afford every alternative to conventional energy means with billions from oil revenue.

    Theres the irony yeah, but also the fact that if we really did stop using oil they would be much worse off financially. I'm just wondering about the motivations behind this project.

  • joe said on 03/03/2008:

    2012 or sooner it will all be underwater

  • joe said on 03/03/2008:

    the catch is you'll never live there!

  • asdf said on 03/03/2008:

    the catch? think of the energy gone into creating the damn thing, do you really think it will have a functional life long enough to repay the energy debt?

  • WGL said on 03/04/2008:

    It's amazing what can be accomplished by people who don't even understand the difference between carbon and carbon dioxide. Carbon is a black solid. Carbon dioxide is a colourless, odourless, greenhouse gas. "Zero carbon"? What the hell does that even mean?

    Carbon atoms are everywhere, in the form of various carbon compounds, carbon atoms are even present in steel, but if you want to find elemental carbon, look at the end of your pencil. Presumably these guys intended to say that the city produces zero carbon dioxide emissions.

    Maybe if the human race was intelligent enough (on average) to understand this simple school chemistry, then we'd have solved all of our problems long ago. How can you possibly make a serious assault on global warming without understanding it? The people who say "carbon emissions" are usually politicians or businessmen, and regrettably they are sometimes scientists, presumably the mediocre ones. It makes me mad, it's like calling water "hydrogen". It really is.

  • RLS0812 said on 03/05/2008:

    Can you say "BioDome"?
    This kind of thing failed before, and it'll fail again.

    How exactly will there be "0 Waste" ?

    Will they reuse human waste for something? How exactly will they power the city? How will they deal with the CARBON DIOXIDE humans exhale?

  • dazza said on 03/05/2008:

    lol...imagine being trapped in there with Paulie Shore...

  • asdf said on 03/07/2008:

    soylent green is PEOPLE!!!

  • abc said on 03/09/2008:

    The catch is you have to live in Dubai.

  • MICHAEL J. SCHMITZ said on 03/13/2008:

    ATLANTIS= UNDERWATER= INTERESTING=I'M A DISASTER SOLUTIONIST MASTER= I SOLVE DISASTERS, LIKE HEAVY FLOODS, RIVER FLOODS, FIRE CONTAINMENT WITHIN 96 HOURS, FIRE AND SMOKE PUT OUT W/O WATER OR CHEMICALS. each for sale for $35,000.00 to fund my global warming solution. AS SOON AS I GET YOUR EMAIL, I'LL SEND YOU MY INFO. AND HOW TO START GLOBAL WARMING, TO START LOWERING ALL THE OCEANS, YOU WANT TO SEE ATLANTIS= THIS WILL HELP IMMENSLEY, IN OTHERWARDS A CLOSER LOOK AND AFTER GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN DELETED A MUCH, MUCH CLOSER LOOK. I ONLY GUARANTEE IT IF MY GLOBAL PROJECT GETS UNDERWAY SOON. SEND ME A EMAIL SO I CAN SEND YOU MY INFO. THANK YOU HAVE A NICE DAY. MIKE

  • hebrew for "beloved" said on 03/14/2008:

    0 carbon 0 waste?
    synergistic?
    what ever happened to being adaptive and symbiotic with nature?
    instead we carve our way into nature and now we seek to simulate it?
    man I going to wrestle my brother the bear and wolf. they teach me better than humans do wtf

  • jaz pah said on 03/14/2008:

    What happens when the Pauly Shore affect comes into play?

  • deb said on 03/14/2008:

    @WGL...

    I think that "carbon" is used as a catch-all for atmospheric carbon compounds. There is an understanding of chemistry there. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and chlorofluorocarbons all contain carbon and are greenhouse gases. While it is technically oversimplifying, it is easier to refer to it as carbon, rather than the individual components.

    Your reference to elemental carbon in the form of graphite is petty and simply argumentative. You know what they mean.

  • deb said on 03/14/2008:

    I think that "carbon" is used as a catch-all for atmospheric carbon compounds. There is an understanding of chemistry there. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and chlorofluorocarbons all contain carbon and are greenhouse gases. While it is technically oversimplifying, it is easier to refer to it as carbon, rather than the individual components.

    Your reference to elemental carbon in the form of graphite is petty and simply argumentative. You know what they mean.

  • Primera ciudad del mundo libre de emisiones de carbono « E=mc2 said on 03/22/2008:

    [...] Página principal de la Iniciativa Masdar (via Techpin) [...]

  • itsalljustaride said on 04/02/2008:

    My first thought, "Why do all these concept structures have to look so crazy and 'futuristic'". Then I read "Dubai" and it all made sense. This IS the place where they create manmade islands in the shape of trees after all.

  • truth said on 04/28/2008:

    nice to know where my gas money is going fuck them those money gouging oil soaked heathen raghead sonsofbitches!

  • spuffler said on 04/29/2008:

    So are we ignoring the carbon impact of manufacturing the metal canopy? The data network components have a carbon impact...

    It is one thing to show an operational impact of net-zero after the system is functional, it is quite another thing to also include the carbon impact of the fabrication of the components.

    Recycled or not, converting the shapes and forms of the materials is usually no a zero carbon process.

  • Donald said on 04/30/2008:

    Zero Carbon? Im assuming by "Carbon" they mean emmissions of greenhouse gases. But zero? I study chemical engineering and to be honest, that is virtually impossible. There will always be emmisions of carbon no matter how hard we try! There will also be loss of Carbon aswell.

    But I don't think that is the point - it's the fact we're creating a city with minimum emmisions while trying to be self sufficent as possible. This idea is fantastic. I see soo much waste everyday and it is quite disgusting. So the basic idea of this city im supporting. It will be the closest we have to a sustanible society. Our society is currently nearly 100% dependant on oil (which reserves are rapidly depleting). Our two future options are: cities like this; or to turn CO2 back into hydrocarbons (I thought this was my idea untill i read The Chemical Engineer magazine!! issue 800 page 16.) To be honest, we should do both!

  • StumbleUpon « Muse said on 08/02/2008:

    [...] The Planet’s First 0 Carbon and 0 Waste City What can I say?  I’m hopeful and an optimist. [...]

  • Dante said on 09/07/2008:

    Oh come on guys, can't we hope for the best here? Obviously the designers were not idiots, they've probably gone over these scenarios too. The idea is sound, the question is when and where. I think that self contained cities like this are the future, and we need to work on that instead of sprawl. Create mini-countries contained in bio-habitats and leave the rest of the world pristine.

  • Alvin said on 11/13/2008:

    Will if it can be done. Why haven't we been talking about it and leting it be seen. I'm just saying that we don't have much time lift on earth any was. We've been talking about new ideas for a long time ok lets start with this.

  • Sierra Monica B. said on 11/13/2008:

    Researchers and scientists said it's too late anyway.

  • Aleister Mraz said on 01/26/2009:

    What happens if some kind of either natural or man-made destructive force tears through the city? So much extra resources must be put into a city like this; let's hope that it lasts through the avoidance of any such disaster.

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- Primera ciudad del mundo libre de emisiones de carbono « E=mc2
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