March 2009

World Future Energy Summit and a site visit to Masdar

by Pooran Desai

The World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, initiated by Masdar, has become the world's premier renewable energy conference. I had been invited to speak at the conference and so took the opportunity to catch up with progress on the building of Masdar City.

Located adjacent to Abu Dhabi airport, it had only been 2 years since Khaled Awad, Director of Property Development at Masdar City had visited BedZED with the idea of constructing the world's greenest city. In the short intervening period, a One Planet Living plan for the city had been created, a masterplan agreed and a target set for completion of the first buildings by 2009.

Finishing an early breakfast, I took a taxi from the hotel to the site office to meet Dr. Chris Drew, sustainability manager for Masdar. I was not sure what to expect. Being used to UK timescales for projects (we started working on what was to become One Brighton in 1999), I was not used the idea of buildings being designed, tendered and starting on-site on such ambitious timescales, let alone the amount of innovation that would be required to become a One Planet Community in such a hostile environment with temperatures exceeding 40C with very high humidity in the summer.

Well...here are some statistics. We climbed a stage to look over a fenced off area - revealing a massive PV array. Masdar had already installed 10MW (!) of photovoltaic panels which were supplying the grid - so more than enough to provide the first buildings with power (as well as offsetting things like flights). Tests were being done on how best to keep the PV free from dust - whether to use scarce water or dry methods which might scratch the glass. Interestingly, it was not dust storms that had proved to be the main issue, but when moisture and dew formation create a caking of dust.

The podium for the first buildings was being constructed using 60% PFA cement replacement. They had introduced the "Considerate Constructors" methodology to improve site practices, a first for Abu Dhabi. There was complete segregation of waste on site and no waste currently going off site except food waste. Recycled aggregate was being used in the road sub-base. Trials were also underway with the building fabric for the first two buildings, including use of fibro-cement incorporating local sand on one and the use of solar insulating ETFE cushions on the other. (That's ethylene tetrafluoroethylene - they are the same insulating cushions used on the Eden Project.)

The research behind Masdar City has been meticulous in many areas. Supply chain issues have meant they have not been able to do everything from day one - for example, to use recycled aggregate for podium concrete, but there are plans to improve the supply chain as the project unfolds. We understand the seriousness of the challenge to move to Zero Carbon and Zero Waste, and Masdar City deserves every credit for their vision, effort and commitment to date.

Pooran Desai can be contacted at pooran.desai@bioregional.com.