This, as least, is the theory. One of the main purposes of the city is to find out what works and what doesn't. This experiment will continue even after the city is completed in eight years; "innovation hubs" throughout the city will test new technologies, including some developed at the new Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. The school is being developed in partnership with MIT, which is selecting faculty and designing curricula. Of the $22 billion in expected costs, the Abu Dhabi government will provide about $4 billion for infrastructure. The rest of the money will come from outside investors. Masdar's leaders hope that the city's environmental credentials and low energy costs--along with tax breaks--will lure buyers to the property. "We want it to be profitable, not a sunk cost," says Khaled Awad, who is directing the development of the city. "If it is not profitable as a real-estate development, it's not sustainable. Then it will never be replicable anywhere else." In some ways, however, it won't be replicable. Al Jaber notes that the project could not have been done anywhere else--"It's a huge risk." The enormous wealth in Abu Dhabi, which Fortune ranked the world's richest city last year, makes a zero-emissions city a tenable proposition. What's more, the design is specific to Abu Dhabi, accounting for, for example, the position of the sun throughout the year (which is dependent on the city's latitude), the high temperatures (which are bad for most solar cells), and the nature of the wind (the city will use wind turbines much smaller than conventional ones because of low wind speeds). As a result, future developments outside the region will have to be redesigned. "Everywhere we go, we will have to custom-tailor our model for the specific environment," al Jaber says. Nevertheless, Paul Dickerson, the chief operating officer for the United States' Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, believes that Masdar will prove a valuable model. "We will no longer have to guess what the city of the future looks like," he says. "In Abu Dhabi, we will be able to see it with our own eyes." |
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Making Cheaper Solar Cells
09/12/2007
Comments
gabrielg01 on 05/08/2008 at 2:56 AM
290
Plataputylus on 05/08/2008 at 7:52 AM
3
gabrielg01 on 05/08/2008 at 12:15 PM
290
This is deja vu - the tobacco industry has pulled exactly the same tricks before.
afhouston on 05/08/2008 at 2:19 PM
1
So it is ironic that oil profits are being used to create a more sustainable future. Irony doesn't equal conspiracy.
You should be more concerned about the way foreign labor is being exploited in Dubai. If anything, this stunt is to show how progressive the country is when in fact, it's quite oppressive and unjust to most of its populace.
gabrielg01 on 05/08/2008 at 4:04 PM
290
camdaddy09 on 05/08/2008 at 5:31 PM
19
fensterbaby on 05/09/2008 at 5:48 AM
3
The US is so far behind in the area of forward thinking energy policy that it's pathetic.
Every time I read a story about an alternative energy project it's anywhere but in the US
inQbation-com on 05/08/2008 at 9:45 PM
1
avatar on 05/13/2008 at 2:12 PM
1
gabrielg01 on 05/13/2008 at 5:17 PM
290
The point was that they should not flaunt themselves as a green nation. None of the Emirates and the other oil nations are green.
Funny how such simple things get misunderstood.
Rigatoni on 05/08/2008 at 1:54 PM
3
fensterbaby on 05/09/2008 at 5:50 AM
3
Rigatoni on 05/10/2008 at 2:39 AM
3
ailakhani on 05/12/2008 at 5:56 AM
1
gabrielg01 on 05/12/2008 at 3:08 PM
290
Overtone on 05/13/2008 at 8:14 PM
1
An abundant, renewable, inexpensive, energy source, never before commercialized, is under development. This revolutionary breakthrough can enable the rapid reduction of the need for fossil and uranium fuels.
Conversion of what he called "space energy" by means of a solid-state device was demonstrated in Germany by Hans Coler in 1926. The following year Nobel physicist Werner Heisenberg stated: "We could utilize magnetism as an energy source."
Coler later built a 6 kW generator, which he displayed in 1937. Six years later the Nazi navy supported his work in a secret project designed to recharge submarine batteries without the need to surface. His lab was bombed in early 1945. However, after WWII ended he cooperated with British Intelligence which published an initially classified Report on his work, the following year. In 1978, parts of that Report was declassified. Those pages can now be found on the web.
In 2001, the late Sir Arthur Clarke predicted that during 2009: "The first quantum generators (tapping space energy) are developed. Available in portable and household units, from a few kilowatts upwards, they can produce electricity indefinitely."
Our work involves both solid-state and mechanical systems that convert this previously unutilized source of energy. It will deservedly meet with great skepticism. However, independent laboratory evaluation is planned in the near-future. Demonstration devices and toys will help anyone understand that the planet has a surprising energy alternative.
Perhaps one of the most astonishing achievements will be the ability of this technology to turn future cars, trucks and buses into power plants. They will be able to wirelessly transmit up to 150 kW to the grid, when suitably parked, using already proven technology for that purpose.
Vehicles will become investments, that will pay for themselves over a reasonable period of time.
This will end the need to build new coal and uranium fueled power plants.
We hope to participate in the Masdar Project