A green city arises from the desert of Abu Dhabi | The Australian

A green city arises from the desert of Abu Dhabi | The Australian:

"Masdar City, whose design and technologies are still being determined, will house up to 50,000 people in a carless city connected to the rest of Abu Dhabi by a planned underground metro system.

A previous 2016 date for completion was recently discarded, with 2020 now a better bet.

In a departure from Abu Dhabi's heavily airconditioned buildings (which, along with massive desalinisation plants, give the emirate its huge per capita greenhouse gas emissions), Masdar has gone back to traditional desert Arabian building methods: channelling wind through the city and careful use of shade to take the sting out of the desert sun, with average maximum summer temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius.

The first residents of the city -- about 150 students at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- are scheduled to move in in September, with the rest of the city being built in stages to 2020.

The city will be powered by solar energy, with almost all the roofs in the 6sq km city covered in solar panels, and other renewable sources. One of the biggest innovations will be driverless cars, which will provide free solar-powered public transport around the city from September." Sphere: Related Content