Daily Management Review

UAE Pioneer in Renewable Energy, Masdar City in Energy Efficiency: UN


07/31/2015




UAE Pioneer in Renewable Energy, Masdar City in Energy Efficiency: UN
The United Nations has recognized the UAE as the pioneer in renewable energy and Masdar City, situated in the UAE, as the most energy efficient.  
 
UAE hosts the first ever global renewable energy body – the International Renewal Energy Agency (IRENA) which was established in 2009 in the Masdar city. The efforts that this Middle Eastern country has put in terms of finding sustainable renewable energy has won the applaud of the UN which has noted time and again that UAE had helped in the U.N.’s ultimate goal of Sustainable Energy for all (SE4ALL).

Some time back the UN had christened UAE as “a strong supporter of renewable energy”.
UAE hosts not only the IRENA that is known as the first international organization to be based in the Middle East, but also the Dubai Carbon Center of Excellence. U.N. Development Programme and the Dubai Supreme Council of Energy jointly took the DCCE initiative with the aim of promoting low carbon in Dubai.

At the centre of UAE’s effort to find renewable energy resources is the city of Masdar, better known as the most energy efficient city of the world. It was at the centre of the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week in January 2013 when delegates of the international conference on renewable energy were taken on a guided tour of city.

The city is described to be free of cars and the most energy efficient. This was a pilot project initiated by the UAE Government with private participation of the Mubadala Development Company, in 2006, to prove that cities can be sustainable, even in harsh sun-driven environments as in UAE.

Over 87,777 solar panels on the roofs of the buildings on a 22-hectare field generate solar power good enough for the entire city. a series of diverless electric vehicles that ferry residents around the city have replaced carbon monoxide emitting cars.

Instead of roads thus, the city has a subterranean network of tunnels that runs beneath the city. In case the residents do not want to walk around or cycle in the city, they have the option of using an automated mass transit system located within the subterranean layer.

The city is unique as its buildings are so designed that they are able to block out the heat and allow cool air to circulate. The demand of air conditioning has been reduced by 55 percent due to the unique design of the walls of the buildings that cushions of air to limit heat-radiation.

Following these innovations, the city has managed to reduce electricity consumption by 51 percent and water usage by 55 percent.

Within the city there are no light switches or taps but instead there are just movement sensors that have reduced electricity consumption.

The UN wants to showcase the examples of UAE and Masdar City as examples of environment sustainability and renewable energy during the upcoming world summit meeting in September where the concept of SE4ALL would take on added importance in the context of the U.N.’s post-2015 development agenda. 

(Source:www.ipsnews.net)