2. 1
- Planning
- Zero CO2 net emissions
- Waste
- Power
- Water
- Transportation
- Supply Chain
- Integration

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About Masdar City
Launched by the Abu Dhabi leadership in 2006and guided by Abu Dhabi
Economic Vision 2030,Masdar a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi
Government-owned Mubadala Development Company, is a catalyst for the
economic diversification of the emirate.
The Masdar initiative drives new sources of income for the Emirate and
stre gthe s A u Dha i’s k o ledge-based economic sectors.
The first renewable energy company to adopt a ground up approach; from
education and research to commercialization and deployment, Masdar aims to
advance the clean energy industry.
Masdar is also creating platforms to accelerate technology,
encourage investment, from private and public partnerships and identify smart
policies.
Masdar is organized around three business units and an independent, research-
driven graduate university.
This holistic approach keeps Masdar at the forefront of the global clean energy
industry, while ensuring it remains grounded in the pursuit of pioneering and
commercially-viable technologies and systems.
With each unit focused on a key component of the value chain, Masdar is
constructed with the broad scope needed to meet the most pressing
sustainability challenges of tomorrow.
Masdar Corporate Headquarters are situated in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates

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 Orientation -- seeking the maximum efficiency gains at the
lowest cost by optimally orienting the city grid and buildings
to minimise solar heat gain on building walls and the street,
while maximising cooling nighttime breezes.
 Integration -- all aspects of city life are integrated so work,
entertainment, recreation and home are all in close
proximity, for convenience and to minimise use of
transportation.
 Low rise, high density – most buildings are no more than five
storeys.
 Vibrant urban realm – in the city, as much focus has been
put on the public spaces between the buildings, as well on
the buildings themselves. Thus, the streets and squares invite
people to enjoy the outdoors, where they interact and
engage with fellow students, residents, professionals and
visitors.
 Pedestrian focused – this means narrow, shaded streets, and
pleasant shaded walkways and other paths that encourage
alki g. The i tegrated ature of the it ea s it’s ot far
to walk to many destinations, while convenient
transportation also supports this pedestrian focus.
 High quality of life – the city is committed to offering the
highest quality work and living experience with the lowest
possible environmental footprint.

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As of 2014, Masdar City has sufficient office space to begin
attracting a significant number of residents. Masdar City's
population is expected to grow from 1,000 to 4,000 in 2014.
Masdar predicts that the city's population will hit 10,000 in
three to five years.
Masdar Institute
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is a
graduate-level research university focused on alternative
energy, environmental sustainability, and clean technology.
Its campus is located in Masdar City. The Masdar Institute
was Masdar City's first occupant. The design of the campus
emphasizes flexibility, the use of traditional architectural
elements, and modern materials to provide for an optimized
combination of natural lighting and cooling that minimize
energy needs. By 2013, 336 students were enrolled at the
institute. These students were selected from more than
2,000 applicants. 42% of enrolled students are from the UAE
and 35% are women. The Masdar Institute plans to
eventually enrol about 800 students. Admitted students
from all countries are offered a full-tuition scholarships,
monthly stipends, travel expenses, laptop computers,
textbooks, and accommodation in order to facilitate their
studies. Masdar students and faculty are engaged in over
300 joint projects with academia, private enterprise, and
government agencies. Their research tends to focus on

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renewable energy, smart grids and smart buildings, energy
policy and planning, water use, environmental engineering,
and electronics.
The Masdar Institute has been behind the engineering plans
of Masdar City and is at the center of research and
development activities. The institute's building, developed
in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, uses 70% less electricity and potable
water than normal buildings of similar size and is fitted with
a metering system that constantly observes power
consumption.

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International Renewable Energy Agency
Masdar City will host the headquarters of
the International Renewable Energy Agency,
commonly known as IRENA. As of May 2013,
construction of IRENA's headquarters was underway.
Masdar was selected to host IRENA's headquarters
after a high-profile campaign by the UAE. In its bid,
the UAE offered rent-free offices in Masdar City, 20
IRENA scholarships to the Masdar Institute of
Science and Technology, and up to and up to
US$350 million in loans for renewable energy
projects in developing countries.

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Siemens
A regional headquarters for Siemens has been built in
Masdar City. This build is the most energy efficient in
all of Abu Dhabi. In 2014, more than 800 staff will
start work there. The LEED Platinum building makes
use of sustainable and energy efficient materials and
building techniques. It was designed to use 45
percent less energy and 50 percent less water than
typical office buildings. The Siemens headquarters
won an award for best office building at the Mpim
Architectural Review Future Projects Awards in 2012.
The Middle East Architect Awards named it the both
the best and most sustainable office building the
same year.
The 130,000 square-foot building is built around the
idea of a "box within a box." The structure includes a
highly insulated airtight inner facade that insulates
from the sun and a lightweight aluminium shading
system on the exterior. The plaza beneath the
building is funnel-shaped. This shape works to suck
prevailing winds underneath the building. Due to
the Venturi effect, a breeze flows up to the roof of
the building through atria in the buildings structure,
cooling public spaces without energy costs. These
atria also allow daylight into the centre of the
building in order to reduce the need for artificial
lighting, further reducing energy consumption. The
buildings automation systems are all from Siemens.
Siemens signed an initial ten-year lease.

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Incubator Building
The Incubator Building includes retail and office
space to house start-ups, small-and-medium
sized enterprises, and regional offices for
multinationals. The Incubator Building is
designed to accommodate roughly fifty
companies. Some of the most notable tenants
include General Electric, Mitsubishi, and
Schneider Electric.
The Incubator Building houses the General
Electric ecoimagination Center. The center offers
training and exhibitions on energy and water
efficiency. Nabil Habayeb, GE’s president & CEO
for the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey,
said, "Locating the ecomagination Center at
Masdar City further delivers on our promise to be
an active partner in the concerted efforts of the
UAE Government to promote a culture of
sustainability. The Center builds on our long
heritage in the country, and our commitment to
support the vision of the Abu Dhabi Government
to integrate sustainable growth as a key pillar of
all its activities. Masdar City’s mission
complements our sustainability objectives and is
an ideal home for our first ecomagination center.

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It is a community where cutting-edge cleantech research and
development, pilot projects, technology testing, and construction
o so e of the orld’s ost sustai a le uildi gs are all o goi g.
As such, Masdar City offers a fertile environment that inspires
creativity and growth to organisations operating in this strategic
and dynamic sector. As an emerging hub and a magnet for talent,
financial capital and entrepreneurship in the fast-evolving
renewable energy and cleantech industry, Masdar City provides a
unique competitive advantage to companies, other organisations
and ancillary service providers operating in, and serving this
sector Half the orld’s populatio o li es i ities, a per e tage
that is expected to rise to 70% by 2030, and because cities today
are responsible for over 70% of global CO2 emissions. But, only if
sustainability is economically feasible will enough communities be
able to implement the technologies and systems, and do so on a
big enough scale to achieve meaningful progress in this realm.
That’s h Masdar Cit is ot o l o itted to uildi g o e of
the most sustainable cities in the world, and one that is an
attractive place to live, but also to achieving this in a commercially
viable manner.

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Life in Masdar City

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The project is headed by Masdar, a subsidiary of Mubadala
Development Company. Initiated in 2006, the project was
estimated to cost US$18-22 billion and take approximately
eight years to build, with the first phase scheduled to be
completed and habitable in 2009. Construction began on
Masdar City in 2008 and the first six buildings of the city
were completed and occupied in October 2010. However,
due to the impact of the global financial crisis, Phase 1 of
the city, the initial 1,000,000 square meters (0.39 sq. mi),
will be completed in 2015. Final completion is scheduled to
occur between 2020 and 2025. The estimated cost of the
city has also declined by 10 to 15 percent, putting the
development between US$18.7 and 19.8 billion. The city is
envisioned to cover 6 square kilometers (2.3 sq. mi) and will
be home to 45,000 to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses,
primarily commercial and manufacturing facilities
specializing in environmentally friendly products. In turn,
more than 60,000 workers are expected to commute to the
city daily.
Masdar City will be the latest of a small number of highly
planned, specialized, research and technology-intensive
municipalities that incorporate a living environment, similar
to KAUST, Saudi Arabia or Tsukuba Science City, Japan.
Partners in the project through its Clean Tech Fund are
Consensus Business Group, Credit Suisse and Siemens
Venture Capital. Construction of the first phase of the project
is being managed by CH2M Hill. Infrastructure construction
for the city will be handled by the Al Jaber Group and design
of the central Masdar headquarters building has been
awarded to Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture. The
city's wayfinding system was developed by Endpoint and
City ID.

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Architecture:
Masdar is a sustainable mixed-use development
designed to be very friendly to pedestrians and
cyclists. Masdar City has terracotta walls decorated
with arabesque patterns. From a distance, Masdar
City looks like a cube. The temperature on Masdar's
streets is generally 15 to 20°C cooler than the
surrounding desert. The temperature difference is
due to Masdar's unique construction. A 45-meter
high wind tower modelled on traditional Arab designs
sucks air from above and pushes a cooling breeze
through Masdar's streets. The site is raised above the
surrounding land in order to create a slight cooling
effect. Buildings are clustered close together in order
to create streets and walkways shielded from the
sun.
Masdar City was designed by Foster and Partners.
Foster's design team started its work by touring
ancient cities such as Cairo and Muscat in order to
see how they kept cool. Foster found that these cities
coped with hot desert temperatures through shorter,
narrower streets usually no longer than 70 meters.
The buildings at the end of these streets create just
enough wind turbulence to push air upwards,
creating a flushing effect that cools the street.

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Traditio al Ara i Cit Desig
 Narrow streets
 Natural shading
 High Density/Low Rise Living
 Public spaces
 Mixed Use
 Walk able

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Passive Design reduces Demand
Northeast/Southwest Orientation
Natural Wi d To ers
‘oof – Da “hadi g

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Masdar City Layering

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Mobility Grid

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Creating any sustainable urban development or
Re-development requires a unique set of tools
That are distinct from what it takes to build a
Conventional city. Masdar City aims to be one of
The orld’s ost sustainable urban
developments
And will be at the forefront of developing these
Specific tools. This sustai a le it toolkit
Encompasses eight elements: planning, zero
CO2,power, water, waste, transport, supply
chain and integration.

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Planning
E er aspe t of the it s ur a pla i g,
Engineering and architecture is approached with
sustainability in mind. More specifically, planning
seeks to facilitate energy generation where
applicable and reduce consumption of electricity,
water and other resources.
Planners recognized that the biggest environmental
gains come from some of the most passive, and least
e pe si e, tools: the it ’s a d uildi gs’
orientation
(with regards to the sun and prevailing winds) and its
form. Next most effective is building performance
optimization, such as an efficient envelope and
systems, and smart building management. Active
controls, such as renewable energy, are the most
expensive, while offering the lowest relative
environment-i pa t retur s. That’s h designers
first concentrated on orientation and performance
optimization, thereby reducing a large amount
of energy demand with little cost, and only
subsequently looked at what active controls
could be implemented.
Seven overriding characteristics define Masdar
Cit ’s planning approach: energy-efficient
orientation; integration of districts and
eigh orhood’s ; low rise, high density; vibrant
public realm; pedestrian friendly; high quality
of life; and convenient public transportation.

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Zero CO2 net emissions

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Waste
Masdar Cit s aste a age e t strateg seeks
to minimise waste to landfill and maximise the
resource potential of materials (i.e., recycling
and reuse). As a first step, systems will be
used and awareness will be raised to reduce
the amount of waste generated in the city, i.e.,
by encouraging reusable bags and containers.
The next step is to sort and collect the waste
produced by those living and working in the city.
Masdar Institute buildings have separate waste
chutes to allow for the separation waste.
At later stages, vacuum waste systems may be
implemented to automatically remove all waste from
point of use, ensuring the city is clean and tidy and
reducing the need for traditional dustcarts.
Once collected, the waste is sorted into compostable,
non-recyclable and recyclable waste. All appropriate
bio-waste will be composted and the product used
to enrich the landscaping. Recyclable waste will be
processed in the city or as close by as possible.

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Zero Waste

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Masdar City seeks to maximise use of renewable
energy, which is why power is one of the largest
source of carbon savings and another reason
h the effi ie of the it s uildi gs a d
demand-side systems is maximised. Masdar
City is using, or evaluating for use, in the city the
following technologies:
 Photovoltaics
The regio ’s largest grou d-based grid
connected photovoltaic (PV) array is helping
power the city, while roof-mounted PV is used
on
select buildings. The Masdar headquarters will
have the largest roof-mounted PV installation in
the world. PV will comprise the vast majority of
the it ’s o site re e a le e erg ge eratio .
 Concentrating Solar Power
Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) technology
is being tested as a source of thermal energy
for single- and double-effect absorption chiller
systems, which could meet a significant portion
of the it ’s ooli g de a d.

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 Evacuated tube collectors
Evacuated tube collectors will be roof mounted
to
provide domestic hot water and a base load
that
can be used for dehumidification.
 Waste to energy
Such technologies consume material that
cannot be recycled or reused, as fuel for
gasification,
pyrolysis and plasma arc gasification systems.
In the long term, Masdar City will work with the
Abu Dhabi Municipality to develop such a plant.
 Geothermal
The feasibility of using deep geothermal hot
water
as a thermal energy source has been evaluated,
and will most likely be used with absorption
chillers and for heating domestic hot water.

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]

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Masdar City has been designed to minimize
water waste and maximize the efficiency of
treatment and production techniques. In the
long term the goal is to reduce, in stages, the
domestic water consumption to the target
potable water consumption of 105 liters per
person per day, far below business as usual.
Water-use reduction technologies include high
efficiency appliances, low-flow showers, highly
efficient laundry systems, a water tariff that
promotes water efficiency, incentives, real-time
monitoring, smart water meters that inform
consumers of their consumption, reducing
leakage ultimately to 1%, treated wastewater
recycling, and high-efficiency irrigation and low water
use landscaping, particularly through use
of indigenous desert flora.
The current wastewater system combines
grey water and black water for processing and
treat e t at the it ’s embrane bioreactor
(MBR) plant. The treated sewage effluent
produced at the MBR will be used for landscaping.
The bio solids resulting from the wastewater
treatment can be reused for compositing and in
any future waste-to-energy plant.

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Reduce consumption
to <80l/p/d
Recycle 90% of grey water
Reduce water leakage to 3%

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75% reduction in water usage

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Transportation
In answering one of the overriding priorities of
Masdar Cit s master plan – to be a
pedestrianfocused
community – a rich network of public
and personal transportation options will ensure
it is easy to move across the city in comfort and
ease. As a result, walking and self-propelled
transport will be the most convenient forms of
transportation to many destinations within the
city, as well as the most pleasant. This is the
result of pla ers fo us o reated e te si e
shaded sidewalks and pathways throughout
the city.
In addition, a public transport system of electric
buses and other clean-energy vehicles will provide
tra sport ithi the it , hile A u Dha i’s light
rail and Metro lines will pass through the centre
of Masdar City, providing transport within the city
and serving as a link to the wider metropolitan
area. This extensive public transportation network
means that no destination within the city will
be more than 250-300m some form of public
transport. Most private vehicles will be kept at
the it ’s edge i a u er of parki g lots that
will be linked by electric bus routes to other
public transportation traversing the city.
In its search for an appropriate and sustainable
transportation solution,

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Masdar City is piloting a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)
system of electric powered,
automated, single-cabin vehicles that
offer the privacy, comfort and non-stop travel of a
taxi service, and the reliability and sustainability
of a public transport system. The initial pilot route
runs on a 1,700m track linking Masdar Institute to
its parking lot. However, this emerging technology
will serve only Masdar Institute at this time, as it is
not yet ready for implementation on a wider scale.
As other new transport technologies emerge, they
will be evaluated for use within the city.

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PRT Fast Facts
PRT Vehicles: 3,000
PRT Stations: 85-100
FRT Vehicles 810
PRT Trips per day: 135,000
Max. Walking
Distance to PRT
Station:
150m
LRT Trips per hour: 5,000 people
 Masdar City will be the
first land-based city to
operate without fossil
fueled vehicles
 Walking, electric
vehicles, cycling, PRT
and LRT are the
modes of
transportation within
Masdar City.
 With 40,000
commuters per day,
Masdar City will have
strategically placed
parking areas for fossil-
fueled vehicles

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Mobility

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Throughout the construction and operational
life of Masdar City, there is an ongoing drive to
use the latest sustainable products, materials
and services. Through a detailed product
evaluation process that includes environmental,
economic (including cost and quality) and social
considerations, Masdar City is reducing the
overall impact of the materials chosen for the
buildings and infrastructure in the city.
There are many important considerations in
this evaluation, including: cradle-to-grave
lifecycle analysis, evaluation of recycled content,
manufacturing processes, the level of energy
and water used in manufacturing, assembly plant
location, logistics, distribution, durability and
recyclability. Through this screening and product
specification process, Masdar City is having a
positive local and regional effect by encouraging the
overall supply chain to become more sustainable.
In particular, Masdar City works with suppliers to
help them understand the environmental impact
of their operations. Some early examples of this
beneficial collaboration include having worked with
several local and international material suppliers
on the development of materials with a lower level
of embodied carbon. As a result, the city is using a
low-carbon cement, two types of aluminum with

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between 81% and 90% recycled aluminum content,
and recycled steel reinforcing bars (rebar). As well,
by working with local distributors, Masdar City
contractors were able to source 100% sustainably
grown timber.

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Integration
At the heart of Masdar Cit s sustai a ilit goals
is the integration of the full range of renewable
energy and sustainability technologies. The scale
and scope of this integration is a distinguishing
feature of Masdar City and will generate some of
the it s ke i telle tual propert a d i o atio
in the development of gree ities.
Recognizing that the complexity of sustainable
systems, even within a single structure, has been
one of the biggest challenges to reducing the
environmental impact of buildings, the integration
of multiple complex systems on a city scale, poses
an exponentially greater challenge. This challenge
is augmented by the other need to ensure the
proper balance of these systems across competing
energy and resource demands.
The information communication and technology
(ICT) infrastructure serves residents, businesses
and visitors, as well as the smart networks that
will link, manage and integrate city services. Smart
technologies will play a fundamental and wide-
ranging
role in both achieving the integration of
systems and enabling the smart distribution grid
necessary to balance supply and demand

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Construction began on Masdar City in 2008 and the
first six buildings of the city were completed and
occupied in October 2010. However, due to the impact
of the global financial crisis, Phase 1 of the city, the
initial 1,000,000 square metres (0.39 sq mi), will be
completed in 2015. Final completion is scheduled to
occur between 2020 and 2025. The estimated cost of
the city has also declined by 10 to 15 percent, putting
the development between US$18.7 and 19.8
billion. The city is envisioned to cover 6 square
kilometres (2.3 sq mi) and will be home to 45,000 to
50,000 people and 1,500 businesses, primarily
commercial and manufacturing facilities specialising in
environmentally friendly products. In turn, more than
60,000 workers are expected to commute to the city
daily.

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Masdar City demonstrates that green technology, research
and development can complement petroleum-based
development and aid in facilitating a gradual economic and
conceptual transition to cities being increasingly sustainable
and reducing their emissions. While Masdar City may
continue to face many setbacks as a flagship project,
projects such as these must be at the very least attempted
in order to move forward with sustainable practices. As
Paulo Coelho stated, The orld is ha ged e a ples,
ot opi io s Coelho . With this i i d, let traditio al
expertise, context, climate, and project-led development
guide cities to becoming more sustainable in the future.

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