Untitled episode

then is very different it hasn't achieved its main objective of being completely clean but it is a lower carbon it has a lower emissions than other parts of the region from the beginning Master city was designed to be very energy efficient and here in the desert in Abu Dhabi that means fighting heat and trying to find ways to cool down buildings that don't require energy all

of the areas in the city center are shaded um which is pretty nice there's a nice breeze coming through the streets um this is all product of the Urban Design um the the way the city was designed to make sure it wasn't too hot especially during summer months in Abu Dhabi we will see very wide streets with several lanes for cars it's not pedestrian friendly precisely

whereas Master City uh everything is supposed to be in walking distance streets in MA City are 5 to 10 cooler than in other equivalent areas we touch one of these walls that are under the shade uh we can feel that they are quite cool very different obviously than if the sun was heating directly on it Foster and partners the architectural firm that designed the original plan

for Mazar got inspiration for the new city from old cities in Europe and in parts of the Middle East this is the Wind Tower in MAA City it's inspired in ancient Egyptian and persan technology and it's really tall what it does is it captures the winds that are flowing above us and channels them through some conducts uh until the until the streets below us to help

them F buildings in master City are oriented toward the North toward uh Parts where the Sun hits during Less hours in the day everything a shade now but and it's it feels quite cool quite fresh there's a breeze temperature is okay even though we're approaching in the middle of the day here midday uh but as I walk into the Sun and I approach the outside of

the city center um I can feel that the sun is much much stronger it's much hotter few degrees higher probably and to be honest to just imagine walking from here to that other building over there or one of these buildings far away feels quite painful right now there is what Architects call an envelope around the building so uh the windows are not facing directly outside there's

a layer in between I'm standing in front of the knowledge Center at Mazda City our first and foremost criteria is to try to protect the building from the Sun in this Dimension the glass I can see right next to me is sloped not only is it slope you see the roof of building is projecting as though you're wearing a hat so we will have the building

and around it a second layer um is built to provide shade for the inside of the building even though you see a large glass surface in front of you in actual fact the amount of Glass on this building is very very minimal by controlling the the glass area a building like this that is also very heavily insulated can save up to 50% energy over international business

as usual the Simmons energy headquarters in the Middle East is placed in master City and it's considered an energy efficient building their data shows water and power use are 40% more efficient than a similar office building in the UAE we have been working on various campuses University campuses to um uh reduce their energy consumption and that directly relates into into savings into uh monetary savings I

think it's up to 200,000 diram in one of the examples per year that was saved by just deploying our technology this is what the finished start of Master City looks like you can see behind me some Gardens a very nice Avenue where people can walk at the end of the day like we are now when there's a nice breeze and it's not too hot but this

is actually just a very small part of ma City if we walk just a couple of meters you will see what most of it looks like this is bare land places that still need to be built where construction is happening or nothing is happening at all it shows the challenges of building a city from scratch and also from encouraging people to move in since the beginning

there has been lots of skepticism around the project of Master City first of all because what's behind it is one of the world's most carbon intensive governments and countries and so when it was announced there were many people that saw it as greenwashing exercise or an attempt from a major oil and gas producer to clean its image and show itself as green and sustainable we started

off with a vision at a time even though we announced that Vision we did not know exactly how we were going to achieve it one acknowledged how building a city from scratch may run counter to many conceptions of sustainability but he also said the project has been transparent about its goals and that sustainability also means balancing social needs with economics 15 years since it started being

built Master city has not been completed has not achieved its goals but it has achieved some things some of the green sustainability criteria that are compulsory in master City are um being applied in other parts of uh Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates it's still anecdotal but everyone seems to agree that the construction industry that uh people who buy apartments and houses in this part

of the world they are starting to change they demand cleaner standards and cleaner buildings they want to have a smaller Environmental and climate impact and whether these Trends in consumer preferences and building standards would have happened anyway without Master is a question that remains to be seen