The Arabian Peninsula: The Clean Energy Capital of the World?
COMMENTARY BY NASIR KHATTAK
Director of Global Environmental Programs of the Climate Institute
Only a few years ago someone would have been considered certifiable had he or she suggested that the Clean Energy Capital of the World in the 21st century might be based in the Arabian Peninsula. Yet this is no longer implausible; in fact as I found on my visit to Abu Dhabi in May, this emirate on the South-eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula is embarked on a much more audacious effort to transform the global energy system than anything promoted by the Western environmental movement.
Commentators may have a lot of different explanations for the huge upsurge in oil and gas prices – increases in global demand driven both by the explosive growth of the vehicular sector in Asia and North American consumers’ preferences for large, gas guzzling cars and pickups; and “speculation” or “calculation” in the oil futures market of rising prices driven both by rising global demand and political uncertainty in key producing nations such as Nigeria, Iran and Iraq. However one sorts out the causation, the rapid rise in oil and gas prices has resulted in a huge and rapid increase in revenues to the oil producing states of the Arabian Gulf Region. According to Khaleej Times Online economists expect the surging oil prices to boost oil revenues in member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from $364 billion in 2007 to $636 billion in 2008 - a gain of about 75%. These analysts predict that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) that are producing about 2.62 million barrels a day could see their earnings from oil jump from $63 billion in 2007 to $110 billion in 2008.
Abu Dhabi that has about 85% of the UAE’s output capacity and more than 90% of its crude oil reserves has embarked on an audacious strategy, something every bit as revolutionary as John D. Rockefeller achieved a century ago in oil or Bill Gates and Paul Allen more recently accomplished in information systems. On one hand Abu Dhabi is investing heavily to further increase its oil and natural gas production and building a huge sovereign wealth fund with asset values estimated around $875 billion. However, the truly revolutionary aspect is its decision to leverage its substantial resources and expertise in global energy markets into sustainable energy technologies of the future and committing to build the Clean Energy Capital of the World, the Masdar City. 
Masdar City is at the heart of a very exciting and ambitious Masdar Initiative. ‘Masdar’ in Arabic means ‘source’, which is the name given to this initiative that is seeking to invest billions of dollars in emerging clean energy technologies and to make Abu Dhabi a living demonstration that such systems can be used in synergy to create a commercially thriving hub.
Masdar City was initiated in 2006 and is estimated to take 22 billion dollars and eight years to build. This city of 50,000 inhabitants, 1500 businesses will be located in an area of about 2.5 sq. miles, and shall use the traditional planning principles of a walled city, together with latest technologies, to achieve a zero carbon and zero waste community. The city is being designed and built to have an ecosystem of its own where individuals, organizations, research institutions, commercial and manufacturing facilities specializing in clean energy and environmentally-friendly products will be able to do business with each other and serve as a silicon valley of sustainable energy for the rest of the world. This unprecedented undertaking is described in this remarkable video.
The electricity for the city will be generated by photovoltaic panels, while cooling will be provided via concentrated solar power. Water will be provided through a solar-powered desalination plant. Landscaping within the city and crops grown outside the city will be irrigated with grey water and treated waste water produced by the city. The buildings will also be designed and built using local material and utilizing energy efficient techniques and technologies. Water and waste management will be planned in the most environmentally sound manner. The city will attempt to reduce waste to zero with biological waste to be used to create nutrient-rich soil and fertilizer.
There will be no automobiles within the city and travel will be accomplished via public mass transit system. With a maximum distance of 200m to the nearest transport link and amenities, the compact network of streets encourages walking and is complemented by a personalized rapid transport system. The shaded walkways and narrow streets will create a pedestrian-friendly environment in the context of Abu Dhabi’s extreme climate. This city is being designed by London based Foster & Partners, as seen in these photos.
In addition to the Masdar City, the initiative includes creation of a Masdar Clean Tech Fund http://www.masdarctf.com/ with international partners such as Credit Suisse and Siemens. Among several multimillion dollar investments, this fund has also committed up to $2 billion in investments in photovoltaic solar technologies.
Dr. Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, chief executive officer at Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (AFDEC), who is spearheading the Masdar Initiative, wants to position Masdar City as a 
world-class research and development hub for new energy technologies. The Initiative has already developed partnerships with academic institutions such as Imperial College in London, the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Columbia University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Somewhat in the model of the Silicon Valley or the Route 128 Corridor in Massachusetts this development of a world-class research center and a graduate-level scientific institute seeks to spawn and attract a host of high technology firms, especially in the clean energy and resource sustainability areas. One key objective of Masdar is to establish an entirely-new economic sector in Abu Dhabi around clean energy industries, and to transition away from an economy that imports technology to one that exports it.
The headquarters of the Masdar Initiative will be the world’s first large-scale, mixed-use ‘positive energy’ building that produces more energy than it consumes. Masdar has chosen Chicago architecture firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture to design this unique 1.4 million square foot building that will be a model of sustainability built in a hot and arid climate.
Even before the building of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi has emerged as a favorite site for clean energy and building sustainability meetings. When I was there in mid-May its Cityscape Abu Dhabi Conference and related meetings drew a host of attendees, especially from Europe, the UAE and other Arab nations, to discuss “ The Critical Role of Sustainable Design, Construction, Development and Operation in Combating Climate Change.” From January 19-21, 2009 Abu Dhabi is hosting a World Future Energy Summit.
Breathtaking as the Masdar vision is, it may have more chance of fulfillment than many of the pledges of leaders of much more populous Western nations. Abu Dhabi has ample resources from an upsurge in oil prices attributable in part to the failure of Western leaders to diversify their energy mix. Many of the Western democracies seem hobbled by budgetary pressures due in part to rising fossil fuel prices and to public opinion irate over skyrocketing energy and food prices. This environment is hardly conducive to long term energy planning. Here Abu Dhabi’s willingness to invest a sizable share of its unexpected energy revenues into clean energy and building design may help greatly to jump start a serious international climate protection and energy transformation effort.
Links
Masdar plan, Economist.com, Dec 4, 2008 http://www.economist.com/science/tq/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12673433
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Nasir Khattak is Director of Global Environmental Programs 
at the Climate Institute and has 15 years of experience in developing and implementing a variety of international environmental and renewable energy policies and projects. He is spearheading the Institute's International Leadership Alliance for Climate Stabilization, which includes sustainable energy and climate protection planning for participating states and islands. He also manages the Climate Institute’s Global Sustainable Energy Islands Initiative, which involves energy transformation efforts in several small island states in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
Mr. Khattak has a master’s degree in Engineering Management from George Washington University in Washington D.C. He got his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Pakistan and also has a bachelor’s degree in law and political science from the University of Peshawar in Pakistan.