Oasis in the Desert

There's been much talk in the news about weaning the U.S. off of foreign oil in order to protect national security, but it looks like the Middle East, the world's largest producer of fossil fuel energy, may also show us the way forward without carbon dependence.

In the February 2, 2019 issue of Time magazine, journalist C. Walsh reported on Abu Dhabi's planned Masdar City. This project, which is estimated to cost $22 billion, would be the first carbon and waste-free settlement, nestled within one of the world's eighth largest petroleum producer. Masdar City is part of the greater Masdar Initiative, a multi-billion dollar effort by Abu Dhabi's leaders to establish this wealthy capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a pioneer for green innovation. The initiative includes Masdar City, which was designed by British architect Norman Foster, a $250 million clean technology investment fund, and an energy-engineering school linked to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). At the January 2009 World Future Energy Summit (WFES), Abu Dhabi pledged that at least seven percent of its electricity would come from renewable sources by 2020.

Masdar City, which is projected to house 40,000 people within a walled community of 2.3 square miles, is slated for completion in 2016. Electricity will be provided by solar farms, which will make use of the scorching heat that frequently climbs above 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Instead of cars, residents will use a personal rapid transit system (PRT) to jet around the city on an automated cable-car-like network. A solar-powered desalination plant and conservation practices will reduce water use by 60 percent, and the city center will be the Masdar Institute for graduate studies in clean energy technologies.

Though Masdar City has been celebrated for its newly developed technologies, the true innovation is its ability to work with, rather than fight, the natural climate. The brutal sun powers solar panels, and the close affiliation with petroleum production has shown Abu Dhabi's leaders that the oil just won't last forever.

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The initiative offers a template for the rest of the world as we move, by necessity, into a more environmentally conscious future. Rather than fighting to conquer the globe, we should work with it to reap the benefits, like solar energy and wind power, that collective ignorance has kept us from accessing up to now. And we should extend a hand to the Middle East not as an antagonist who would keep us in thrall with its oil reserves, but as a pioneer and partner in the quest for green technologies.