Neom is Saudi’s mega-green Gotham city
A rendering of Neom, an intentional futuristic city breaking ground on the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia. Where robots outnumber people. A $500 Billion desert dream, funded by oil money.
Masdar
The future of green building in the Middle East looks backward
If we want to create progress in the Middle East in green building, architects, planners and investors need to move away from trendy ideas to going back to relationships with local traditions and cultures.
Dispatch from inside Masdar
As an intern at Masdar Institute, I’ve witnessed firsthand how real and possible a drastically improved world is. Masdar serves as a real-life experiment of how our sustainable future might look like. Solar energy generated by a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant as well as panels mounted on the institute’s buildings provide nearly all of the […]
Imagine a new kind of sustainable city in the desert?
Luca Curci architects studio presents Desert City, a project proposal for a sustainable way to live in the desert. It surely beats the maze of crazy unsustainable cities we see in regions in the United Arab Emirates, save for Masdar the zero energy city outside Abu Dhabi. The architects say that their theoretical project was born from […]
Abu Dhabi investors looking for water tech innovators!
Want to make a splash with your water tech idea, vie for a chance to get funded and earn customers right away? In an X-factor style, water innovators are being called on to submit their company ideas for a competition being held at the International Water Summit (IWS) during the now famous Abu Dhabi Sustainability […]
Solar Impulse 2 plane will circumnavigate Earth in 2015
Last year, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg became the first pilots to fly across America in a featherweight plane fueled only by the sun. The Swiss duo now plans to circumnavigate the world in a next-generation solar aircraft named the Solar Impulse 2. The March 2015 flight will start and finish in Abu Dhabi.
Saudi Arabia group makes pact with Masdar for green energy
Despite the turbulence tearing through the Middle East, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have solidified their commitment to clean energy with the newly formed Framework Agreement on Strategic Cooperation between Masdar and King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (K.A.CARE.) It’s leadership we desperately need.
Abu Dhabi’s Masdar appoints new leaders
Masdar CEO Sultan Al Jaber is moving on to “greener” pastures, according to a statement released by Abu Dhabi investment giant Mubadala. The firm has appointed Al Jaber as its chairman; Masdar’s new CEO has been identified as Ahmad Belhoul.
Masdar sues Spain over solar energy subsidy cuts
Masdar has sued the Spanish government. The multi-pronged company funded in part by the government of Abu Dhabi helped build the world’s first 24/7 solar power plant in Spain, a feat made possible in part with subsidies. But Spain has now cut incentives for renewable energy, which eats into Masdar’s investment.
Siemens opens Middle East’s greenest office building at Masdar City (PHOTOS)
When the Middle East eco-city developers from Masdar approached David Ardill, Partner and Design Director at Sheppard Robson, to design Siemens’ new corporate headquarters at Masdar City, the architect said it was the most challenging brief he had ever encountered. Green Prophet visited the building this week for an exclusive tour.
Green Prophet hits IRENA and the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi
This is the second year that Masdar has hosted Green Prophet at the World Future Energy Summit (WFES). Last year we visited Shams I, the world’s largest CSP plant, more state-of-the art green buildings at Masdar City, and we saw an Estidama green villa prototype.
Israel’s Bird King Yossi Leshem: Jordan’s Tafila Wind Farm is a “Real Problem”
Jordan is pushing ahead with the largest commercial scale wind farm in the Middle East region, the Tafila Wind Farm, seemingly without care for the massive bird migration population that passes through Jordan twice a year. Green Prophet called Israel’s Bird King, bird migration specialist Prof. Yossi Leshem.
Masdar Wind Project May Blow Back Into Egypt
An ambitious collaboration between Egypt and renewables giant Masdar may be coming back to life following a two year hibernation. Is this a bona fide resurrection of a visionary joint venture or just a soundbite to broadcast the commercial ambitions of Masdar?
London Array: Masdar Celebrates World’s Largest Wind Farm Inauguration
The London Array is Masdar’s largest renewable energy project to date, but the government-supported research and development group have no intention of stopping there. With a 20 percent stake in the offshore wind project that will generate enough energy to power half a million UK homes, the group is ready to keep up the momentum.
Masdar Launches the Seychelles’ First Renewable Energy Plant
The Middle East’s leading clean energy developer, Masdar has launched the very first renewable energy plant to be built in The Seychelles – the 6MW Port Victoria Wind Farm.
Amazon Biosphere Office Combines Plants and People in Missed Opportunity
Online retailer Amazon grabbed headlines with their plan to build a biosphere inside transparent glass orbs which will house its Seattle – based workforce and a forest of plants. Interiors will feature “botanical zones” modeled on earth’s mountain ecologies.
Masdar Buys Inkjet Printer for 3D Printing Solar Cells!
The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) in Abu Dhabi, which is affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has purchased a Fujifilm Dimatix DMP283 inkjet printer – the learning institute’s first step towards printing its very own solar cells!
Another Sustainable Development Report from Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi has been a leader in harnessing the power of the sun, clean technology and alternative sources of energy in the past few years. A new report form the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) has shown that efforts are progressing quite positively for the Arab Gulf country.
Green Investment Bank and Masdar Ink Agreement to Link Mideast to Britain
The UK Green Investment Bank and the United Arab Emirates Masdar have inked a new agreement that will see the UAE-based company work toward new investment opportunities in the United Kingdom, taking their expertise in renewable energy to Britain.
The Gulf Monarchies and Climate Change – A Book Review
Working in Qatar has clearly given the academic Mari Luomi access to lots of information about the climate change rhetoric and reality of the Gulf. It also puts her in a rather awkward position in terms of being able to voice her criticism. After interviewing Luomi for Green Prophet around a year ago, however, I […]
Solar PV Demand Rises Sixfold in the Middle East and Africa
HH General Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi (left), HH Sheikh Hazza bin Zayed Al Nahyan National Security Advisor for the UAE and Vice Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council visit Masdar City’s 10 MW PV plant in 2011. Proponents of environmental reform (renewable energy, greener economy) are racing […]
Largest African Photovoltaic Solar Plant Online Courtesy of Masdar
Situated even deeper in the desert than Morocco and prone to locust swarms, Mauritania’s topography consists of the “mostly barren, flat plains of the Sahara” – as the CIA puts it. They’ve got very little water and less than half of one percent of the country’s land is arable. But they’ve got sun and they’ve […]
Abu Dhabi Dump to Power 100 MW Green Energy Incinerator
About half of Abu Dhabi’s trash will ‘burn’ into green electricity in new $850 million power plant. Maybe you saw the wonderful movie, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Or maybe you’d read stories on Green Prophet about Masdar, or Shams, the world’s largest CSP plant in Abu Dhabi. Arab nations and their economies are certainly […]
Dubai’s “Sustainable City” Launches Next Month
We’ve been hearing about Dubai’s version of Masdar City since 2011, but skeptics have doubted that “Sustainable City” would ever become more than a mirage in the desert. Not anymore, according to local news reports. Diamond Developers has announced plans to officially launch their latest project – a 120 acre green city – at the […]
This Desalination Infographic is Like Taking Climate Change Advice from Shell
If Shell were to design a clever infographic with a bunch of facts, it would probably highlight the amount of fossil fuels the United States imports from “dangerous” foreign countries, how expensive those imports are, and how the company could save the world if only they had unrestricted access to the Arctic’s fossil fuel reserves […]