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Masdar: The Zero Carbon City
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Abu Dhabi is building a hew eco-city the world’s first clean
technology city, relying entirely on renewable energy sources,
and being free of cars, skyscrapers and waste
Masdar is being built by the Abu Dhabi National Energy, Global Energy Company
UAE, as a walled “clean technology cluster” on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, the
capital of UAE, and close to the Abu Dhabi airport. The terrain in the region is
inhospitable desert, but the six square kilometer city is planned to support a
population of 50,000 people sustainably, using the blazing desert sun as its main
energy source. The solar farm to power the city is already built, and is the largest
in the Middle East. The city will also be home to a university and over 1,000
businesses.
The boundary walls prevent outward sprawl and keep the city compact, and there
will be no skyscrapers. The narrow streets will be lined with buildings close enough
to shade each other, with the vertical faces fitted with screens to keep out the sun
but allow the breezes to flow through. The streets are designed for pedestrians,
and no conventional cars will be allowed through the city gates. Electric vehicles will
be allowed within the walls, and other modes of transport include a Personal Rapid
Transit system, or driverless podcars powered by solar-generated electricity. The
podcars will be guided by magnetic sensors and go wherever you tell them to, but
stop immediately if an obstacle is in the way. With no conventional vehicles, the
quality of air in the city will be excellent, and according to the director of the project,
Kaled Awad, “that alone will bring you safety, health and happiness.”
Other ideas being tried out in the developing city include a circular array of mirrors
on the ground that focuses light on a tower in the center. The tower redirects the
one-meter wide concentrated beam of light down to a system that collects the heat
to drive generators. Another idea is using thin foil coverings to keep out heat.
Gerard Evenden, the chief architect, said this idea originated in a proposal for a
moon base. Another innovation is a 45 m wind tower that will draw breezes through
the streets without using energy. The tower will bear a beacon to show the city’s
energy use: blue for good and red for too much.
The city will be carbon neutral, using electricity only for its desalination plant, some
air conditioning, and for gadgets. According to the designers, the city’s mantra in
relation to power is: “only use energy when you have exhausted design.”
The city is designed by British architects Foster and Partners, and is largely being
funded by Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi’s ruler. The estimated
cost is £10-20bn ($15-30bn). Masdar is expected to be finished within 5-10 years
and promises to become the Silicon Valley of renewable energy providing a global
hub for research and development of sustainable technologies.
For more information visit: http://www.masdarcity.ae/en/index.aspx
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Hi-tech Toilets of Japan
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Consumers will pay
For quality in IPTV
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Service quality and ease of use are customers' main requirements when it comes
to IPTV services, according to Ericsson. In a TV study carried out by Ericsson
Consumerlabs, "high quality was ranked number one," said Giles Wilson, CTO,
Ericsson solution area television, speaking at IPTV World Forum in London. More
than 70% listed quality as 'very important' and said they would be willing to pay for
it, he explained.
The study was carried out among 7,000 individuals and 52 households in seven
countries worldwide.This desire for quality means that operators need to look at
managed delivery of TV services over provisioned bandwidth, rather than an
unmanaged, best-effort, contended service, Wilson said.
There is a place for both managed and over-the-top delivery, but to get a good
experience in the home, "you have to invest in the network," he advised.
Over-the-top comes into play as a facilitator for place-shifting capabilities, such as
when a subscriber moves from the home on to the mobile or into the office, he said.
The survey also revealed that customers prize ease of use with TV services,
ranking it in second place behind quality. The availability of on-demand content
came in third.
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Japan is the world leader in
high-tech toilets, and its
biggest toilet company, Toto,
is working on a home model
that will chemically analyze
urine. Already selling well are
toilets that clean themselves,
have coatings that resist
germs and spray pulsating
water to massage your
backside.
The toilets basically look like
a standard model, except for
the control pad, which
sometimes comes with a digital
clock to tell you how long you
have been in the bathroom.
Some of the buttons control the temperature of the water squirted onto your
backside. The bottom-washer function, combined with the bottom blow-dryer, is
designed to do away with the need for toilet tissue. Other buttons automatically
open and close the lid; the button for men lifts lid and seat; the button for women
lifts the lid only. Some toilets even have a hand-held remote control: a clicker for
the loo.
Many foreigners say once you get used to these toilets -- which cost $2,000 to
$4,000 -- it's hard to do without them, especially the automatic seat warmer.
One model comes with a 20-inch Philips LCD TV, an Xbox 360 console, a DVD
player, a Gateway EMachine laptop with robot arm (don't even ask how that's
used...), an iPod docking station with its own toilet-paper dispenser, a TiVo DVR,
an Avanti refrigerator with beer tap, an exercise bike, and an electric cup warmer.
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