Report based on a case study of a city called 'MASDAR CITY' situated at Abu Dhabi which is of 100% free from the pollution sources and is able to produce energy and suitable environment without affecting the environment.

1. Zero Emission City
Thushara Thrais Thomas Sneha M Varghese
B.Tech Candidate Professor
Department of Civil Engineering Department of Civil Engineering
Saintgits College of Engineering Saintgits College of Engineering
Email:thushara.is.in@gmail.com Email: sneha.varghese@saintgits.org
Abstract - The world population has been moving toward
urban living for the past century. Today twelve cities officially
have metropolitan populations greater than 20million.
According to the UN 3.6 billion people currently live in urban
areas and that number will only keep growing to a staggering
6.3 billion in 2050. Most cities throughout the world produce
energy by burning coal, oil and gas, unintentionally emitting
carbon. Almost every activity humans do involves burning
one of these fossil fuels.A zero-carbon city runs entirely on
renewable energy. It has no carbon footprint and will not
cause harm to the planet. To become a zero carbon city, an
established modern city must collectively reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases to zero and all practices that
emit greenhouse gases must cease. Also renewable energy,
must supersede other non-renewable energy sources and
become the sole source of energy, so a zero-carbon city is a
renewable-energy-economy city. Zero-carbon cities maintain
optimal living conditions while eliminating environmental
impact. Instead of using established cities, many developers
are starting from scratch in order to create a zero-carbon city.
This way they can make sure every aspect of a city contributes
to it being carbon free.
I. GENERAL
A. Introduction
It is necessary to reduce CO2 emissions against global
warming, and the activities are expanding all over the
world. As the world continues its reliance on fossil fuels
to meet its growing energy demand, the associated
environmental and climate change challenges must be
adequately addressed. The world is undergoing the
largest wave of urban growth in history and this process
is mainly a domain of developing countries. In Europe
over 70 percent of population is urban. In many
developed countries this concentration is also creating its
counterforce: decentralization, urban sprawl, dispersal
and splintering of urban space. According to the United
Nations reports, the growth in human population is
largest in the developing world, with Africa's and Asia's
urban population projected to double between 2000 and
2030. With approximately 3.4 billion people (in 2009),
more than 50 percent of the world population living in
cities and both human activities and the use of energy
also concentrated in cities, the urban areas have become
the root cause of orientating societies toward mass
production, mass consumption and mass dumping of
waste.Without any doubts we can tell, that for humans to
live sustainably, the Earth's resources must be used at a
rate at which they can be replenished. From the global
point of view the sustainability is a state of balance
between resource and the regenerative capacity of the
earth. An environmentally sustainable society satisfies
the basic needs of its people without depleting or
degrading its natural resources and thereby preventing
current and future generations of humans and other
species from meeting their basic needs.
B. Zero emission city
Many scientists and politics now throw around the terms
“zero-carbon economy“ or “low carbon society”, not
explaining the tools and introducing not well-defined
conditions to achieve these goals. As problems of industry
and incineration are not still elaborated enough, here is
presented schematics for a city without them, see Fig.8.
The main energy system of this “Zero Emission City” will
be operating with the carbon dioxide capture and
sequestration at the Oxyfuel ZEPP. The public city-bus
transportation is equipped with modern and ultra-low
emissions engines small electrical/fuel-cell cars. It will be
mentioned that the oxy-fuel combustion takes place in
ZEPP and ZEMPES with nearly zero emissions. Any stack
is absent. Individual domestic heating systems should apply
the geothermal or water/air heat pumps, biomass boilers
and solar panels depending on the local weather conditions
and resources. Each house represents the highest level of
EPDB class and displays its zero-carbon energy certificate.
All household appliances and electric lighting bulbs are
energy-save systems and can be connected to the central
control processor, integrating the internal system operation
(especially for cold and hot water closed loops, and the
ventilating air circulation with the heat recovery). The
urban-drainage and sewage systems are capable for
selection of recoverable liquid components and catch some
poisoning substances. All solid wastes and garbage are
initially segregated, and partially incinerated or recycled.
Local travel, as a principle is covered by public bus and
light tram transportation network, bicycle paths and
walkways (close to riverside). Te majority of private cars
and taxis are electric.

2. II. CASE STUDY: CITY OF MASDAR
The Masdar Initiative is designed to pursue this vision
for diversifying the economy into RE. The Abu Dhabi
Urban Planning Council (ADUPC) has developed the
“Plan Abu Dhabi 2030” (ADUPC 2007). It is the most
comprehensive visionary plan for the city of Abu
Dhabi. This urban structure framework plan is first and
foremost grounded in the cultural and environmental
identity of Abu Dhabi. The city’s population may
grow to three million or may exceed five million by
2030. Clearly this situation will have important
implications and will assert more pressures on existing
infrastructure and institutions—even without drawing
upon the demand for RE technology. At the same time,
it is clear that even though the plan covers most
aspects of urban planning, it still lacks attention to the
energy required to meet the comprehensive
development plan. This omission could have serious
consequences. Abu Dhabi’s energy demand and
supply to meet electricity generation and water
desalination is critical to the sustainable development
of the city and must be dealt with very wisely because
it could be the tipping point between success and
failure of the plan. Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity
Company (ADWEC) is the government agency
dealing with electricity and water needs not only for
the Emirate of Abu Dhabi but for the whole country.
On the basis of Plan Abu Dhabi 2,030, ADWEC
developed a projection plan for electricity and water
demand up to the year 2030
Fig 1: Projected electricity demand for AbuDhabi
The mandate of ADWEC is to “ensure that, at all times,
all reasonable demands for water and electricity in the
Emirates are satisfied.” Figs. 2.2.1 and 2.2.2 show the
projected electricity and water demands, respectively, for
the city of Abu Dhabi.
Fig 2: Projected water demand for Abu Dhabi
A. Carbon management
This unit creates value for Masdar by monetizing GHG
emission reductions under the provisions of the United
Nations–led Clean Development Mechanism (CDM)
framework of the Kyoto Protocol. Masdar Carbon does this
by offering project owners, primarily in oil & gas and
power in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, technical
assistance, project management, carbon finance, and
emissions trading expertise. The unit then buys a share of
the credits it helps generate at a discount. Both the Masdar
City 10-MW photovoltaic (PV) plant and the Shams 1
concentrated solar power plant in the western region of
Abu Dhabi are registered CDM projects handled by Masdar
Carbon. On a parallel track, Masdar Carbon is developing a
multi-billion-dollar national carbon capture network
capable of creating a significant reduction in Abu Dhabi’s
carbon footprint. The first phase of the network, one of the
world’s first commercial-scale carbon capturing and
sequestration (CCS) projects, will sequester approximately
6.5 million tons of CO2 from power plants and industrial
facilities in Abu Dhabi by 2013. The captured CO2 will be
transported and injected into oil reservoirs to enhance oil
recovery.
B. Masdar Power
Masdar Power invests both in RE power projects and in
companies with proven clean-tech technologies—within
the UAE and internationally. Through this two-pronged
investment strategy, the unit helps power companies add
RE to their generation mix and provides clean-tech
companies with expertise and capital for growth. As an RE
power project developer, Masdar Power adds RE to the
electricity generation mix on a worldwide scale. The unit
makes direct investments in individual utility scale projects
in all areas of RE and sustainability, with a focus on CSP,
PV solar energy, and onshore and offshore wind energy.
.
Fig 3: Masdar Power
Masdar Power is developing a 100-MW CSP plant in the
western region of Abu Dhabi Emirate, called Shams 1.
International projects include the 1 GW London. Array
offshore wind farm and a wind farm in the Seychelles that
will provide 25% of the island’s energy needs. The unit
also is developing a 500-MW hydrogen-fired power plant
in Abu Dhabi that uses advanced technologies to make

3. hydrogen power commercially viable today by feeding the
CO2 into the CCS network to be developed by Masdar
Carbon.
III. SOURCES OF ENERGY
A. CSP plants
Against this background, the writers now turn to the third
objective of this paper, namely to consider their choice of a
particular RE technology. No matter how much the oil
prices fluctuate at the global level, there is every
expectation that energy from renewables will increase in
the future. Fig. 4.1.1 shows that fossil fuel will peak
globally around 2020 in addition to the alternative energy
outlook between 1930 and 2100. Table 4.1.1 compares the
present production and economic cost of some renewables
with their future potential capacity and cost between
2005and2030.
Fig 4 : CSP plants
The CSP technology, parabolic troughs, has proven its
economic, energy, and environmental benefits in California
and other part of the world (Tester et al. 2005,
NREL2006).The evidence suggests that CSP technology
has proven to be very competitive to any new power plant,
including coal power plants. Variable power requirements
are a problem for the grid because consumers’ demand
varies during the day. Other RE technologies, such as wind
and solar cells, have limitations because of their lack of
storage capacity and their strong variability. The CSP
plants have the
B. Shams 1
Shams 1 is the first CSP ( concentrating solar power
systems ) , parabolic trough, power plant under
construction in the United Arab Emirates. Construction of
Shams 1 commenced in July 2010 and is expected to be
completed by 2012. Table 4.2.1 shows all the key data
related to the plant. Masdar will build additional CSP
plants on a yearly basis until a total capacity of 1; 500
MWel is reached in the year 2020, as shown in Table 4.2.2
as current plan, Scenario 1. Also shown is the maximum
potential of CSP plants that can be built technically if the
country retains the political will to remain on the trajectory
path that it has framed. This potential is shown as Scenario
2. For exploratory purposes, the writers have included
another scenario, Scenario 3, which is almost half the
capacity of Scenario 2.
IV. TRANSPORTATION
Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) is an automated taxi-like
service concept, which combines the characteristics of the
personal automobile, the advantages of public
transportation (congestion, parking) and clean technologies
and is therefore the ideal transit system in the carbon
neutral, zero emission Masdar city. The first PRT cars are
set to begin running later this year. Masdar City will be the
world’s first carbon neutral, zero-waste to landfill, car-free
city powered entirely by alternative energy sources. Masdar
City will be built on six and a half square kilometres and
will grow eventually to house 1,500 businesses, 40,000
residents and 50,000 commuters. There will be no fossil
fuel cars within Masdar City.
Fig 5 : PRT system
The city will be a pedestrian-friendly environment, with a
Personal Rapid Transit system (PRT) available for longer
journeys. The PRT vehicles will travel at speeds up to
40km/h, with the longest routes in the city taking around 10
minutes. Ultimately there will be 3,000 PRT vehicles
serving 130,000 trips/day over the 85 stations. The
dedicated guide way in the undercroft, an artificial
basement created by raising the pedestrian level, will also
accommodate the Freight Rapid Transit system (FRT). The
FRT system is capable of making 5,000 trips per day
carrying the loads and deliveries for residents, stores and
hotels. The vehicles are equipped with Lithium-Phosphate
batteries, allowing a range of approximately 60 kilometers
on a 1,5 hour charge. The vehicles will be recharged at the
stations, avoiding the necessity of additional parking space
(garage). The stations feature angled berths, allowing all
vehicles independent entry and exit.

4. V. MASDAR INSTITUTE
Developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT), the Masdar Institute is a
postgraduate university focused on the science and
engineering of advanced RE, environmental technologies,
and sustainability.
Fig 6 : Masdar Institute of Technology
The Masdar Institute is the nucleus of the research and
development activities in Masdar City and will play a
major role in building the city. First opened to students in
September 2009, the institute offers nine master of science
programs and a doctorate program in renewable energies
and sustainable technologies and encourages an
environment to foster the next generation of scientific
discoveries. Designed by Fosters + Partners, the Masdar
Institute building will be the first completed building at
Masdar City and a model of sustainability.
VI . CONCUSION
This report provided an overview of the sustainability
challenges. In addition, it provided the economic
diversification plan of Abu Dhabi, an oil-rich emirate, into
RE through the Masdar Initiative. The paper concentrated on
the power sector and on building the series of CSP RE plants
for electricity generation. Different trajectory scenarios were
highlighted to see how CSP plants can contribute to the 2020
energy policy of Abu Dhabi and to the overall objectives of
the Masdar initiative, in addition to reduction of CO2
emissions. Building only CSP plants is not enough to be
successful, Abu Dhabi should have a portfolio of different RE
technologies especially now that many other solar
technologies such as PV are becoming more economically
feasible, energy efficiency measures, and carbon capturing
and sequestration projects. Investments must be carefully
targeted and leveraged to reduce greenhouse gases and lower
the costs of more sustainable lifestyles for everyone on the
planet. Finally, technological advances will support and
enable the drive for low-carbon cities.
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