Eco-friendly town in the desert

On 21^st January, the emirate of Abu Dhabi announced the creation of an eco-friendly town right in the heart of the desert. This future town of 50,000 inhabitants will be built near Abu Dhabi airport in 2015 and will be the first town in the world without carbon emissions, waste or cars. It will be laid out in accordance with a founding principle: no inhabitant will be more than 200 metres from shops and services. Public transportation will be via an automated system that will replace cars. In addition, waste recycling will result in an 80% reduction in desalinated water consumption, solar power will be the main energy source, crops will provide food and produce agri-fuels, and carbon sequestration techniques will be deployed. Added to other clean technologies, these innovations will make the town of Masdar the "Silicon Valley of renewable energy".

Other projects of this type are currently under development elsewhere in the world, in countries such as Great Britain, Canada and China.