Insights: The future of energy lies in using less of it

Images: Masdar City

Energy companies play an undeniably vital role in the energy transition, but they aren’t the only ones. Masdar City isn’t building solar parks or wind turbines. But we are building a sustainable city.

The future of energy isn’t just about cleaning up the grid. One of the single most important factors in achieving net zero is dramatically reducing carbon emissions, which means using less: less water, less waste, and of course, less energy.

This is particularly important for the built environment, which, according to a 2023 report by McKinsey & Company, accounts for one-quarter of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide.

Reducing energy demand is a cornerstone of Masdar City’s sustainable development strategy. While some global sustainable cities have invested heavily in technology as the driving force behind their sustainability work, Masdar City has focused on design that requires less energy and uses technology as a top-up.

As our chairman, H.E Abdulla Balalaa, stated in his keynote speech during the Green Hydrogen Summit at WFES, the most sustainable energy is the energy you don’t use.

The UAE is an energy-intensive corner of the world. Given our extraordinary summer temperatures, which top 45 degrees Celcius in August, standard homes here use substantially more energy to cool compared to homes in other climates.

Back in 2008, we knew we needed to find a way to curb this to achieve net zero, so we looked for ways to design a city that wouldn’t require as much power to make its residents comfortable.

This is not a new approach. In fact, our inspiration comes from ancient Arab cities, which have been contending with the heat of the desert since long before the advent of air conditioning.

We asked ourselves (and we continue to ask design partners who collaborate with us), “What if we had to design a building without air conditioning? Would we do anything differently?” Of course, we would.

Floor-to-ceiling windows look beautiful and can make for great views, but typically let in too much heat—particularly if they are facing east or west.

This logic is the basis of an architectural approach called passive design, which uses a building’s physical components and works in tandem with the natural environment rather than against it to minimize energy demand.

Design drives energy efficiency at Masdar City

Masdar City has been optimising sustainable building design and master planning, which feature dozens of examples of passive design, for more than 15 years. For example, airtight building envelopes and top-notch insulation minimise heat transfer from the outside to the inside. A lower window-to-façade ratio and windows that are oriented away from the sun help minimise solar gain (the buildup of heat from the sun).

Placing fire escapes outside means that valuable energy and floor space are not wasted on a building feature that occupants hope they never need to use.

The result? Our newest buildings, including several net-zero energy buildings, are designed to consume half the amount of energy of standard buildings—even when it’s over 45 degrees Celcius outside and the air conditioning is on high. This means we need half the amount of clean energy to power and cool our buildings.

We broke ground just a few months ago on a net-zero energy mosque that will, among other things, feature an innovative tiered window system in the ceiling that will channel enough breeze to make air conditioning optional in the winter months—an uncommon idea for modern buildings in this part of the world.

In 2022, Masdar City’s energy demand reduction was just over 38 per cent overall.

By 2025, thanks to our recently completed projects such as NZ1, the country’s first net-zero energy commercial building, and upcoming projects such as Masdar City Square, The Link, and our net-zero energy mosque, our overall energy demand reduction is projected to be about 48 per cent.

Imagine cutting demands on Abu Dhabi’s power grid by half and what that would mean for the UAE’s net-zero journey. The energy transition would accelerate dramatically. We could leave the oil in the ground.

The key to the future of energy — both here and worldwide — is using less.

Chris Wan is the associate director of Sustainability and CSR at Masdar City.  He is a seasoned architect who has worked extensively in sustainability, architecture, and design management in the UK, Hong Kong, and Abu Dhabi.