Response to Masdar Article

The proposed project for Masdar definitely has a lot of good points that could help the environment, but also many hidden flaws that may not be clear on the surface. Environmentally, the project looks to reduce all forms of different pollution and create city where cars aren’t even allowed to roam it, which is something you don’t see anymore today in modern cities. The ways Masdar is receiving its energy is also seemingly very self efficient, with most of the energy coming from the sun instead of traditional sources. One thing that really interested me was the personal rapid transit train cars, which looked liked a personal cart that could bring you to different destinations within the city. It is definitely good to find new ways of transportation and promote more healthy means of transportation like walking and biking, but I was just curious how the city would make sure there would be no cars. Would there be laws passed banning cars and how strict would the enforcement be regarding those laws.

Another part of the article that was interesting was the equity section, where the authors mentioned that the residents in Masdar would be relatively wealthy people, with many workers not being able to reside there because of their low income. This matches a trend in our class discussions this semester where we talked about how the environmentally friendly programs are usually implemented in areas where the wealthy live, and the poor generally don’t even emphasize green space or infrastructure in their neighborhoods. There was also some irony surrounding how the project would be funded because the article mentions that most of the money will be coming from oil being sold in the UAE, which is contradictory to the city of Masdar. It is just another cycle where you are selling fossil fuels to others to make money to try and help the environment.

Finally, the comparisons between Masdar and other popular sites in the UAE was very interesting because those sites like famous hotels, indoor skiing resorts, and the other eye catching structures needs to use a lot of natural resources to run because of how they operate. Once again, it is kind of ironic to have these environment consuming structures on one hand, and then you are trying to build a city to environmentally sustain itself. However, even with these doubts surrounding the project, it still seems that we need to do something to help the environment, and if we don’t take action, nothing will be done anyways. We might as well take the risk and implement the project, and if it works it will be revolutionary, if it doesn’t at least we tried.

Response to “Masdar: Evaluating the World’s Most Sustainable City”

The Masdar Initiative is an ambitious and well-intentioned plan to address the issue of sustainable development for urban cities. When I opened article and read on the first page that “Masdar will be the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste, zero car city. At the cutting edge of technology and design, Masdar incorporates advanced energy and water saving techniques modeling the sustainability practices of the future,” I was surprised to see that a project of this scale existed (1). It made me very curious to read more.

Masdar seems to have many features through the use of technology that addresses the economical and environmental aspect of sustainability that the article explains well. There were two features of Masdar that I really liked in particular. One is that the city will rely independently on renewable energy for 100% of its electricity demands. I knew very little about Abu Dhabi when I opened this article. However, the one thing that I do associate with Abu Dhabi is oil, and oil, along with other fossil fuels, have many negative associations with environmental issues such as carbon emissions and unsustainability. It is great to see that Masdar is using a diverse range of renewable energies such as wind, photovoltaics, and thermal solar to supply it energy needs in an environmental friendly manner that also helps the country’s image and commercial development. The second feature that caught my eye is that Masdar will be car free, the world’s first. The fact that the City will be designed to accommodate walking and biking as its main forms of transportation will lead to many health and social benefits. The Personal Rapid Transit is a system that I hope New York City can implement as it can serve the same purpose as our current MTA while being more environmentally friendly. Of course, implementing the PRT system in New York City can be difficult due to the differences between the two cities in terms of physical size, number of residents, and the current existence of the MTA in New York City.

While my initial impressions of Masdar were filled with curiosity and delight, my conclusion about the Initiative as a “model city” for the world is that it can not be in that position. The lack of equity and economic accessibility is a tremendous flaw that, in my opinion, on its own makes Masdar unqualified to serve as a model city for the world to emulate. The article states that due to the $22 billion cost of creating Masdar, “only wealthy people will be able to reside permanently in Masdar” (6). With increasing urbanization, a greater percentage of the world population, especially the poor or less wealthy, are going to be living in cities that need to be environmentally sustainable in order to accommodate our finite supply of fossil fuels and to mitigate the amount of harmful pollution. A “model city” needs to to be accessible by everyone if it wants to inspire future progress towards sustainable cities.

Overall, despite lacking the essential characteristic in order to be a model city, I think the principle behind the Masdar Initiative and some of its technological ideas are definitely worth emulating.

Masdar: Evaluating the World’s Most Sustainable City Response

It’s always been a dream of mine to visit the UAE, more specifically Abu Dhabi and now after reading this paper, I have even more of a reason to want to travel there. Masdar, the world’s first zero carbon, zero waste, zero car city seems almost too good to be true. I like that the article explained from the beginning that it would be evaluating the Masdar Initiative based on the three E’s of sustainability: environment, economy, and equity. From what I took from this article was that for how groundbreaking and innovative the Imitative is, in terms of environmental benefit, it is that behind in regards to promoting equity and economic stability. There were parts of the effort or project that were especially notable to me but there were other aspects of the plan that were a cause for concern.

For starters, I like how proactive Abu Dhabi is in carrying out sustainable and techniques to move away from traditional practices that harm our environment. Although one of the main reasons Abu Dhabi moved forward with this initiative is based on economic factors (mainly an economy heavily dependent on fossil fuels and oil exports), it is still well worth noting that that Abu Dhabi how the city is becoming more energy-efficient and waste-conscious. With the Masdar initiative, I liked how energy demand will be reduced by a projected goal of 70%, water demand by 300% and net waste production by 400%. These are significant strides in reducing a city’s ecological footprint, and highlight the highly efficient combination of renewable technology and sustainable planning/practices. I also liked how the entire city would be powered by renewable energy, mainly solar energy. Planners decided not only to use new solar panels and hydrogen plants but also focused on the actual design of the city to reduce energy demand. For example, buildings will be porous to keep the sun out and air in during especially arid times throughout the year. Another really cool element of the plan was the transport idea because there are NO cars in the city! But who cares, because you have personal shuttles that will be able to take you to all key locations! This specific practice emphasizes sustainable transport, forgoing the need for cars, something people consider to be a necessity.

However, I agree with the other responses that this plan is a little disconcerting because, as the authors noted, the city is mainly built for the wealthy to live in and for expatriates to commute to. The plan is also expected to cost almost 22 BILLION dollars! Holy cow. The initiative seems like a huge ploy to better the economy of the UAE place it on the forefront of the renewable energy industry. It seems like most of the city is being done to aid the economy in the long run. However, we always mention that even if the intention is misguided we should not dispute the inherent merits that a specific imitative may possess.

What was most surprising when reading this article was how the logistics of the city were grounded in eco-friendly and sustainable practices that we deemed too far-fetched or implausible during our class discussions. For example, in class we discussed the seemingly impossible idea of completely eliminating the use of cars or relying solely on solar energy in urban settings. However, Masdar has implemented both of these practices within its plan to achieve sustainable transport and energy use. I believe this highlights how important urban planning is before constructing a city because once urbanization occurs, it becomes hard to initiate and implement environmentally sensitive practices. It becomes overwhelming to change specific behaviors, whether it be for big companies, the government or citizens as a whole.

Masdar Response

Looking at the first page of the article, I am reminded of an advertisement for the city – promoting people to come visit it. All jokes aside, I really liked this article and was impressed with the initiatives that the UAE is constantly undertaking. Through this project, Abu Dhabi hopes to expand its economy, expand its position in the global energy markets, position the UAE is a leader of sustainable technologies, and most importantly – “make a meaningful contribution toward solving some of the world’s most pressing problems.” It seems rather ambitious, but it does have good intentions.

A section that I liked most was then the authors were talking about the three E’s, more specifically the part on economics. UAE has identified the potential problem that in the future it will not be able to generate the money that it currently does from oil due to several factors, and is beginning to shift its focus to something else. I think this is a great example of how urban planning should always be perceived – identifying the problem before it happens, unlike all other cities that are now knee-deep with infrastructure problems and resource problems.

I did not like how the article was set up. It had a very good start, explaining the various aspects of Masdar and how it would benefit both the people and the nation as a whole. However, as it went into greater detail for these projects, I began to grow skeptical. The projects that Masdar hopes to undertake are very ambitious and do not seem to be as feasible as described. Although funding may not be a huge problem, as the article describes, only the wealthy would be able to afford to reside in the city and everyone else will be commuting. The authors described Masdar and its projects, and made the reader excited to see the city come to life, but shut that down real quick by explaining how most of this will not be possible given the climate in which the city is situated in.

I agree with the author that it’s difficult to just build a city from scratch like that, and have so many ambitious projects to undertake at once, but urban planners in other cities should use this as a model. I did my term paper on resource management and sustainability, and focused on the conflicts that urban planners have for finding the most effective solutions; and I think that this type of project is something they should consider. Though unlikely anyone will want to tear down a city and start from the beginning, there is always the option of implementing new projects in any city. There is always construction to fix current infrastructure, but how about instead of fixing it, we slowly replace it with something better?

Masdar Response

“The world’s most sustainable city” is quite the title to hold, if not a bit arrogant for my taste. But in a society where bigger is always better and people always want more, the amount of times the word “zero” is used is pretty refreshing, Zero carbon, zero waste, zero cars. Sounds a bit too much like the perfect world and my dad always taught me not to trust things that look too good. I’m pretty sure he was talking about guys, BUT I still think it’s applicable here. So what is going on???

I agree when the writer said that building a city in the middle of a dessert isn’t exactly the best way to go about things. I read their extensive section on agriculture and green belts, but what happens if those get wiped out in some freak storm? Also, I think it’s much easier to have such an environmentally friendly city when you’re literally building it from scratch. Cities around the world, cities like ours, don’t exactly have that advantage. We can only really improve on the things we have rather than create a new city. I’m a little concerned that Masdar is mostly just going to be a money maker for Abu Dhabi’s economy and if it fails to make them profit, they’ll discard it. But what do I know about business? (ZERO)

On a positive note, I think it’s pretty dope that 100% of it’s energy is renewable! Solar panels were one of my favorite things to implement when I had to plan an environmentally friendly home. Seriously, they may start off being costly but they end up reducing your energy bills so much within the first 10 years. I wish I had money for them. The thing about the mirrors and solar thermal power was also very interesting. With the wind turbines, as long as they don’t get in the way of bird migration patterns, I say go for it. Also, maybe to increase exercise do that thing with stationary bikes to generate electricity. I did that at this energy thing in the city and apparently my 15 minutes of biking generated electricity that went to Long Island City. That would be a fun thing for urbanites to do.

I love how it said the streets were made to “encourage human interaction.” No offense, but if you’ve ever seen me walking around the city, I think you can tell by my face that I do NOT want to “interact” with anyone. But I do see its merits in making the city unified. The light rail proposed sounds a bit like Holden’s trolley car idea too. The PRT reminds me of that shuttle thing from Kingsmen. Great movie. While I don’t think the thing will really work, I do believe that parts of their innovations should be implemented in NYC.

Urban Heat Island Response

Thank God this thing had so many pictures! Just kidding! In all seriousness though, this was an interesting read and the urban heat island effect was something I came across in my own research with air pollution. It’s actually connected because UHI causes more pollutants to be produced and released into the air. Or something like that, I’m no expert. So really it’s kind of in our best interest to know more about UHI. Another correlation I found between the two subjects is that they really hurt low-income Latino and African-American communities such as the Bronx. A lot of the studies I read about concerned that borough. It’s mad true that the South Bronx isn’t getting the TLC it deserves.

So what the heck are urban heat island mitigation techniques? My grandmother likes to yell at me for wearing lighter jackets when I go to school, but she doesn’t believe me when I tell her that it is just hotter in the city. Well this article proves her wrong and she can stop driving me crazy (I love you Oma, disregard that last thought). The city’s buildings have greater heat retention and without lots of trees to help cool the area down, it gets hot in herrrrre (please tell me someone just sang that line when they read it). This is the UHI effect and today I learned how to fight it. Cue superhero theme music.

Okay so first up, increasing urban vegetation such as green roofs, which is a no-brainer because that’s one of the solutions to air pollution. They mentioned planting trees and I’d recommend deciduous trees (an obvious answer). Although coniferous trees have larger filtering capacity, deciduous trees are less sensitive to pollutants so they can keep cooling the area down. They’re also better at absorbing gases. Then we have cool roofs which are coated with SRI that reflects the heat/light. I don’t know if any of you guys have worked on roofs before, but every couple of years my dad and I coat the roofs with an SRI based coat (or something similar to that). It’s silver color/ whatever the heck is in it, reflects the heat and keeps our building cooler in the summer which in turn lowers our AC bills. Cool stuff man, but don’t get it on your jeans. And wear sunglasses (but not at night). The cool pavements thing is kind of similar to thirsty concrete, so maybe we should mix the two ideas?

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m a summer weather type of gal. I like it when it’s 90 out and there’s a breeze. But the UHI effect isn’t fun and games and actually exacerbates a lot of things that already suck: energy usage levels, air pollution, increased ozone levels. These, in turn, make people get sick. It makes even more sense that mortality levels are especially high in hot weather.  Working to reduce UHI is beneficial in reducing so many other types of pollution that I’m surprised the city is still dragging it’s feet about it.

“Urban Heat Island Mitigation Can Improve New York City’s Environment” Response

I feel that many people are aware that a significant urban heat island effect exists in New York City but do not necessarily know how serious it is, what causes it, or even what it is called. For example, whenever there are weather reports on the news, the meteorologists always have to give several sets or ranges of temperatures, those in the city and those in the suburbs and the countryside. The article states that “a difference of at least 1.8oF (1oC) already existed at the beginning of the 20th century between the mean temperature in NYC and its surrounding rural areas, and this difference increased over the 20th century” (2). If this pattern continues, we may soon be able to actually boil eggs or water on the sidewalk or on dark roofs, which just absorb tremendous amounts of heat and radiate it back at night.

Although the daytime temperatures may be the same or similar in both areas, here in the five boroughs, we are practically always warmer at night. This may not be such a bad thing in the winter for us, since that means that our crops do not freeze as much and we have a somewhat longer growing season, but in the summer, this can lead to unbearably stifling nights, especially for those without access to air conditioning or ventilation. In fact, the warmest day that we have endured so far in our lives was probably on July 22, 2011, when we hit 104oF (40oC) after a morning low temperature of just 84oF (29oC), the latter of which is actually our average high temperature for the month of July (sorry if this is a bit wordy!). Combined with the humidity and lack of a breeze, that day was truly hellish beyond comparison. Speaking about ventilation, while the urban heat island has definitely contributed to record power usage, it might also be simply caused by an increasing population and thus a larger consumer base, but then again, the two are related to each other.

On the other hand, I should not complain, since there are so many out there who did not have access to air conditioning to cool off at night, humans, animals, and trees alike. The article thankfully mentions many ways that the urban heat island effect can be mitigated. I think cool roofs are good at lowering surface temperatures because of their ability to reflect sunlight due to their materials and light colors, I think that green roofs make better use of a part of a building that is almost always auxiliary and seen as extra space. Their vegetation can be pleasing to the eye, absorb harmful chemicals and pollutants, and even enhance the process of evapotranspiration; just imagine how refreshing it is to be welcomed by cool rain after a hot day, and green roofs can multiply this effect. New York City, and just about any other large metropolis on the planet, will always have an urban heat island effect, but we can at least tame it to the point that we can drastically reduce pollution and temperature fluctuations, and make them more sustainable and livable for many generations to come.

Masdar Response

The UAE is always working on the coolest and most innovative projects in the world. My initial response to the paper was shock because I was surprised that no one was making this a big deal- like, it’s the first zero waste, zero carbon, and zero car city, and I’m fairly certain there’s not many students outside of our class in Baruch who have heard about this initiative. We’re always talking about how important it is to educate the future leaders of the world about sustainability so they can make it a priority, so I thought it was really great that the city would incorporate a university offering masters and PhD programs in science and engineering, with a focus on advanced energy and sustainable technologies. It’s clear that this project wasn’t an inexpensive one seeing as how the city hired two of the world’s most prominent architecture and engineering firms to design Masdar.

Some of these initiatives sound like ideas we mentioned in class but rendered implausible for lack of funds or support or other reasoning, so it’s really interesting to see these ideal scenarios, like fully using renewable energy, being put into practice. The zero car aspect of this city was the most interesting one to me, because walking and bicycling will be the primary modes of transportation. I don’t really understand the mechanisms behind the two electric transportation systems but they sound significantly more advanced than anything we have here in the states. One criticism of the Masdar City project is that it is inherently unsustainable because it involves constructing a brand new city in a resource intensive location. While I can see the validity of that criticism I think Masdar is an important first step towards a more sustainable world because it would set a great precedent for other countries. I’m excited to monitor the success of this project in the coming years and hope that some day we’ll be able to implement similar practices to our city.

 

Plastic Bags in China

Plastic bags are a huge issue for pollution in all countries around the world because they are so cheap and markets save money by using them instead of paper. I believe this idea to ban plastic bags is a good idea because of how bad it is for the environment. There is a problem with doing this however, plastic is super cheap. Money is the driving force behind the usage of plastics. If we ban plastic, markets and producers will have to turn to a more expensive form of packaging and carrying bags which will drive away the less fortunate consumers who can not afford the increase in prices of goods. One thing that I am afraid of is a catastrophic meltdown of the economy if taxes placed on plastic become out of control where nobody can afford anything that either used to  be packaged in it or still is at a exponentially higher price. Nobody would be able to afford anything anymore causing an economic implosion.

One thing that is a problem with this is the question of who does the government enforce this policy on. There are several options, the producers of the plastic bags, the managers of specific markets, the consumers, or the company that owns several markets supplying these as carrying bags themselves. All these have positive and negative aspects that are associated with them. There is no true answer besides just completely banning plastic as a material of use for things like bags and packaging. By banning it completely, the government can then subsidize the costs of paper or biodegradable material that will then be used. This will save the environment and then make for a better future for our planet.