BLOG

In the heart of the desert of Dubai a very special and unique city has raised. The goal of the project was to have a net zero development, meaning everything in this city was carefully planned out to be self-sustainable and to have no impact on the environment. This is the city of the future.

The villas are purposely designed to face the North to benefit from the shade in the scorching Summer heat of Dubai. UV reflective paint was used here on all the buildings to deflect a lot of the sunlight and lower the temperature inside of the buildings. This has a big impact on air-conditioning usage during the hot months. Every single window in this city is has high “R” value that helps to keep out the blazing heat by reflecting more sunrays away from the buildings.

Each villa has two parking spaces shaded with solar panels and additional spaces for communal electric buggies. The distance from the car parks to the villas ranges from 10 meters to 85 meters. Only electric vehicles are allowed in the sustainable city.

The water features running through the city is a treated grey-water-storage facility that doubles up as a beautiful aesthetic feature. All of the grey water that comes from the villas’ washbasins, showers, bathtubs and washing machines is harvested here. Grey water is treated on site and is reused for irrigation in the vegetable and spice gardens in the domes of the city. The natural slope of the water feature through the length of the city is specifically designed to circulate the water with a natural fall. Bio filters in this system help with water purification. A variety of lush fruit trees are available to all the local residents. Trees planted in this city are: Avocado, Papaya, Dates, Berry, Fig trees and many others. The trees are also irrigated with treated sewage water. All water treatment plants are underground as not to be unsightly.

The future is very bright for the next generation. We have hope to make a big difference. It is possible to be self-sustainable. It was proven in this project that it isn’t more expensive to live greener. If all is planned out with precision and a greater purpose in mind, the cost is exactly the same. Keep in mind that changes afterword are expensive.

If a lot of your food can be grown within a community, your home is super-efficient and includes rooftop solar panels or solar parking, and you’ve join a community-based electric car sharing program we are all moving towards a better world.