A DAY @MASDAR CITY
With the drastic changes taking place in the world around us,it’s our duty to develop sustainably. We students being the future of the human race were taught about sustainable development at Masdar City. A place where fascination and imagination came alive. A team of 40 students from grades 4-8 along with Mrs. Manjusha Vipin, Mrs. Suma Pramod, and Mrs. Usha Kumari embarked on a city tour to witness the blend of development and sustainability with the objectives to explore the possibilities of alternative sources of energy and to experience Masdar as the world’s first zero carbon and zero waste city.
The major comeptence the students were expected to achieve was the global and environmental awareness and the minor being critical thinking and problem solving in a world where global warming and climate changes have aggravated the poor condition of the ailing blue planet.
The Masdar city is one of the best-suited examples for sustainable development. The city has an area of about 6 square km. Within the radius of this 6 km you have almost everything you could possibly ever need like hospitals, malls, supermarkets, etc.
The Masdar city is developed under Mubadala, a government entity. The Masdar city follows the three pillars of sustainablity ie. Social, Environmental and Economical Sustainablity. Some of the remarkable features of the Masdar City are 10 MW Solar Farm, PRTs ( Personal Rapid Transit), Siemens HQ building, IRENA(International Renewable Energy Agency), Wind Tower, etc.
There is a total of 87,777 solar panels at Masdar City. It produces approximately 17,500 Mega watt of clean energy per hour and reduces 7,200 tonnes of CO2 annually from the atmosphere.
PRT is a driverless public transport. It uses magnetic interlocking for moving and is charged at the station with help of 32 lithium batteries with the use of Solar power.
The wind tower is a 45m tall structure. Masdar Wind Tower is one of the most iconic traditional architectural features of the region. Its height allows it to capture upper level winds and direct them to open air public square at its base. Sensors at the top of the steel structure operate louvres to open in the direction of prevailing winds and to close in other directions to divert wind down the tower. A Teflon Fabric Membrane carries the wind down ward, while mist generators at the top of the tower further cool the air. This helps to lower the temperature in the courtyard.
The Siemens headquarters is a LEED platinum (which is the most energy efficient rated) building with a high perfomance office building, whose exterior façade has been designed like a ‘box within a box’. The inner box is the highly insulated, airtight wall that provides maximum insulation. Surrounding this is the outer box comprising of a lightweight aluminium external shading system featuring fins of varying forms.These prevent excess solar heat from reaching the inner box and warning the buildings interiors, while maximising views and daylight.
Another building called the incubator building has a special external wall sloping outward. This building is a commercial building with free zone offices.
IRENA building is the headquarters of IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency). UAE’s nuclear energy coroporation office is also located in IRENA building. Currently IRENA is the most energy efficient building in Masdar.
Masdar buildings are built mostly using recyle materials. The waste water is treated and used for irrigation.
Masdar has many offshore projects in UK, Jordan, Egypt, Serbia etc. London array is one of the Madar’s project which is the largest offshore windfarm. Hywind is another project in Scotland which is the largest floating offshore windfarm. Germasolar is another project located in Seville in Spain, which is the world’s first utility scale solar power plant.
The visit to this eco-city has developed the spirit of innovation in the students and has also taught them development is possible only with sustainability. Respect towards Nature and empathy for one another will definitely make the world a better place to live. A video and a power point were presented in the assembly in order to share the Masdar city expereince with the other students.
Different activities were assigned for different categories as further research work.
Category 1 Primary – poster making
Category 2 Middle level – working model – desalination plant with bio fuel
Category 3 High school – research on the possibilities of alternative sources of energy
Usha Kumari v
Coordinator GSA &Bhavan’s Natura
A DAY @MASDAR CITY
With the drastic changes taking place in the world around us,it’s our duty to develop sustainably. We students being the future of the human race were taught about sustainable development at Masdar City. A place where fascination and imagination came alive. A team of 40 students from grades 4-8 along with Mrs. Manjusha Vipin, Mrs. Suma Pramod, and Mrs. Usha Kumari embarked on a city tour to witness the blend of development and sustainability with the objectives to explore the possibilities of alternative sources of energy and to expereince Masdar as the world’s first zero carbon and zero waste city.
The major comeptence the students were expected to achieve was the global and environmental awareness and the minor being critical thinking and problem solving in a world where global warming and climate changes have aggravated the poor condition of the ailing blue planet.
The Masdar city is one of the best-suited examples for sustainable development. The city has an area of about 6 square km. Within the radius of this 6 km you have almost everything you could possibly ever need like hospitals, malls, supermarkets, etc.
The Masdar city is developed under Mubadala, a government entity. The Masdar city follows the three pillars of sustainablity ie. Social, Environmental and Economical Sustainablity. Some of the remarkable features of the Masdar City are 10 MW Solar Farm, PRTs ( Personal Rapid Transit), Siemens HQ building, IRENA(International Renewable Energy Agency), Wind Tower, etc.
There is a total of 87,777 solar panels at Masdar City. It produces approximately 17,500 Mega watt of clean energy per hour and reduces 7,200 tonnes of CO2 annually from the atmosphere.
PRT is a driverless public transport. It uses magnetic interlocking for moving and is charged at the station with help of 32 lithium batteries with the use of Solar power.
The wind tower is a 45m tall structure. Masdar Wind Tower is one of the most iconic traditional architectural features of the region. Its height allows it to capture upper level winds and direct them to open air public square at its base. Sensors at the top of the steel structure operate louvres to open in the direction of prevailing winds and to close in other directions to divert wind down the tower. A Teflon Fabric Membrane carries the wind down ward, while mist generators at the top of the tower further cool the air. This helps to lower the temperature in the courtyard.
The Siemens headquarters is a LEED platinum (which is the most energy efficient rated) building with a high perfomance office building, whose exterior façade has been designed like a ‘box within a box’. The inner box is the highly insulated, airtight wall that provides maximum insulation. Surrounding this is the outer box comprising of a lightweight aluminium external shading system featuring fins of varying forms.These prevent excess solar heat from reaching the inner box and warning the buildings interiors, while maximising views and daylight.
Another building called the incubator building has a special external wall sloping outward. This building is a commercial building with free zone offices.
IRENA building is the headquarters of IRENA (International Renewable Energy Agency). UAE’s nuclear energy coroporation office is also located in IRENA building. Currently IRENA is the most energy efficient building in Masdar.
Masdar buildings are built mostly using recyle materials. The waste water is treated and used for irrigation.
Masdar has many offshore projects in UK, Jordan, Egypt, Serbia etc. London array is one of the Madar’s project which is the largest offshore windfarm. Hywind is another project in Scotland which is the largest floating offshore windfarm. Germasolar is another project located in Seville in Spain, which is the world’s first utility scale solar power plant.
The visit to this eco-city has developed the spirit of innovation in the students and has also taught them development is possible only with sustainability. Respect towards Nature and empathy for one another will definitely make the world a better place to live. A video and a power point were presented in the assembly in order to share the Masdar city expereince with the other students.
Different activities were assigned for different categories as further research work.
Category 1 Primary – poster making
Category 2 Middle level – working model – desalination plant with bio fuel
Category 3 High school – research on the possibilities of alternative sources of energy
Usha Kumari v
Coordinator GSA &Bhavan’s Natura
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