Dubai had one of the largest ecological footprints in the world a decade ago. Now, it wants to have the smallest by the year 2050. An oil and real estate boom transformed the Middle Eastern port city into a metropolis with the world's tallest building and densest collection of skyscrapers. After the 2008 economic crisis, priorities shifted from conspicuous consumption to sustainability.
From National Geographic:
Read Full Article »Since the economic crisis, Dubai has tightened its green building regulations, as part of a strategy to reduce energy demand by 30 percent. New buildings must have solar water heaters, as well as operational systems that lower lights and thermostats when people are absent. To reach the city's goal of retrofitting 30,000 older buildings, regulations allow third-party contractors to renovate buildings and take their profits from a portion of the energy savings. “What I've seen is a huge change,” Al Abbar says.
The city government is not just imposing rules on building owners, says the municipality's director general, Hussain Nasser Lootah, an engineer by training. It's also collaborating with manufacturers on rolling out efficient products for the Dubai market. Philips is making a one-watt LED bulb that will soon be in buildings across the city, Lootah says. And a new Scandinavian low-flow faucet will be installed in all the local mosques this year, inshallah. Observant Muslims practice ritual ablutions before prayer five times a day, washing face, hands, and feet. “They use too much water!” Lootah says. The new faucet delivers 40 percent of the water with 100 percent of the noise, reassuring the faithful that they're being adequately cleansed.
