Masdar City’s Eco-Villa, a pilot project incorporating water and energy-saving technologies, has been completed and a UAE national family will soon live in the prototype sustainable dwelling, it was announced today at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017.

The Eco-Villa was launched in the presence of Sheikh Dhiyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Suhail Mohammed Al Mazrouei, UAE Minister of Energy; Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and chairman of Masdar; Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, head of the Energy Council and member of Abu Dhabi’s Executive Council; and Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, chief executive officer of Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company.

The 405-sq-m Eco-Villa is the first villa to achieve a Four Pearl rating according to the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s Estidama Pearl Building Rating System. It will use around 72 per cent less energy and 35 per cent less water than a typical comparably sized villa in Abu Dhabi, displacing an estimated 63 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

The cost of construction is similar to that of a conventional home of the same size; its energy and water efficiency will also reduce running costs substantially. The four-bedroom property is expected to consume just 97 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per square metre.  

Fully equipped with 87 rooftop solar panels, the prototype is capable of supplying as much as 40,000 kWh of electricity to the national grid. A suite of passive energy and water-saving design features further reduce its impact on the environment.

“People expect a sustainable design option to be more expensive, but our Eco-Villa concept challenges this misconception,” said Yousef Baselaib, executive director of Sustainable Real Estate at Masdar.  

“The Eco-Villa stays true to Masdar City’s principles of sustainable urban development in that it is cost-efficient, environmentally sensitive and culturally appropriate in both its design and function. Because of its energy and water-efficient design, residents of the Eco-Villa will receive significantly reduced power and water bills.”

Once a family moves into the property, Masdar’s sustainability team will monitor the villa’s energy, water and waste management performance. The data collected will enable the design of the Eco-Villa to be further refined, supporting the eventual commercialisation of the building concept.

“Our Eco-Villa prototype shows that sustainable design can be implemented according to the specific environmental, social and economic demands of the Gulf region,” added Masdar’s Baselaib.

The Eco-Villa is located in Masdar City, one of the world’s most sustainable urban developments.

Today, Masdar City is home to around 300 full-time students of the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. Around 2,000 apartments are either under construction or in design through Masdar or third-party investors. This will bring the residential population at Masdar City to more than 3,500 people over the next three years.  - TradeArabia News Service