The city of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is now the scene of a massive construction project to build a city that will be home to 50,000 people and house 1,500 businesses but use very little energy. Whatever energy it does use will come from renewable sources.

This project is expected to cost $22 billion and will implement a wide range of technologies, including thin-film solar panels that serve as the facades and roofing materials for buildings. There will be sensors everywhere for monitoring energy use, and driverless vehicles powered by batteries that make cars redundant. 

The construction of this city is a part of a $15 billion government-funded investment program called the Masdar Initiative.  The purpose of this city is to ensure that the UAE's prosperity won't be linked exclusively to its oil. Its leaders say that the project will give the country a leadership position in renewable energy.  According to Sultan al Jaber, Masdar's CEO, if it's successful "we'll be sitting on top of the world."

Thin-film solar cells can be incorporated directly into the facades of buildings in place of conventional construction materials, reducing the costs of the solar power. There will be a reduction in the energy needed for cooling by promoting natural-air circulation while air conditioners will use absorption chillers that run on heat from the sun in place of conventional compressors.

Energy for transportation will also be reduced. Efficient electric transports will provide door-to-door service: just type in your destination, and the transport will come to your door and take you automatically to your destination. The power will be generated by renewable energy and stored onboard in batteries. On Monday, Masdar received the first bids on the system, which will likely use battery-powered vehicles running on tracks or powered by magnetic levitation.

There will be plans to keep water usage at a minimum, which will decrease the amount of energy needed for desalination. Sensors throughout the city will keep residents informed of their energy use as well as letting them know when they're going to have to pay more for using too much. It is expected that the city will realize a 75 percent reduction in energy consumption compared with a conventional city of the same size. The energy that is used will come almost entirely from solar.  Wind power will be used to a limited extent and power from technology that converts garbage into fuel will also contribute a small amount.

One of the main purposes of the city is to find out what works and what doesn't.  It is also hoped that this project will be a profitable real estate development so that it can be replicated elsewhere.

In some ways, however, it won't be replicable. Al Jaber notes that the project could not have been done anywhere else. "It's a huge risk," he says.  A similar city else where will have to take into account that locations’ weather, such as the position of the sun throughout the year, temperatures, and the nature of the wind. As a result, future developments outside the region will have to be redesigned. "Everywhere we go, we will have to custom-tailor our model for the specific environment," al Jaber says.

Nevertheless, Paul Dickerson, the chief operating officer for the United States' Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, believes that Masdar will prove a valuable model. "We will no longer have to guess what the city of the future looks like," he says. "In Abu Dhabi, we will be able to see it with our own eyes."