Cool Cities

Abu Dhabi has one of the world’s biggest carbon footprints. Masdar city in Abu Dhabi could be a solution to that problem but it is not enough. Cool cities are designed to be zero-carbon, zero-waste and car free cities. In order to reduce the carbon dioxide, cool cities like Masdar city are powered by renewable energy sources. However, these types of projects are not practical for many reasons. The most two logical reasons are the cost and the capacity of these cities.

The first reason is the huge cost of the project. Masdar city costs about $22 billion to build (BBC News). Abu Dhabi’s government can offer that but for other poor countries it is impossible. This huge amount of money can be used to develop many other existing cities, factories and landscapes that can help to reduce the carbon dioxide. Also it can be used to develop new technologies to replace the old factories which contaminate the environment.

The second logical reason is the capacity of the cool cities. These cities can provide all the needed facilities and the most luxury lifestyle to their inhabitants. However, this life can only be provided for a limited number of people. Only 47,500 people can live in Masdar city (CNET News). This is not practical as many other people will stay in their existing cities. By the time, the number of people in any cool city will increase. And also the consumption of energy will keep increasing too.

It is a good thing to build a cool city like Masdar city. But the cost is too high and also the capacity of these cities is not enough. Therefore, solving the pollution problem is not by building cool cities. Finding the core of the problem is the first step to have a good living planet.

Bibliography:
"BBC NEWS Science/Nature Work starts on Gulf 'green city'" BBC NEWS News Front Page. 09 May 2009 .
"Masdar City in Abu Dhabi to lay claim to greenest city Green Tech - CNET News." Technology News - CNET News. 09 May 2009 .