ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates - The UAE may be sitting on the
sixth largest reserves of petroleum in the world, but the
leaders in this tiny Gulf sheikdom know that their oil wells
will dry up sooner than later. On the outskirts of Abu Dhabi,
engineers are racing to construct a greener, more sustainable
design for the way new communities are built in the Middle East,
one that will not have to rely on cheap, subsidized fuel. It's
called Masdar City. "The vision is for Masdar to be the most
sustainable city we can possibly build, using today's
technologies [and] to improve those technologies and to continue
on as we work our way through the project," said Alan Frost, an
Australian engineer and the director of Masdar City. Masdar City
will one day be powered and cooled entirely with a mix of solar,
wind, and geothermal energy. The town's 40,000 residents will
live in a pedestrian-friendly mix of urban housing and
commercial zones, all built compactly and low to the ground to
provide additional shade from the s