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 home, it has been announced.
The 405 square-metre sustainable villa is the first to achieve a 4 Pearl rating according to the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s Estidama Pearl Building Rating System.
It will use around 72 percent less energy and 35 percent 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, a statement said.
Equipped with 87 rooftop solar panels, the prototype is capable of supplying as much as 40,000 kWh of electricity to the national grid.
“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 said its 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.
The eco-villa is located in Masdar City, where 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.