March 2011
www.buildgreen.ae
ENERGY AND WATER
Meeting the challenges
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Professor steven griffiths, executive director of institute initiatives at Masdar Institute, discusses how the global sustainability challenge is being addressed through renewable energy research and collaboration
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ver the past several decades, a primary driver of social and economic development has been the burning of fossil fuels to provide energy for industry, transportation, heat and electric power. While this industrial development has improved the living conditions of the world’s population, it is also understood to be a major contributor to increasing levels of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that result in global warming and climate change. In response to the global threat of climate change, at least 80 countries have adopted policy targets for renewable energy — a significant increase from the 45 countries that had adopted targets as of 2005. In a demonstration of leadership for the Middle East, the government of Abu Dhabi has set a target of 7% of energy generation capacity to be derived from renewable sources by 2020. The technological advancements required to achieve such targets and address our global sustainability challenge will require substantial knowledge capital and related expertise in research and development. Leading academic research institutions are a driving force behind this development because they provide a culture of technological innovation and R&D excellence. At Masdar Institute, research is being carried out into a number of areas that are of particular importance to Abu Dhabi and the region as a whole, such as aviation biofuels, semiconductors, advanced technologies for “smart” cities and carbon capture and sequestration. Research in these areas is being conducted to develop new and innovative technologies that capture sustainable primary energy sources, such as biomass, solar and wind energy, and transform these into secondary energy carriers, such as liquid and solid fuels, that can be used to power the building, transportation, industrial and agricultural sectors. Masdar Institute selects certain companies and agencies as strategic collaborators where there is an opportunity for world-class research and the establishment of the human capacity that will contribute to the development of a knowledge-based economy.
Smart grid technologies are fast improving.
Abu Dhabi itself is attractive to these collaborators for a number of reasons. Either it has something unique that it can offer, such as aquatic saltwater plants that are readily available and have the potential to provide fuel from biomass; or there is a regional context, such as an initiative to exploit large oil fields and deep saline aquifers for carbon sequestration; or development of a greenfield site, such as Masdar City, where new technologies can be incorporated from the ground up. Some of these research projects are very long term with results evolving over the next