Masdar

Here come Japan's post-nuclear model solar communities

If you thought Abu Dhabi's uber-green Masdar city was ambitious and/or doomed, just wait until you see what Japan's cooking up. In a pair of nearby cities in Hiroshima prefecture, Fukuyama and Onomichi, a coalition is going to power as much of their grid as possible with solar energy.

McDonalds and United Arab Emirates greener than America?

Everyone loves a “man bites dog” story. Not everyone likes those tales, however, if they embarrass someone in the process. Take the news out of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates, where fast food giant McDonalds has just announced that they will fuel their delivery trucks with bio-diesel made from their own used vegetable oil. Neutral […]

Are ‘smart cities’ not as smart as they think they are?

Smart cities like Masdar, in Abu Dhabi, are all the rage. But are they intelligent in the right way?Photo: Trevor PattCross-posted from the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Intelligent cities” and “smart cities” are all the rage right now, especially in corporate image advertising related to emerging technology. But is there a downside? I think there […]

Eyes on a Clean Energy Prize

The Zayed Future Energy Prize is $2.2 million equivalent of a Nobel Prize for clean, sustainable energy recognizing individuals, non-profits, and companies that are doing the most to commercialize and distribute renewable energy to replace fossil fuels and cut pollution. There are two remarkable things about this prize – – it is sponsored by an […]