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| Official opening of the Masdar Institute campus The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology campus at Masdar City was officially inaugurated on Tuesday. The Masdar Institute, devoted to researching sustainability, is the first building to be fully operational within Masdar City. The masterplan, by Foster + Partners, incorporates lessons which have evolved over centuries of traditional Arabian architecture. The Masdar Institute is the first building of its kind to be powered entirely by renewable solar energy. It will be used as a pilot test bed for the sustainable technologies that will be explored for implementation in future Masdar City buildings. The post graduate students are Masdar City's first resident community. A 10 megawatt solar field within the masterplan site provides 60% more energy than is consumed by the Masdar Institute, the remaining energy is fed back to the Abu Dhabi grid. The campus, which consists of a main building, a knowledge centre and students' quarters, will use significantly less energy and water than average buildings in the UAE. In particular, the Institute and its facilities use 54 percent less potable water, 51 percent less electricity and are fully powered by solar energy. These reductions are based on comparisons to UAE standard baselines for buildings of similar size and specifications. Around 30 percent of the campus's energy will be covered by solar panels on the roof, with 75 percent of hot water also being heated by the sun. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |