chinaconfidential: Carbon World News....The world's first carbon-neutral city will be built in Abu Dhabi, the largest of seven states comprising the oil-rich United Arab Emirates (UAE). A car-free, zero-waste metropolis, Masdar--Arabic for source--will house up to 50,000 people. It will run entirely on renewable energy, especially solar power, and save the equivalent of $2 billion in oil over 25 years. The $22 billion project is scheduled to be finished in 2016.Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan presided over a ground-breaking ceremony on Saturday.

Desalination Plant

The city will use a fraction of the power of normal cities, and achieve zero waste through the reduction, re-use, recycling and recovery of waste material. An emission-free public transport system will eliminate the need for personal vehicles. Water will come from a desalination plant.Masdar chief executive officer Dr Sultan Al Jaber predicted the city would "lead the world"."We are creating a city where residents and commuters will live the highest quality of life with the lowest environmental footprint," he said. "Masdar city will become the world's hub for future energy. By taking sustainable development and living to a new level, it will lead the world in understanding how all future cities should be built."Over 70,000 Jobs The 6.5 square km city is expected to create more than 70,000 jobs and attract sustainability experts, including academicians attracted to its graduate school, the world's first graduate school dedicated to renewable energy.The Masdar project is an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, which is owned by the Abu Dhabi Government.The city Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, is already home to 900,000 people.Boasting the world's fifth largest oil reserves and fourth largest gas reserves, the UAE is a federation of seven states situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman and Saudi Arabia. In addition to Abu Dhabi, which sits atop most of the energy reserves, the seven states, termed emirates, are Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm al-Quwain.