The Sustainable City in Dubai, the first fully sustainable development in the region unveiled its latest achievement: the world’s first Net Zero Carbon building.
The 50,000 sqf future-ready building will be home to SEE Institute, the sustainability research, development, and professional training arm of Diamond Developers. The state-of-the-art building is unveiled at WETEX & Dubai Solar Show, the annual trade exhibition organised by Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) in Expo 2020.
The building will be offsetting all its embodied carbon emissions from construction & interiors prior to operations, based on a credible offset scheme.
The building will also produce more than 300% of its operational energy requirements through renewable sources including solar panels and a biogas plant handling organic waste from TSC. From this,100% will cover the operational energy and 150% will offset emissions from commuting employees, water desalination, and consumable products that operate the Institute. The remaining 50% will enable the building to become carbon positive.
By exporting this surplus of energy to surrounding buildings and facilities, The Sustainable City will be setting a new precedent in transforming buildings from being pollutant, energy consumers into environmentally friendly, energy generators.
Faris Saeed, CEO of Diamond Developers said: “SEE Institute is the embodiment of our mission to spearhead the global movement towards sustainable knowledge and learning advancement, in line with the aspirations of the Paris Climate Agreement and the urgency of worldwide climate action. It also paves the way for bringing the UN 2050 targets forward and achieving a Net Zero Carbon future today”.
“The Institute’s purpose is to accelerate climate action through education, R&D, business incubation, events and conferences. Through targeted collaborations with partners, academic and government entities, we aim to inspire others by sharing knowledge and expertise to ensure a better tomorrow for generations to come.”
The new building will be dedicated to the advancement of sustainability knowledge, technology and innovations through research, training, events and incubation of tech startups working on solutions promoting social, environmental and economic sustainability. Completion is expected in the next few months.