Edited by Stefan MacAskill, Jr. Sustainability Associate at KEO

This article, published in popular science magazine, illustrates a concept design for a green tower or ‘live in power plant’ for the Dubai skyline. The tower has the ability to produce up to 10MW of power through a variety of renewable energy systems, enough to power 4,000 surrounding homes.

Whilst this building is largely a trophy collection of some of the most sophisticated green technologies available to date, It demonstrates the opportunities available for future design and construction considerations for buildings which are adapted to take advantage of the region in which they are located. As energy prices rise, buildings which are self sufficient or at minimum- subsidize energy consumption- will gain market competitiveness through operational cost savings.

As the cost of energy increases, payback periods are reduced which will further drive the demand for elements of ‘Green Architecture’. Developers are looking for the greatest return on their investment, and in the current heavily subsidized energy market of the UAE, end users and buyers may be reluctant to allocate additional investment as the payback periods in the current market may be too long.

Victories in this region for Green Architecture, for the meantime at least (before subsidies are reduced), may be won though initiatives that save energy and water consumption whilst not adversely affecting construction cost through consideration of (for example) orientation, prevailing winds, shading, SRI’s and thermal massing, energy and water efficient faucets and appliances which can reduce consumption whilst having minimal effect on development cost.