Imagine living in a self sustaining, eco friendly abode which uses 72 per cent less energy and 35 per cent less water than a villa of comparable size in Abu Dhabi.

This is what Masdar City’s Eco-Villa, a pilot project which was launched in January, has to offer. The first phase of villas has been completed and an Emirati family is all set to move in this month. The 405 square-metre Eco-Villa is the first to achieve a 4 Pearl rating according to the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s Estidama Pearl Building Rating System. It will displace an estimated 63 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.

The cost of construction of the villas is similar to that of a conventional home of the same size; its energy and water efficiency will also reduce running costs substantially. The four-bedroom property is expected to consume just 97 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity per square metre. Fully equipped with 87 rooftop solar panels, the prototype is capable of supplying as much as 40,000 kWh of electricity to the national grid. A suite of passive energy and water-saving design features further reduces its impact on the environment.

“People expect a sustainable design option to be more expensive, but our Eco-Villa concept challenges this misconception,” said Yousef Baselaib, executive Director of Sustainable Real Estate at Masdar

source : gulfnews