Another step towards Green Dubai. A network of air-conditioned crossings and subways will not only keep diseases at bay but also enable public move around in hot weather depending less on vehicles.

The Dubai Road and Transport Authority will be linking up major buildings through air-conditioned walkways in some areas. These buildings will also be linked using covered walkways with main roads as well as Dubai Metro stations to increase pedestrian mobility.

“The strategy will minimize the reliance on vehicles for short trips, and accordingly cut short road congestion as well as pollution in the emirate.

“Walking is one of the safe modes of mobility, which has good health benefits. It is also an economical mode of mobility that saves time compared to vehicles, particularly in congested places and during peak times,” said Abdul Mohsen Ebrahim Younes, Chief Executive Officer of the RTA’s Strategy and Corporate Support Services.

The new arrangement will also bring down the nuisance of jaywalkers whose numbers are on the rise in the Emirate. Statistics provided by Dubai police in August this year shows some 1,022 jaywalkers have been fined in Dubai from January until the end of July.

Currently, pedestrian crossings are under construction at Abu Hail Road, Beirut Road, Umm Suqeim Road, Airport Road, Casablanca Road and Abu Baker Al Siddiqi Road.

More crossings will be built on Emirates Road, Shaikh Zayed Road, Damascus Road, Khalid Bin Al Waleed Road, Salahuddin Road, Baniyas Road, Al Rashid Road, Zabeel Road, Al Wasl Road, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Road and Al Rabbat Road.

Dubai Municipality has embarked on an initiative called “Green Roofs” that aims to encourage people to grow plants on their rooftops. Municipality buildings will be the first to test out the concept before the initiative is implemented in a phased manner.

Dubai’s green buildings project about to be launched is considered important in reducing carbon emissions and in enhancing indoor environment and air. It also enhances the health of Dubai’s society and increases life expectancy of the buildings, as well as protecting the local eco system. Increased productivity is also expected. Economic support from different sectors is predicted.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, Acting Director General of Dubai Municipality, said the civic body had launched the initiative in line with the law on green building specifications in Dubai, which will be officially announced by mid-December.

He said Dubai’s green roofs project aimed at transforming roofs of all buildings and houses in Dubai into cultivated space, where the water from air-conditioners would be used for irrigation of plants. Dubai is trying to best plan for huge urban expansion, which is increasing heat levels of the region.
Mr Lootah said a Dubai study of green roofs had confirmed their success in other countries, and had convinced the municipality to adopt green roofs. The municipality chose suitable plants for the project, and its designs, in coordination with the Public Parks and Horticulture Department. A special booklet would show how to implement this concept so that it helps Dubai residents to apply for green roof help.

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Mr Lootah said the municipality’s consultative study had defined per capita electricity and water consumption. These figures would be applied as a criterion for Dubai’s success. Buildings would not become ‘green’ unless the residents were educated on the importance of economic consumption of electricity and water. The municipality has also directed the building consultants working in the emirate to consider these aspects while designing buildings, he said.

The Green Buildings project will be implemented in three phases – short-term (2008), mid-term (2009-2012) and then long-term.

Dubai is planning to set up the region’s largest solar energy manufacturing plant. They are expected to start producing by the last quarter in 2010, and will manufacture photovoltaic panels that can generate 130 megawatts of power annually.

The building plans call for a 1 million square foot plant, with solar panels to be produced as big as 5.7sqm. Similar plants will be built in China, Mexico and Bulgaria. The announcement was made during this week’s Green Dubai World Forum 2008.

According to the Khaleej Times, it will be the Middle East’s largest solar panel plant, and it will be located in Dubai’s Technopark. The intent to build the solar plant came with the announcement that that UAE intends to adopt green building legislation, the first of its kind in the world. Dubai hopes to become a sustainable building pioneer, and has started incorporating green building practices into new projects since the beginning of 2008.

Dilip Rahulan, the CEO of Solar Technologies said: “The energy from sunlight striking the Earth for 40 minutes is equivalent to the global energy consumption for a whole year. The mission of Solar Technologies is to accelerate the adoption of solar photo-voltaic by rapidly expanding manufacturing capacity and significantly reducing the cost of solar modules through innovations and manufacturing excellence.

“We intend to become one of the largest solar photo-voltaic module manufacturing units in the world over a period of time.”