Green Options

After an outcry from Dubai citizens and concerned people everywhere, the local government ordered the Atlantis Hotel to release their 13-foot whale shark in October.

Regardless, the hotel has still not released the shark nor said when they intend to do so. So… what’s the hold-up?

Most of the time here at Cleantechnica, we report on important technical advances and breakthroughs that help mankind to reduce its harmful impact on the environment. Once in a while though, a tech story emerges that highlights how willfully unconcerned some people are with the green issues that worry the rest of us.

The latest news from Dubai falls squarely into the latter category. It seems that planners in the Arab state have stumbled on the great idea of creating a fully refrigerated beach so that tourists don’t burn their feet. From late next year, guests at the exclusive Palazzo Versace hotel will enjoy private access to the beach, situated next to the main building.

The world’s most ambitious “eco-city” has broke ground in the United Arab Emirates. Masdar City will be a  zero-waste, zero-carbon community powered by renewable energy. All garbage will be recycled, and inhabitants will grow organic produce. The first residents, 100 alternative energy postgrads at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, who will move in September 2009.

Via: Plenty

Image: Foster and Partners

Imagine the implications of urban sprawl if we had begun building out into the ocean in the ‘50s?  Well, as our world population rises and developed land in cities and surrounding zones becomes more and more scarce, we are starting to see ocean sprawl becoming more popular all over the globe. We are already seeing this with the development in the United Arab Emirates and the overzealous and outrageously expensive projects there and around Abu Dhabi.  They are essentially pouring mounds of sand into the ocean to create new “luxury” land and resort destinations. This is an image of the man made palm in Dubai’s Persian Gulf constructed for the Palm Island Resort. “When completed, the resort will sport 2000 villas, 40 luxury hotels, shopping centers, cinemas, and other facilities.” With these new types of developments this idea of vacationing on/in the ocean without actually needing to leave land is growing in demand.