Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted renewable energy company, shared its expertise on building smart and sustainable communities during an international seminar held in quake-hit Japanese city Fukushima.

Alamira Noor Bani Hashim, a UAE national working as an urban planner in Masdar City recently participated in the International Energy Seminar on Smart Community Proposals for Reconstructing Disaster-Affected Areas, hosted by Japan’s ministries of foreign affairs, economy, trade, industry and environment in Fukushima City, Fukushima Prefecture, where she spoke on the key elements of a smart community.

The aim of the seminar held ahead of the anniversary to mark the massive earthquake that hit Japan last year, was to invite global discussions on the reconstruction of disaster-hit areas and dissemination of the proposals considered.

Numerous areas in Japan, including Fukushima Prefecture, suffered damage as a result of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Local associations in such areas are seeking to create smart communities by encouraging the use of renewable energy.

Masdar CEO Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber said: 'On the anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake, we would like to extend our condolences and continuous support to the people of Japan. Masdar is privileged to take part in this seminar by extending its knowledge and expertise in the field of renewable energy.'

'Such initiatives are the first step to developing stronger smart communities that will rely on a variety of sources for power, including renewable and sustainable energy,' he stated.

At the seminar, suggesting rebuilding measures for disaster hit areas in Tohoku, Bani Hashim highlighted the importance of building smart communities based on passive sustainable design measures and clean technology and pointed out how Masdar, an emerging low carbon, low waste city in Abu Dhabi, can serve as a commercially viable role model for sustainable development in cities across the world.

Bani Hashim said: 'The key to building a smart community is integration. A smart community should display intelligent mixed land use. It should also integrate environment and geographical conditions of the location in its design.'

'For example, at Masdar, simply shifting the orientation of the buildings to a southeast-northwest direction during construction allowed increase of wind flow at no cost, and in fact reduced the overall cooling requirements. Integrating the environment is also crucial when choosing renewable energies.'

'Tohoku is going through a difficult time but this is also an opportunity to revisit plans of the new city, create a new smart community and bring back traditions that are probably forgotten.'

'For Masdar City, we integrated traditional Arabic designs with new technology such as smart grids and smart transportation, meeting the challenges of a harsh climate through sustainable means,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service