Masdar City’s Eco-Villa, a pilot project incorporating water and energy-saving technologies, has been completed, announced on January 19 at Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2017.

The 405- square- meter Eco-Villa is the first villa to achieve a – Four- Pearl rating, according to the Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council’s Estidama Pearl Building Rating System. It will use around 72% less energy and 35% less water than a conventional villa of the same size in Abu Dhabi, displacing an estimated 63 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

“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.

The cost of the Eco-Villa’s construction 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 kWh of electricity per square meter.

The prototype is capable of supplying as much as 40,000 kWh of electricity to the national grid, due to its full equipment with 87 rooftop solar panels.

“The Eco-Villa stays true to Masdar City’s principles of sustainable urban development in that it is cost-efficient, environmentally sensitive and culturally appropriate in both its design and function,” Badelaib added. “Because of its energy and water-efficient design, residents of the Eco-Villa will receive significantly reduced power and water bills,” he explained.