Embassy of the United States

The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi is proud to announce that it has joined The League of Green U.S. Embassies as of January, 2009.  Embassy Abu Dhabi is the first non-European member of League. 

We believe that every institution has a role in the global effort to combat climate change and global warming.  The U.S. Embassy takes that responsibility seriously, and hopes that our efforts will serve as an example and inspiration to others.

• We are dedicated to respecting the environment and reducing to our resource consumption.
• We will continue to implement green practices whenever possible.  
• We are in the process of becoming the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified embassy in the category of Existing Building (EB). 
• We look forward to sharing our practices and learning new ideas from other embassies.

The U.S. Embassy, opened in 2004, incorporates a number of environment-friendly and resource-conscious features, including those listed below.

ELECTRICITY:

• Solar Panels produce all our hot water throughout the Embassy compound.  This saves electricity and runs more efficiently than a domestic water heater.
• The ceiling lights in all offices and restrooms are equipped with motion sensors which shut off lights when areas are not in use thus reducing energy spent.
• Recently all light bulbs were switched over from higher wattage warm color light bulbs to low wattage day light CFL bulbs.
• All air conditioning systems are scheduled to operate with occupied and unoccupied modes to maintain different temperature settings throughout the day. The unoccupied mode setting has a higher temperature setting than the occupied mode thereby reducing the heat load on our chillers, the energy we consume, and our electrical bills.

WATER:

• All waste water from the Embassy is collected and processed in our man-made “horizontal wetland” system, where it is cleaned and reused in our drip-irrigating system providing water for our landscape plants and bushes.
• Low-flow plumbing fixtures reduce the amount of water used.
• Native, drought-tolerant plants and landscaping, which require minimal water and thrive in an arid climate, are used in the gardens watered by our Drip Irrigation system.
• Our building is constructed in such a way that rain falling on the roof cascades down to a Wadi Garden, where it is held until it can percolate back into the ground and recharge the ground water. 

GENERAL:

• Extensive landscaping within the compound and along with the walkways helps reduce ambient temperature.
• Our windows are glazed, energy efficient and located on the north and south facades with almost no windows on the east and west facades, which reduces our cooling costs.
• A recycling program that will collect paper, glass, metal and plastic is currently being implemented.