Although seemingly over-the-top, this render is actually a good representation of Dubai's plans of world domination (in tourist numbers). Witness the following few images.

                                                            The Burj Al Arab, already completed and earning a reputation as one of the "best hotels in the world".

Quite a broad claim, but combined with proposals of an integrated 360-degree travel network, “tapping into the planet’s renewable resources”, and what looks like a whole surface covered with solar panels, it is at least a viable claim. This is after all Dubai, where structures such as the world’s tallest building (the Burj Dubai), the Dubai Palm islands which effectively add hundreds of kilometers to Dubai’s coastal properties, the world’s largest shopping mall (with 40 million square feet of leasable area!), and the now famous Burj Al Arab, a hotel sited along the coast and shaped liked a mammoth, billowing sail in a stiff wind.

                                                        One of Dubai's many "Palm Islands" - man made structures built to accomodate residential lots with atmospheric pricetags.

Sure, there have been many claims for self sufficient structures, even some claims that can conceivably make living on the airless moon a possibility, yet so far, we have yet to see any come to fruition. In the case of this Ziggurat, there’s at least a small chance that such a huge undertaking will still push through – before the oil runs out, and the money is gone, we can probably expect more marvels from the unlikeliest place to host a “green” project – the wind swept and sandy Dubai.

                                                           Not such an impossible vision after all - as long as technologies continue moving quickly in the right direction.