Many people are aware that China is insatiably consuming energy, constantly building new power plants. Although they now emit more carbon dioxide than any other country, many people do not realize that China is also pursuing many alternative energy sources as well. China is developing green communities, which are sustainable cities that are more eco-friendly than cities developed by any other country. These cities contain many green areas, solar panels, “energy savings… non-toxic building and decorative materials, safe tap water and water-saving toilets.” More than 200 Chinese cities have announced that they will attempt to reduce their emissions.
One city that is currently in development, Tianjin, will span 30 square kilometers, and be fully developed by 2020. The city will house 350,000 people, and will feature a light rail system, varied eco-landscapes, a sun-powered solarscape, and a greenery-clad earthscape.
Conceptual image of Tianjin
Tianjin will utilize solar power, wind power, rainwater recycling, wastewater treatment, and desalination of sea water to make their city sustainable. The developers of the city (Surbana Urban Planning Group) and China claim that 90% of the population of the city will use public transportation, greatly decreasing carbon emissions.
Another conceptual image
The city will consist of seven districts – a Lifescape, an Eco-Valley, a Solarscape, an Urbanscape, a Windscape, an Earthscape and Eco-Corridors. The city will utilize any free space – whether between or on buildings – for greenery. This city hopefully will act as a precursor for all future cities – not only in China, but around the planet. If countries around the world realize the potential contained within Tianjin, hopefully the issue of climate change can finally be solved.
The green tip of the week is to car-pool whenever possible (only if biking isn’t an option!). Not only will this have tremendous benefits for the environment, but you will save 50%-75% on your gas bills!
This is SO cool! I was completely unaware of these developments. It’d be nice if other governments around the world were taking similar initiatives. These are the kinds of changes that we need to be making in order to be proactive about environmental concerns.
This certainly proves that we as a country could be doing more in terms of eco friendly technology. China is still a developing nation, and yet it can still develop an eco-friendly city. Props to them, and I think we need to step up our game quite a bit in terms of eco friendly technology.
Besides the fact that this city looks visually stunning, I absolutely love the idea that China is getting behind a city that is so eco-friendly. In addition, it’s interesting to see that China is backing this idea, since they have famously for the past few years been the highest carbon polluters in the world and are extremely focused on industrial progress. It really makes us look bad in comparison, since they are economically booming while at the same time keeping eco-friendliness towards the forefront somewhat.