Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Chinese Eco-Cities

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the a-friend-in-green-is-a-friend-indeed dept.

opencity writes "The Guardian is reporting on a deal by Arups, a British consulting firm, to build four eco-cities in China. The cities are to be self-sufficient in energy, water and most food products, with the aim of zero emissions of greenhouse gases in transport systems. The press release hints at some of the technology."

8 of 447 comments (clear)

  1. The press release is dated 24/8/2005 ... by SimonInOz · · Score: 5, Informative

    Recycled news is green too, I suppose ....

    --
    "Cats like plain crisps"
  2. Also Known As Arcologies... by bc90021 · · Score: 5, Informative

    For more information check this link as a starting place.

    --
    libertarianswag.com
  3. Re:We can all breathe a bit easier by andy+jenkins · · Score: 3, Informative

    China's not bound by the Kyoto Protocol, but they've approved and ratified it.

  4. Nothing amazing sounding here by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    "one which is as close to being carbon neutral as possible within economic constraints." (emphasis mine)
    Nothing new here. They're going to scavenge waste heat from their power plant, do some intelligent rain water capture, and put the sewage through a wetlands for treatment. Mix in a decent recycling program, modern building standards on par with ASHRAE 90.1 2004 or California's Title 24, and efficient buildings and you're there. Pull in Amory from the Rocky Mountain Institute if you want a touch of inspiration (Solar powered traffic lights? Communal electric cars? Sewage fermented into methane for generators?) and call it a day. Not entirely carbon neutral, but as carbon neutral as possible within 'economic constraints.'

    Is Arups any relation to Ove Arup? I think they're the guys who once put in a 5 acre lake to provide evaporative cooling for an adjacent office building (along with synergistic landscape and park benefits yadda yad). Sigh. I wish I had that kind of economically 'constrained' budget on my next building.

  5. Re:We can all breathe a bit easier by Wyatt+Earp · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, the US didn't use slave labor or virtual slave labor to industrialize. Slave labor was used for agribusiness in the South while the North was industrialized without slavery.

    Unless you count factory workers as slaves, which they weren't even if one takes everything The Jungle teaches us.

  6. Re:Biodome by thisislee · · Score: 2, Informative

    A failed biodome fails, where a failed arcology would be an ecologically friendly but not zero emission city.

  7. Re:We can all breathe a bit easier by Coryoth · · Score: 5, Informative

    Why per capita? Why not per square foot?

    Or why not per dollar of GDP? Measuring pollution by GDP actually represents an interesting metric of production efficiency, and on that scale China is very poor indeed, although the US and Canada are at best middling (on par with nations like Brazil, Sri Lanks and Mexico. It's Japan and various European countries that fare best.

    Jedidiah.

    --
    Craft Beer Programming T-shirts
  8. Re:It's a leftist's dream come true by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    You can't say that New York was completely unplanned.
    The grid system of Manhattan was a deliberate attempt to avoid the crazy street layouts of Europe.

    Central Park was created before the proper city extended that far north. http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1286521

    Planning for New York's City Water Tunnel #3 started in 1954, construction began in the 1970s, and the current completion date is 2020.http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/news/3rdtunn el.html

    and there are places like the Five Points that have been wiped out, unplanned districts can become slums.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Points_(Ma nhattan)

    Planned cities can become failures as well, http://imdb.com/title/tt0317248/
    but you should moderate your opinion.