“Today’s topics on Cities in Japan 005”
Eco-city/Low carbon city/Zero carbon city Other examples of Sustainable Development include eco-cities, low-carbon cities, zero carbon cities, and etc.
The basic idea of Eco City is to use renewable energy such as photovoltaic power generation and wind power as the energy source of the city, and to optimize the balance of the energy demand and supply of the region by networking them with the power storage equipment. In many cases, Eco-city uses the idea of compact city and TOD. Low-carbon city and Zero-carbon city are similar. The difference is on how to set the numerical targets.
To reduce the consumption of fossil energy, one measure is to “Visualize” the consumption of each household, business unit, transportation, construction site, production line and so on. Another measure is to formulate a guideline that provides the goals and incentives. Moreover, there are other urban master planning approaches such as the decentralized energy system in which multiple heat and power plants in a district are networked and shared. Others include an approach to create a “Way of wind,” a visualization of the area’s micro climate, and etc.
“Low Carbon City” is a concept aiming to realize low-carbon society in Japan which began in 2007. The purpose is to comprehensively reduce CO2 emission by utilizing the ideas of compact city, public transportation, renewable energy, CO2 absorption by greenery, and etc.
“Zero carbon city” is a concept proposed to “Masdar City” during the 1st “World Future Energy Summit” held in Abu Dhabi (UAE) in January 2008. Masdar is a city where 50,000 people live in an area within 6 kilometer surrounded by a city wall. The city’s electricity is covered by renewable energy, mainly derived from solar systems and recycles all waste and water. Automobiles have been eliminated and trams, automated transportation units called “auto pods”, and bicycles are the means of transportation.
