Eco Friendly City

[Tropicdude]

While browsing videos, I came across a report on a Eco Friendly city in Vauban Germany, where a community banned cars. also homes generate solar power, and food is Organic.

I wouldn't mind living in a place like this, although I know this wouldn't be for everyone.

I think that in the west with our addiction to cars, we may need to allow at least electric cars. Imagine a community that you commute to work either by electric train, or electric car, that you charged up with solar panels on your roof.

No pollution, no foreign oil dependence, less noise, ( would still have to deal with dummies blasting reggaeton all over ).

here is the link to the ABC report

Germany's City of the Future Built to be Green - ABC News

 

[bienamor]

Usa/ canada

While browsing videos, I came across a report on a Eco Friendly city in Vauban Germany, where a community banned cars. also homes generate solar power, and food is Organic.

I wouldn't mind living in a place like this, although I know this wouldn't be for everyone.

I think that in the west with our addiction to cars, we may need to allow at least electric cars. Imagine a community that you commute to work either by electric train, or electric car, that you charged up with solar panels on your roof.

No pollution, no foreign oil dependence, less noise, ( would still have to deal with dummies blasting reggaeton all over ).

here is the link to the ABC report

Germany's City of the Future Built to be Green - ABC News

They have to get the batteries in better shape, They don't do well when it's 60 miles to the nearest town or hospital. USA will be ok on the Coast with the large Cities and small states, Same with Canada's larger cities, but the middle no way right now, Plus have they figured the carbon footprint for the recharge every day. Mackinac Is. in Michigan outlawed cars years ago, but watch were you step not all the horses are wearing diapers.

 

[Tropicdude]

They have to get the batteries in better shape, They don't do well when it's 60 miles to the nearest town or hospital. USA will be ok on the Coast with the large Cities and small states, Same with Canada's larger cities, but the middle no way right now, Plus have they figured the carbon footprint for the recharge every day. Mackinac Is. in Michigan outlawed cars years ago, but watch were you step not all the horses are wearing diapers.

Well technology is advancing fast, there are some electric cars that actually look like cars that can get over 100 Miles per Charge. and new quick charge cars, that can charge in like 15 min.

electric is well in fine for commuting to work, taking kids to school, making a run to the store etc.

This German town was designed from the ground up to be electric friendly, so bike paths are all over, no "roads" for cars and schools etc are built near residences etc.

to go to the next town, you take an electric train.

even in this eco friendly German town, 15% still own cars, but they are used a lot less because they are not needed as much.

this is why I mentioned adopting electric first instead of all out car-less, 1) Urban areas are just not "bike friendly" specially here in the DR, also it does rain a lot here. plus people still need their "status symbols" how would some of this people tolerate life if they cant show off in their "Jipetas".

Electric is the future, its not an "if" its a "when" and its very close. almost all the car manufactures have electric cars being released soon.

Electric wont work in the DR, unless you have a way to charge your own vehicle economically, power is way too expensive and, the CDEE just wouldnt be able to handle the load anyway if it became too popular.

Once electric cars become more available, and fuel prices go up again ( which they will ) people will start finding ways to make electric work, specially if we start getting fuel shortages.

 

[kiai]

Dominican Republics First Eco Enviro-Friendly Sustainable Village

I am looking for any Retiree's,people, families, or groups that would be interested in a very serious proposed project of a cooperative Eco Sustainable Village in DR.I'll be in DR September 25th, 3rd time this year for meetings and looking at land in different areas to initiate project.Eco, enviro, housing, Organic farming,wind/solar power, vermiculture, composting and much much more.

For a project overview please contact me paul_modde@yahoo.ca

 

[suarezn]

This is all pie in the sky stuff dreamed up by people who have way too much material stuff and feel guilty about it. How about we try to feed and educate those who don't have enough for the very basic necessities. There are a LOT of people living a very "eco-friendly" live in The DR...Not by choice though.

 

[GREATZKY]

Eco nighmare

Look at the big picture 10 years from the transition in a big city.... 1 Million cars each supplied with 10-12 batteries where do the batteries end up??? And there is all the talk about the eco problems from the ash from power plants!!!! Lets learn from Michael, don't cut off our nose to spite are face or run and hide from the man in the mirror... Carbon is GOOD, Gore is BAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDD

 

[Tropicdude]

1 Million cars each supplied with 10-12 batteries where do the batteries end up???

Batteries are 100% recyclable, they are even being recycled in this country already.

1 Million cars, i do know where all that exhaust ends up.

all the talk about the eco problems from the ash from power plants!!!! Lets learn from Michael, don't cut off our nose to spite are face or run and hide from the man in the mirror

we can either face the facts or bury our heads in the sand and pretend nothing bad is happening, sometimes ignorance is bliss, or we can continue and do what most others have been doing, sweep it under the rug, let someone else clean up our mess.

Carbon is GOOD, Gore is BAAAAAAAAAAAAADDDDDDDDDDD

Lets shoot the messenger, he didnt tell us what we wanted to hear, BTW, things are actually far worse than even Al Gore presented in his documentary.

Eco communities, will be only for the odd few now, most people will continue living their lives the way they have, its not going to happen over night, it may take 2 or even 3 generation, our kids, and later their kids will be more educated about environmental issues and more sustainable lifestyles.

Things will speed up even more when fuel continues to sky rocket, and as more demand from China and India increases there will be shortages, I remember those odd even day lines at the gas stations.

This is all pie in the sky stuff dreamed up by people who have way too much material stuff and feel guilty about it

Not at all, many city planners are looking for ways to make cities green, this is not by choice, but a necessity, I am not going to get into all the details, but its just numbers, food demand is growing, production is starting to fall a bit short.

There are a LOT of people living a very "eco-friendly" live in The DR...Not by choice though.

I agree with you, there is a lot of imbalance of wealth in the world, but these poor people are also in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to pollution, they cant afford to buy bottled water, or buy water filters, if they get sick they cannot afford medicine, making the world clean benefits everyone even those poor folks.

 

[Keith R]

Batteries are 100% recyclable, they are even being recycled in this country already.

Unfortunately, they are not being recycled responsibly. Most battery "recycling" in the DR remains just crude, careless, artisanal mining of the batteries for their lead, followed by careless discard of the contaminated plastic carcass.

 

[George Holmes]

This kind of eco-utopia isn't going to happen in the DR until there is a sensible political debate about the relationship between development, environment, health etc. There is no real concept amongst politicians and commentators about environmentally sound living - and I'm not talking about climate change etc, but about a country that gives us Haina and neglects to clean it up.

 

[Tropicdude]

This kind of eco-utopia isn't going to happen in the DR until there is a sensible political debate about the relationship between development, environment, health etc. There is no real concept amongst politicians and commentators about environmentally sound living - and I'm not talking about climate change etc, but about a country that gives us Haina and neglects to clean it up.

I agree, there are lots of obstacles, Political, Economical, Indifference, Education etc.

I go over my posts and I do come off like some extreme environmentalist.

I go to work in a diesel pickup truck in the city, no solar panels on my roof of my house, I pay CDE . the only thing I have done is have all my lights using florescent, which keeps my electric bill low. I do not use special bio degradable soap and detergents, and yes I use plastic.

I have to laugh at the comment made by a previous poster,

This is all pie in the sky stuff dreamed up by people who have way too much material stuff and feel guilty about it.

It seems some people think you have to give up everything to lower your carbon footprint. and that its somehow cheap.

well , being energy independent is not cheap, a 3KW solar kit runs about 15,000 Dollars in the US. that would have to be at least 2Kw more if one plans on having a small electric car. which is another thing, most electric cars cost more than regular cars. unless they look like dune buggies or bubbles on wheels

I do not see people going "green" because they feel guilty that they have too many material things.

Some may just want energy independence, a solar home, wont depend on the electric company, no more apagones.

Others may do it as a crusade, they figure, "I cannot save the world, but I can at least do my part", others may do it, because they know that some of the money they spend on fuel goes to support terrorism.

Another thing I have seen in forums, is that somehow people have it in their minds that these people are being forced to live in a Eco village, lol, they are there by choice, and I wish I could afford to live in a quiet, safer, clean enviroment.

I noticed someone placing a post looking for investors for an eco community, I wish them luck, eventually someone will build an "eco" friendly neighborhood here in the DR, and maybe a few more will pop up, but knowing how things are here, these would probably end up being for the richest who want to live in an exclusive neighborhood.




I do not expect to see too much change in the next decade

 

[kiai]

Brazil eco city

Curitiba is Brazil most eco friendly city google it for info.

 

[Chip]

Electric cars do have certain efficiency standards over normal combustion engine types(mostly due to the natural characteristics of the electric motor) but there still is the issue of the generation of electric power to recharge the battery.I can't say I'm too surprised that people on the electric car bandwagon seem to overlook this point, then again I guess we can thank algore et al for that. Bottom line is that until they start closing these oil and coal powered electric plants we aren't gaining a whole awful lot; not anything what people think. Then again, even if we do that in the US and Europe, what about those 4 billion people and their carbon footprint in India, China, Russia, Africa and SA???

Of course, there is plentiful power that is clean; nuclear power, but the environmentalists have all but put them out of business with all the bad press they have gotten.

If we are to advance our goal at reducing the carbon footprint, whether it just ends up being localized or miniscule by scale, still we should be rational and scientific about it, my two cents.

 

[Keith R]

Electric cars, on their own, are no panacea. In fact, they make little sense from a carbon footprint viewpoint in locales (notice I said locales, not countries, since I think the same reasoning applies to portions of countries such as the US) where the following three conditions are not yet present or will not be present very soon:

(1) a reliable electricity supply (which, let's face it folks, the DR does not have);

(2) most of the electricity supplied is not generated using fossil fuels (as the DR's is), but rather from sources such as hydro, solar, wind, geothermal, or yes, perhaps even nuclear (if you can reasonably take care of the security, safety and waste concerns that comes with it, which I am still uncertain the DR would);

(3) an adequate recycling and disposal infrastructure for all the batteries involved, no matter which battery chemistry we're talking about (something the DR most definitely does not have).

Regarding point #2, there are some notable and interesting experiments in ways to set up charging networks for electric vehicles which conceivably even the DR could use several years down the road. One involves running power turbines using biogas from biodigestors handling animal wastes from farms. Another possibility would be biogas-run turbines linked to water treatment and landfills.