World’s largest sustainable city developed in China

The world's largest sustainable city, extending about 30 square kilometers, with urban living conditions has been developed in South Asian country of China. Rising from wastelands in China, the globe's biggest eco-city of Tianjin is located 150 kilometres (93 miles) southeast from Beijing that means less than an hour on the new high-speed train line. The city, designed to be around half the size of Manhattan Island in the United States, is slated to be enriched by the hottest energy-saving technologies. Designed by Surbana Urban Planning Group, the city is planned to have an advanced light rail transit system and varied eco-landscapes ranging from a sun-powered solarscape to a greenery-clad earthscape for its estimated 350,000 residents. A sustainable city or eco-city is a preplanned city to produce their own energy, food and water in a way that does not cause detriment to the world in forms such as waste, water pollution or damage to the air.

Solar panel roads 'could solve energy crisis' Asphalt roads and car parks would be torn up and replaced with glass solar cell panels capable of generating enough power to support local communities, under the scheme. A US firm is currently working on a prototype panel that could be embedded into existing roads, having won a $100,000 grant from the US Department of Transportation. The panels would also be covered with a mosaic of small lights, which could be illuminated to provide road markings and warning messages to drivers. They could also be embedded with heaters to keep the road clear by melting snow and ice. With each 12 ft by 12 ft panel capable of producing 7.6 kilowatt hours of power each day, the company Solar Roadways calculates that resurfacing the entire US interstate highway network would meet the country's energy needs three times over. A four-lane, one-mile stretch of road made from the panels could generate enough power for 500 homes, it claims.

We'll Never Run This Economy On Renewables (We'll Never Have To) SHAREConference/CC BY-SA 2.0 Whenever we talk about pushing for 100% renewables, naysayers start arguing that we can never run our current economy without energy intensive fossil fuels. But they forget one simple thing: We don't have to. In a world where you can address a conference from your own bedroom, or order your groceries or even publish a book without ever getting dressed, the old way of doing things just seems, well, increasingly old. Cheap Fossil Fuels Shaped Our WorldviewThe economy of today is structured the way it is because it was built on the false assumption of cheap fossil fuels. Don't Replace Fossil Fuels. Just because the dinosaur economy is coming to an end does not mean we can, or will, return to a pre-fossil fuel economy. Virtual Industries Create Real JobsFor the last 6 years I've operated a viable business using little more than a laptop, a desk, a lamp and an internet connection. I'm not saying the shift to a smarter, cleaner economy is inevitable.

Made in IBM Labs: Collaboration Aims to Harness the Energy of 2,000 Suns Today on Earth Day, scientists have announced a collaboration to develop an affordable photovoltaic system capable of concentrating solar radiation 2,000 times and converting 80 percent of the incoming radiation into useful energy. The system can also provide desalinated water and cool air in sunny, remote locations where they are often in short supply. A three-year, $2.4 million (2.25 million CHF) grant from the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation has been awarded to scientists at IBM Research (NYSE: IBM); Airlight Energy, a supplier of solar power technology; ETH Zurich (Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers) and Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB (Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnology MNT) to research and develop an economical High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system. The prototype HCPVT system uses a large parabolic dish, made from a multitude of mirror facets, which are attached to a sun tracking system.

2013-04-22 Made in IBM Labs: Collaboration Aims to Harness the Energy of 2,000 Suns ZURICH - 22 Apr 2013: Today on Earth Day, scientists have announced a collaboration to develop an affordable photovoltaic system capable of concentrating solar radiation 2,000 times and converting 80 percent of the incoming radiation into useful energy. The system can also provide desalinated water and cool air in sunny, remote locations where they are often in short supply. A three-year, $2.4 million (2.25 million CHF) grant from the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation has been awarded to scientists at IBM Research (NYSE: IBM); Airlight Energy, a supplier of solar power technology; ETH Zurich (Professorship of Renewable Energy Carriers) and Interstate University of Applied Sciences Buchs NTB (Institute for Micro- and Nanotechnology MNT) to research and develop an economical High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system. The prototype HCPVT system uses a large parabolic dish, made from a multitude of mirror facets, which are attached to a sun tracking system.