Green City Times
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Green City Times is a resource on sustainability, urban planning, renewable energy, public transportation, energy efficiency and green building.
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A couple of European cities that make use of their tremendous natural resources to provide a supply of renewable energy for most of their heating and electricity demands. This energy is sourced from the natural environments of: forest and volcanoes, geysers...
A South American city that has served as the world's premier example of urban planning and boasts the finest bus system in the world....
A Canadian city that, even with the 4th most densely packed population of any city in the world, is striving to be "the greenest city on earth", consistently ranking as one of the most livable cities on the planet...
A European city that averages between 2-5 inches of rainfall each month, has rain year-round and temperatures between 30-50° F for at least half of the year, however is still considered "the solar capital of the world"....
An American city that leads the nation in recycling, and is planning on having a 75% recycling rate for all of the city's reusable waste by 2015...
The city whose metropolitan population is the largest in Europe, yet still maintains over 60% of its area as either green space or water...
Please take your time to browse these pages on a few of the world's most sustainable cities, our information on renewable energy and our blog. As you read through our blog, please feel free to submit your own ideas, or entire articles if you feel so moved.
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Sustainable Town
The Most Sustainable Town In Europe...
Vauban, Germany is a sustainable town for every other city in the world to emulate. Vauban is a “zero-emission” district in Freiburg, Germany. The town is not completely carbon neutral, as cars are actually allowed, if you pay at least $23,000 USD for a parking spot on the outskirts of town. Thus, the majority of residents don’t own a car, choosing instead to use the tram, cycle or simply walk. Most streets don’t even have parking spaces.
The radical culture of Vauban has roots in its dramatic history. Ironically, Vauban was a military town through WWII and into the early 90’s. When the military left, the vacant buildings were inhabited by squatters. These vagabonds eventually formed Forum Vauban, organizing a revolutionary eco-community. Today, Vauban is modern, beautiful and represents the very cutting edge of sustainable living.
Very careful urban planning helped to create a city layout which lends itself to cycling as the primary mode of transit. The terms “filtered permeability” and ”fused grid” refer to a plan that ultimately means more pedestrian and bike paths. Residents primarily live in co-op buildings, such as the “solar ship”. The solar ship is part of Vauban’s solar settlement, helping make the town one of Europe’s largest solar cities.
A biomass plant provides district heating for the town, which already has passive homes (called “passivhaus”). Passive homes are almost entirely covered by so-called internal gains, passive-solar gains and a technically simple heat recuperation system. “Plus-energy” homes (of which there are a couple dozen) actually produce more energy than they use.
