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<h1>Eco-City Under Construction: A Tour of Masdar City</h1>
<p><a href="http://begreen.com.au/newspress/?p=502">http://begreen.com.au/newspress/?p=502</a></p>
<p>An entirely carfree city, multi-story parking lots will be built outside its walls. Masdar will be bisected by a light rail line, and a <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/can-prt-replace-cars.php"><font color="#2255aa">personal rapid transit</font></a> system (or PRT - kind of a cross between an electric car and a mini-light rail) will take passengers to within 100 meters of any destination in the city.</p>
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<p>Inspired by the traditional Middle Eastern city, Masdar’s plan calls for all of the city’s buildings to have flat roofs. The city’s builders estimate that by putting photovoltaic panels on all of this roof space, around three million square meters, they can create just about enough energy to meet the needs of the entire city (an estimated 200-230MW of electricity).</p>
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<div>More info on this planned solar powered eco-city:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.economist.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=12673433">http://www.economist.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=12673433</a></div>
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<div>I'm not sure if this story you reference about a German suburb without cars appeared on Vision2020 before. But of course the issue of the practicalities of life with or without, or with what kind of car (powered by what energy), or what public transportation system, for modern technological civilization, is obviously a very important issue. Winter bike riding? It can be done, but how many will rough it?</div>
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<div>Consider the economic impact of reducing reliance on cars/trucks in the US. Imagine if 50% of US families did not own and operate cars or trucks? The automotive industry is a cornerstone of the US economy. If car/truck ownership and daily or nearly so operation no longer was a dominant lifestyle choice, the auto industry and the industries and businesses that are connected would shrink dramatically. Maybe other industries/businesses could fill the vacuum; but the US government just bailed out and regulated (in some ways) General Motors because of its critical role in the US economy. General Motors was too important to the economy to let it fail.<br>
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<div>I'm afraid that the current economic system dominated by a capitalist consumer choice society, with its assumptions of personal mobility to go where you want when, to live where you want, even if long distances are involved in shopping, entertainment, recreation, or work commuting, will fiercely resist giving up this lifestyle, no matter the long term impacts of fossil fuel induced climate change, resource depletion, ecosystem damage... </div>
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<div>The technological optimists will insist low carbon or carbon free energy technologies, with recycling of materials in cars and trucks, will lower the destructive impacts.</div>
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<div>If these options are so practical, affordable and realistic, why is the US planning on building a pipeline to bring to the US the most environmentally destructive and greenhouse gas intensive oil, from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada, encouraging expansion of tar sands development? National security and energy independence, international games of hegemony (other nations want Canada's oil, for energy and profit), and job creation, justify this project, it will be argued. But encouraging increases in greenhouse gas emissions is also a national security issue, as anyone aware of the dire predictions in the Pentagon's own think tank analysis on the threats posed by climate change, knows.</div>
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<div>If it is technologically feasible to get off oil, where is the large scale implementation of plans to power cars and trucks on carbon low or neutral electricity (not coal power), or hydrogen, or fuel cells, or truly carbon neutral biofuels (not ethanol from corn, with its large fossil fuel upstream impact), like algae biofuel, or other options... Even the Pickens plan would replace a lot of oil with natural gas for most transportation demands, while expanding wind and solar to replace the natural gas electricity generation. I'm not sure of this plans progress, if any, in the US Congress. </div>
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<div>The green revolution optimists will point to the economic benefits of new alternative domestic energy technologies in job creation, and reducing dependence on foreign oil as a drain on the US economy. But big oil is so powerful and economically entrenched, I think it likely that in the coming decades oil will remain the dominant fuel for transportation in the US, even if it is technologically possible to replace oil large scale. Some very rich and powerful people are making a lot of money off the US as a oil dependent economy. And I think it likely that the car and truck dominated lifestyle will remain, partly due to consumers demanding it... I won't blame the problems all on big oil or big coal or the auto industry. Consumers can make choices to impact these industries, like living in smaller homes that use less coal powered electricity.</div>
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<div>Ted Moffett<br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 8/30/09, <b class="gmail_sendername">Sam Scripter</b> <<a href="mailto:moscowsam@verizon.net">moscowsam@verizon.net</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffcc"><font size="+1"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><br>May 11, 2009 = Story date.<br><br>Too long ago for me to remember.<br><br>Was this NYT story posted on V2020 before? [Ted?]<br> <br></font></font><span style="WORD-SPACING: 0px; FONT: 16px 'times new roman'; TEXT-TRANSFORM: none; COLOR: rgb(0,0,0); TEXT-INDENT: 0px; WHITE-SPACE: normal; LETTER-SPACING: normal; BORDER-COLLAPSE: separate"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 12px; FONT-FAMILY: Georgia; TEXT-ALIGN: left">
<h1 style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 0px; FONT-WEIGHT: normal; FONT-SIZE: 24px; PADDING-BOTTOM: 0px; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px; COLOR: black; PADDING-TOP: 0px">"In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars"</h1>
</span></span><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html" target="_blank">http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html</a><br>
<font size="+1"><font face="Comic Sans MS"><br>I wonder how this can work for bicycles and pedestrians, in regions <br>with winter ice and snow? <br><br>How can it work for seniors, who are not as agile as younger people, <br>
in a culture like our rural one, where public transportation is so <br>sparse, the exception rather than the rule? <br><br>How many would, and could, pay $40,000 for a space in a multi-story <br>parking structure at the edge of town, to keep their car?<br>
<br>Surely it would reduce Moscow's downtown parking "problem".<br><br>And reduce fossil fuel consumption as well.<br><br>I wonder if even my grandchildren will see this come to pass in<br>any significant way in the U.S.<br>
<br>MoscowSam<br><br><br><br></font></font></div><br>=======================================================<br> List services made available by First Step Internet,<br> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.<br>
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