Experimental "Smart Town" To Be Built In Japan

StormDriver writes "Basically, Fujisawa SST is envisioned as a bottom-up approach to energy efficiency — a green village built from scratch with modern green technologies rather than less-efficient older tech. Panasonic wants to use it as a template for other larger communities in Japan and elsewhere. If all goes as planned, Fujisawa SST will start receiving residents in March of 2014 and finish filling up its houses by 2018."

Some thoughts

[foniksonik]

How about local water treatment of waste water. Recycle it through a small hydro plant and then water the lawns.

How about organic waste being used to feed a methane generator.

How about a local grid that can recharge electric vehicles with excess power.

There are a great number of small efficiencies that can be created at the community/neighborhood level which are not feasible either for individual homes or for full cities.

Re:Some thoughts

[Mindcontrolled]

All great ideas, but from the sparse information in the article, I see the main problem in that this project is just a continuation of the suburbia paradigm. And that paradigm is wrong in any conceivable way. It's industrialized feedlot farming of middle class workers. Where are the shops in walkable distance? Where are the schools, the community centers, the local neighborhood pubs and restaurants? Where are the workplaces close to home? All I see are homes, homes, homes. As long as it depends on heavy commuting for every single activity out of your house, it is not remotely green, not even with public transport. Worse, it is a sleeping ghetto for the middle class. And that is wrong on so many social aspects.