Japan’s future city
Panasonic have announced the building of a “smart city” near Tokyo which aims at a 70 per cent CO2 cut from the average modern city.
Panasonic, Accenture and seven other companies are planning on building a sustainable “smart town” which will be “environmentally minded” and will house approximately 400,000 residents.
The project named “Fujisawa Sustainable Smart Town,” (Fujisawa SST) will be built on a former vacant lot of a Panasonic factory. It is meant to be a “town within a town”, and will effectively serve as a living model for sustainable living and green technology.
Located 50km west of Tokyo in the coastal city of Fugisawa, the town will incorporate 1000 homes into one energy system connected to a smart grid which should reduce carbon footprint by 70 per cent in contrast to a average towns of that size.
The town will demonstrate energy efficiency using measures such as solar power, wind power generation and battery storage systems.
Green technologies will span from LED lights, reduced water toilets, and ultra-thin vacuum insulation panels, smart irrigation and solar panels covering the roof tops.
Electric transportation will be activated by the town’s energy sources and a screen in the town’s square will display “real time energy status”.
Panasonic said it will accomplish this plan by “combining its energy saving technologies in energy creation, storage and management with a safe and secure environment.”
The project is estimated to cost $740m and be suitable for living in as early as 2014, even though some officials say it will probably be inhabitable by 2018 to coincide with Panasonic’s 100th centennial.
Panasonic and the other companies said they are investing in this project as they believe requests for sustainable towns will grow in the coming years.
The project has received a major public relations boost from the Japanese government endorsement. This comes with the Japanese campaign to find sustainable and safe alternative energy solutions are stronger than ever.
A report by Pyke Research, a group dealing with sustainable development, said: “There are immense opportunities for companies that can provide an integrated approach to diverse challenges facing cities and other communities as they struggle to balance the need for economic vitality with a concern for sustainable growth.”
The aims of the various companies range from developing new kinds of infrastructure such as land readjustment to introduce new "Ene-Farm" household fuel cell systems.
In a statement, companies said they would apply "comprehensive solutions for the entire house, entire building and the entire town."
Panasonic said it intends to replicate the Fujisawa SST project as “a business model in other parts of Japan and overseas.”
Image: richardmasoner | Flickr