Here's your chance not just to be the mayor, but the original city planner as well! Imagine a medium sized city that would be developed with modern, low carbon transportation in mind, and other strategies to reduce the average citizens' carbon footprints.
What would that city look like? Would that make you more likely to want to live there?
Sustainable City >
Sustainable City
If I were to build a medium sized city, I would have to take the carbon footprint into consideration. I would make it mandatory for buildings to have solar panels that produce at least 20% of the total energy of the buildings. The other 80% of energy would be produced through wind mills. Utility scale wind turbines cost approximately 2 million dollars. Just in case the wind conditions are poor, the city will have a couple of nuclear power plants near by. The housing units and schools will have greenhouses to produce food and plants to take in CO2. My city would have many bike paths. The few roads in the city would be lined with many trees to take in the CO2. In further efforts to lower the CO2 level, my city will have a ban on gas cars. That way, the only cars will be electric. This will cut down on the CO2 level even more. As for public transportation, we will have electric busses. These busses are expensive, the Proterra costs $750,000. Many cities are hesitant to invest in these busses, because they do not want to be the first ones to take the risk of electric busses. Although they are not common, I would be willing to invest in the electric busses to that my city could have clean air. The center of the city would have a large pond. This pond would take in CO2 and provide fish for the citizens. Having a large pond would allow citizens to fish for food. This would help to assure the consumption of local food. The outer parts of the city would have a few farms. The farms would provide the bulk of the food for the city. As for clothing, we would have shops that have sheep. The sheep wool would be woven into clothing and naturally dyed. I would like to live in this city because I would feel like I would be doing my part in taking care of the Earth. If the city is successful in being sustainable, I would like to reach out to near by cities and try to help them to innovate to be more environmentally friendly.
I like how you would make it mandatory for buildings to have solar panels. It keeps the air cleaner which will help the environment. You have such a thought out plan for your city, and I would live in that city to help the environment.