Creating a 'Carbon-Positive' City

13 August 2009 - 4:00am

Mayor Yu Qun has transformed the city of Baoding, China into what some are calling the world's first "carbon-positive" city -- mainly by shifting away from polluting industries to the renewable energy industry.

"In three years, Yu has transformed Baoding from an automobile and textile town into the fastest-growing hub of solar, wind, and biomass energy-equipmentmakers in China. Baoding now has the highest growth rate of any city in Hebei Province. Its “Electricity Valley” industrial cluster – consciously modeled on Silicon Valley – has quadrupled its business."

The carbon saved by the product produced in the city outweigh its carbon emissions, making it a "carbon-positive" city.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor, August 10, 2009
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Even if the report overestimates the costs by a factor of two and underestimates the tax-benefit by a similar amount, the conclusion would be pretty much the same: destination resorts cost local government and taxpayers money.