Urbanizing India And China Look To Build Green

"While quite a bit of attention has been focused on the two countries' advances in renewable generation and transportation, such as Delhi's impressive, if belated, switch to buses and taxis that run on compressed national gas (CNG), a less-noticed shift is also taking place in how the two nations create new buildings and communities. Given that buildings typically account for up to 40 percent of total energy consumption, India and China's great leap to the head of the growing green building movement will have profound implications for the global geo-politics of energy."

By 2030, China plans to re-urbanize 400 million of the people pushed out to the rural countryside during the Cultural Revolution. Part of this plans involves reducing the amount of energy it takes to run a large city, and green building is a major part of that effort.

"Officials from the China-U.S. Center for Sustainable Development have recruited the visionary American architect and green guru, William McDonough to help them create six model cities. In the model city of Huangbaiyu, McDonough takes his design cues from the local landscape by constructing low, earth-bermed buildings with roof gardens and streets oriented at a 15-degree angle to break up chilly winter winds and circulate urban air. Every building will be mixed use and each will be oriented to capture the maximum amount of solar energy."