Finland planning large eco-city near Chinese capital
City would be picture window for Finnish environmental technology
By Jyrki Alkio
Finland wants to build the world’s most ecologically progressive city in China.
This eco-city would operate as a picture window for Finnish environmental know-how, and hopefully, help open doors on China’s huge market to Finnish companies.
These visions were put forward on Thursday by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT), which responded positively to a proposal by Professor Eero Paloheimo.
Paloheimo is a former MP of the Green League, who put forward a utopian vision of an ecologically efficient and environmentally friendly community ten years ago.
The idea got a positive response from China about a year and a half ago when the work was translated into Chinese.
An ideal eco-city would offer a home to 20,000 people. Most of the food would be grown in the city, energy would be produced using non-polluting means, and water would be recycled through sewage treatment.
In the vision drawn up by Paloheimo there would not have been any private cars: moving around in the city would take place using computer-guided taxis with no drivers.
Finns marketing environmental know-how are confident that there will be interest in China in experiments of the type.
Chinese officials have chosen Gegu, a city of 50,000 inhabitants near Beijing, as the location of the first experiment. The city may not be exactly the ecological utopia visioned by Paloheimo. The officials have decided to tear down most of the city, which is 800 years old, and start from scratch.
The basic town plan for the reconstruction has been drawn up, and competitive bids for the construction of the various phases are to be issued.
Currently bids are being taken for detailed planning of the area. "We have a strong belief that we will be allowed to deal with the planning", says Pasi Makkonen, head of customer service at VTT.
Finnish environmental know-how is in good standing around the world, which helps in efforts at exports, says Kari Larjava, head of technology at VTT. Larjava says that there are about 300 companies specialising in environmental technology in Finland, and exports in the field are worth about EUR two billion.
China has said that it will spend EUR 100 billion on environmental protection in the next five years. Larjava describes the opportunities offered by technology exports. Finnish companies can sell water and waste management technology to China, as well as dispersed energy production, and energy-efficient construction solutions.
As a result of rapid economic growth, the state of the environment in China has weakened significantly. Of the 30 most polluted cities in the world, 20 are in China, and the country is also the world’s second largest producer of greenhouse gases.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry initiated a two-year export project last summer aimed at exporting Finnish environmental know-how to China. In addition to the eco-city project, Finns are involved in the construction of an energy-efficient 15-story building in Dalian, in the north of China.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 2.2.2007
JYRKI ALKIO / Helsingin Sanomat
jyrki.alkio@hs.fi
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| 6.2.2007 - THIS WEEK |
 Finland planning large eco-city near Chinese capital
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