What is a Green City?
Currently, cities consume around 78% of the world's energy and they contribute to around 60% of all greenhouse gas emissions. If we keep going down this path using fossil fuels for energy, then eventually it will be too late for a change. This is where Green/Eco cities come into play. A green city can be used as another name for a sustainable city. These cities prioritize green energy and the reduction of pollution and waste. A green city looks to preserve the natural world while also providing economic, social and all of the other benefits that arise with cities! These green cities are designed to create a much healthier environment for the citizens and the earth.
What are Some Ways a City can be More Green?
To start, implementing bike lanes and making the city much easier to travel either on foot or with a bike is an amazing and almost necessary way to reduce emissions. Copenhagen, Denmark is a city that has showcased how effective bike lanes can be. There would also be a lot more open and natural spaces including parks and other common areas where they provide a natural environment in an urban setting. These parks would also include more trees further helping reduce carbon emissions. Finally, using more clean energy sources such as solar panels or wind turbines can be an amazing alternative to fossil fuels.
What is E-Waste?
With the constant rise of all new technologies, the question arises of where does all of our old technology go once it stops working or we throw them away? Well unfortunately they end up in huge landfills where they are burned. In 2022 62 million tons of e-waste was generated. With America, the majority of our e-waste ends up in other countries including China, Taiwan, Pakistan, Mexico, and more.
When some technology is burned they end up releasing toxic chemicals and metals into the air, increasing the chance of cancer or some other illness when inhaled. So, with no current solution to this major issue, how can green cities help reduce this problem?
Can Green Cities Help Reduce the Rising E-Waste Problem?
So, now that the definition of e-waste is established, where do green cities come into play? How can green cities help reduce this massive problem? Now the first and easiest solution that everybody can do, is to recycle their e-waste. A good majority of e-waste that ends up in landfills can actually be recycled. In these green cities, there can be recycle sites set up throughout the city where instead of throwing away your own technology, you turn it into these sites where the technology can be properly recycled. This one small step could be a major one in terms of reducing the amount of e-waste and pollution.
Tracking the e-waste can be another solution. Using IoT-enabled systems, e-waste can be tracked and observe all the technology being thrown away. IoT-enabled systems stands for Internet of Things - enabled systems. These systems use sensors and any other software that can track and transmit data. So these systems are so perfect in tracking e-waste to make sure that all of it is categorized correctly and recycled. This observation can be used to create a much more efficient and organized system for e-waste management. Simply implementing these recycling sites could greatly reduce the amount of e-waste generated.
How else can Carbon Emissions be Lowered?
Now that we know green cities can help contribute to lowering e-waste and that they use much cleaner energy, how else can eco-cities reduce pollution?
Carbon emissions are a massive contributor to pollution and greenhouse gasses on our planet. The use of fossil fuels and driving gas-powered vehicles contribute 75% of all greenhouse gasses on our planet and 90% of carbon emissions. With these two huge percentages, you would think that this issue is unavoidable and unchangeable. Fortunately, there is a pretty simple solution and one that we are heading towards.
Moving on from gas-powered vehicles and transitioning to electric powered vehicles is a major change but one that we are preparing for. Electric cars have zero emissions and would be a necessary step if we want to help decrease emissions. Gas-powered cars generate around 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, which could be down 60% if we switched to electric cars. California has even mandated that by 2035 all new vehicles will be electric powered and zero emissions. This proves that we are already moving into the right direction.
How else can Green Cities Reduce Pollution?
In order to fully go green, cities must be willing to be eco-friendly. A study has shown that being a more green city (which includes more nature based solutions, more vegetation, cleaner energy sources) would reduce all carbon emissions by 17.4%.
Cleaner energy sources replacing fossil fuels is something that all green cities have started to tackle. Shifting our sources of energy to wind turbines and solar panels can actually generate more power for us all while still being clean. Using cleaner energy in green cities can also create more job opportunities further increasing the economic reasoning for switching to green energy. It is expected that there will be over 10 million new jobs created by 2030 when we transition to green energy.
Citations:
- https://onekeyresources.milwaukeetool.com/en/green-city
- https://www.greencitytimes.com/e-waste-in-smart-cities/
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/america-e-waste-gps-tracker-tells-all-earthfix
- https://www.climate-kic.org/innovation-spotlight/africa-climaccelerator-start-up-spotlight-green-cities/
- https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/science/causes-effects-climate-change#:~:text=Fossil%20fuels%20%E2%80%93%20coal%2C%20oil%20and,they%20trap%20the%20sun's%20heat.
- https://www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2023/09/green-infrastructure-can-set-off-virtuous-cycle-of-climate-action/
- https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2024/outlook-for-emissions-reductions
- https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/raising-ambition/renewable-energy#:~:text=Renewable%20energy%20is%20healthier&text=The%20unhealthy%20levels%20of%20fine,the%20burning%20of%20fossil%20fuels.
- https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/03/the-clean-energy-employment-shift-by-2030/
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Created with images by H stock - "Cityscape intelligent building ,hold smart phone for build and make your green city." • trongnguyen - "Aerial view downtown Houston illuminated at twilight with green city park and modern skylines light. The most populous city in Texas, fourth-most in United States. Architecture and travel background." • fieldofvision - "a pile of plastic technology waste and used broken office equipment heaped in a rubbish bin being taken for disposal" • Antony Weerut - "Reduce, reuse and recycle symbols on wood blocks as environmental conservation concept, Zero waste, ecology, sustainability, conscious consumerism, renew, concept." • Yeongsik Im - "Charging electric vehicle in parking lot" • Leonid - "Power plant, smoke from the chimney. Air pollution environmental contamination, ecological disaster earth planet problems concept"