A Green Design of "ECO TOWN" In The Future

Hello everyone. It's really nice to hear form you guys here. Last time we talked about the recovery plan implemented by solar power in Japan. There are still lots of controversy of its applicability and performance . I will keep posted if I get any new information related to their policies and actions. To be continued, let's share an interesting idea of green design of ECO TOWN. :)


Get back to the recovery plan that Miyagi prefecture proposed, it aimed to build an eco town in which all the houses would be equipped with solar panels and batteries are connected by the "SMART GRID". Its sounds very fascinating. However, how would this smart grid work? Let's take a look of the design diagram shown below:

In fact, the expected change in Japanese energy portfolio with more renewable energy will require adoption of smart grids to balance the electricity supply and demand. Japan was not the top runner in terms of smart grid introduction, but after the Great East Japan Disaster, analysts foresee acceleration of the introduction.  On the other hand, most of experimental smart meter installations have been done by electric power companies that have little investing power now and this may delay the smart meter diffusion.


With the advantages that smart grids and smart meter bring, we can ideally crate a eco town to use electricity more efficiently and self-generate electricity power by renewable energies like solar panel and wind power. Let's take a look of this pic of house design:

As you can see, the house will be installed solar panels on the rooftop and wind power device around the backyard. Ideally, based on the power-generating idea, the smart grid in pylon could calculate the electricity surplus that a house has now and store them for other households use. That is, during the daytime, people usually go to work or school and may not consume electricity that much. Hence, the smart grid could store the power that those solar panels or wind power generate and use it at nighttime when people are at home. This concept unveils the sharing power idea to every green house.


Let's imagine if every house in eco town could be a small power station for self use or even offering others. It definitely will improve the energy conservation significantly. However, the concern of what the cost would be is still challengeable. Personally, I think this idea is interesting and fascinating but we have to think about the cost and space that a green house needs. It it able to be spread out in developing countries? If any of you have insights about this eco town, please share your opinions with us. I appreciate your reading and sharing. See you next time!


Xavier (Chi-Tsung Lin) 




Graphic Resource: Texas Instruments