The world's first city to run solely on clean energy
Two Norwegian architectural firms, Haptic and Nordic, have just announced the construction plan for Oslo Airport City (OAC), located right next to Oslo airport and the first city in the world to use entirely clean energy.
“This is a unique opportunity to design a new city from the ground up,” said Tomas Stokke, director of Haptic.
According to the design, OAC will be located on a 260-acre (equivalent to 104 hectares) land with a construction floor area of nearly 1 million m2.2, becoming home to 35,000 people and possessing the characteristics of a sustainable urban area.
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The city will have a lot of walking space so that residents and tourists have more options when traveling, without necessarily having to use motorized vehicles.
- The OAC is completely car-free, an option that can only be made possible by creating lots of pedestrian space. The city will deploy a range of green technologies, including self-driving cars, automated lighting, and smart waste management systems.
- OAC will only use renewable energy produced by the city itself to help cut down on fossil fuel consumption, along with transportation costs.
- The city will sell excess energy to other locations. It can also be used to de-ice planes in cold weather, cutting down on fuel use at the airport. Only electric vehicles will be allowed inside the OAC.
- The city will feature a friendly, accessible public transport system, including dedicated bike lanes, and a range of outdoor, electricity-free activities.
- While the choice of location for a sustainable city may seem random, it actually fits the plan for a near-utopia. It is estimated that the number of employees working at Oslo Airport will double by 2050, so OAC could become a perfect place to house employees and their families, in addition to the millions of transit passengers.
According to Mr. Thor Thoeneie, executive director of the OAC project: “We have complete confidence in the future of the city, it is just a matter of time.”
Construction is expected to begin in 2019, with the city completed in 2022. This may sound ambitious, and the timeline is subject to change. However, given Norway’s commitment to sustainability, it is not so far-fetched and could soon become a reality.
