CHIBA — There were gadgets and robots galore at Japan's premier electronics show last week. But one of the biggest attractions wasn't anything you could touch — an energy efficient city of the future.
For the first time, the Combined Exhibition of Advanced Technologies, better known as CEATEC, devoted one area of the show floor to selling a vision of urban life in 2020 and beyond.
The Japanese version of the so-called smart city exists in a world where fossil fuels have run out. Alternative sources like the sun, wind and nuclear power are harnessed in mass quantities. That power is distributed to buildings, homes and electric cars connected to each other through smart grids, which monitor usage throughout the network to maximize efficiency.