If the people of Venlo have their way, new buildings in this busy nexus of the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium will generate more energy than they use.

This ambitious target has been gaining momentum in the province of Limburg, southern Netherlands, since the airing of a television documentary about the revolutionary concept of "cradle-to-cradle" living that produces zero garbage and zero pollution yet allows maximum economic activity.

The idea would to be have things up and running by the time the once-a-decade mammoth flower show - Floriade - starts drawing world tourists to the region in 2012.

In fact, the horticulture industry and Floriade are lynchpins in the recycling concept of the Planet Prosperity Foundation, the group launching the project. A meeting in early November 2007 drew 650 producers, entrepreneurs, environmentalists and local politicians to discuss the way forward.

World governments headed to Bali, Indonesia, in December last year to discuss what happens after the two-year-old Kyoto Protocol on climate change - imposing mandatory cuts on industrial nations' emissions - expires in 2012, projects like this one are sure to attract attention.

Carbon dioxide is key to the Venlo concept. Plans call for trucks to collect carbon dioxide emissions in on-board storage tanks and deliver the gas to hot houses, where bacteria and algae will turn the CO2 into fuel. There's no shortage of carbon dioxide in the region, with five highways headed to Germany alone from Venlo, a major transport hub on Europe's InterCity train line.

New industrial parks are to make wide use of ecological roofs of moss and solar panels. The Floriade will be powered by solar and biofuels, and materials used in construction will be biodegradable or reusable.

The region was inspired by the 2006 Dutch public television documentary "Afval = Voedsel," or Garbage equals Food, which spotlighted the work of the dynamic German-American eco team, Michael Braungart and William McDonough.

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