Everybody knows that most, if not all, of downtown businesses' customers arrive by car. So it's intuitive to try to come up with a way to encourage drivers - who normally wouldn't venture downtown - to hop into their rides and cruise on down to Main Street to shop for wares. If we could do this, just think of all the new business we'd be stimulating! In continuing with this logic, it's also a given that it's impossible for would-be customers to actually get to downtown without the essential attaché to driving, gasoline. So, isn't it therefore intuitive to suggest that if cities were to give away a little bit of gas to each customer – you know, to kind-of thank them for their generosity - then customers would find an overwhelming incentiv
Energy
Buy a Burger, Generate Energy
A New Jersey Burger King will soon be a test site for motion energy-generation technology. Drive-thru patrons will depress panels, creating kinetic energy which can be turned into electricity.
autobloggreen.com
T. Boone Pickens Nixes Wind Farm
A central component of the Pickens' Plan for freedom from foreign oil was the creation of the world's largest wind farm in Texas. This week, T. Boone announced that he won't be building it after all.
The New York Times
The 15 Most Sustainable Cities
The NRDC reveals the most sustainable large, medium and small cities in the U.S., after an extensive evaluation based on air quality, energy production and conservation, environmental standards, recycling and many more criteria.
Smarter Cities
India Rejects Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions
An announcement by India that it won't reduce its carbon emissions is sure to capture the attention of climate treaty and energy legislation opponents in the Congress.
Bloomberg News
Are Light Bulbs Insignificant?
Some have grumbled at the Obama Administration's recently-announced standards for light bulbs. But changing industry standards for lighting would have no small effect, says Mark Muro of Brookings.
The New Republic
Misleading LEED Claims
This piece from Grist looks at the use and abuse of the sustainability buzzword "LEED".
Grist
Greening America's Roadways
Our nation's roads must be greener, says David Wenzel of HNTB. A green road is one that is designed, built and maintained in a manner that protects and enhances the environment, lessens the impact on its surroundings, and encourages mass transit.
Towns Transitioning To Peak Oil Future
The Transition Town movement has spread to 150 towns in 14 countries. David Bollier of On The Commons takes a look at how these towns are making the shift towards locally-produced food and reduction in energy use.
On The Commons
EPA OKs California's Plan to Regulate Emissions
The Environmental Protection Agency has reversed a decision by the Bush Administration that will allow California to create its own set of vehicle emissions standards.
Los Angeles Times
New Power Grid Would Slice Through Rural Areas
Expanding America's power grid to connect wind and solar power plants to the urban areas they fuel will require thousands of miles of transmission lines. Most of it will be built in rural areas where locals are not likely to be very welcoming.
The Daily Yonder
Part Time Lover - Is The Car Just An Affair?
Mon, 06/29/2009 - 07:16
America's so-called “love affair” with the automobile, although cliché, provides a vivid description of how attached we really are to driving. Public policy, and the historically overwhelming effect of auto industry lobbying, is only partly to blame for the endemic traffic jams and smog of the twentieth century. Bruce Schaller, a transportation consultant hired by New York City advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, recently demonstrated that urbanites with multiple transportation options still choose to commute by car for rational reasons of privacy, convenience, and speed. A chart of his, shown below, demonstrates how perplexing this choice is. Overcoming these reasons is a ser
Bicycle Use Surpasses Car Use in Amsterdam
According to the latest numbers out of Amsterdam, residents are for the first time using bicycles for transport more often than they use their cars.
The Oregonian
Rep. Blumenauer Touts Cap and Trade
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer expresses his support for the American Clean Energy and Security Act as the House of Representatives prepares for a vote.
The Huffington Post
Touring Midtown Megaprojects with Bob Yaro
Bob Yaro of the Regional Plan Association walks around Midtown Manhattan, reflecting on the effect megaprojects like the modern Penn Station and Javits Center have had on the city.
Urban Omnibus
Getting Solar Power Rolling
This profile from Miller-McCune looks at a Berkeley, California official who made use of a 100-year old funding mechanism to take the city solar.
Miller-McCune
Megaregions and Megaproblems
As America's metropolitan areas meld into "megaregions", officials and policymakers will need to figure out how to deal with their shared and growing infrastructure problems. Consider the ball rolling.
