The growth in hybrid car sales is a welcome sign that a major change in the automobile industry is afoot. The shift to transport infrastructure that is not based on the archaic complexity of an internal combustion engine, with its hundreds of moving parts and compressed fuel explosions, has been long put off by an automobile industry, happy with status quo, partnered with oil cartels with the power to price their product as if it were in endless supply. But with smack-in-the-face-reality fuel prices last summer, the collapse of the so-called “Big Three” over the winter, and the simultaneous heralding assertion of alternative energy technologies (Daimler AG bought a 10% stake in Tesla Motors last month!), the fallout of western economic near-collapse has changed everything we’ve known to be sacrosanct; Leonard Lopate even waxed nostalgic about the “Death of the Car Song” yesterday on National Public Radio’s local station, WNYC.
Energy
New Report: Use Cap & Trade Revenue To Invest In Smart Growth
Cap and trade is the topic du jour in climate change circles. A new report from CCAP makes the economic case for using those revenues to promote smart growth that reduces transportation emissions though VMT reductions.
Center for Clean Air Policy Press Release
Closing the Loop on Energy Use
Architect Michael Palwyn is designing sustainable architecture that combines solar power and seawater into an ultra-efficient loop of resource conservation.
GOOD Magazine
Parkour Enthusiasts Rediscover The American City
While urbanists have long used the built environment as their playground, the French sport of parkour is connecting residents of America's cities to their surroundings in a new, if not extreme manner.
Philadelphia Inquirer
Renewable Energy System is on the Way
President Obama plans to spend billions on building an interstate highway-style system for energy.
Discover Magazine
Fewer Cars for Better Cities
Cities are warming up to the idea that planning for the future means more car sharing programs and fewer parking spaces.
The New York Times
Turning Homes Into Self-Sustaining Energy Producers
Emilio Ramirez proposed a single family power plant in Metropolis’s 2009 Next Generation competition.
Metropolis Magazine
Energy Plan Might Stifle Growth, Say Governors
During an energy conference sponsored by the Southern Growth Policies Board, a number of governors said that taxes on energy production might drive up the cost of gas, which will could an impact on the whole industry.
The Miami Herald
Designers Should Lead to Fight Emissions
WorldChanging argues that more leadership from architects, landscape architects and planners is needed in a review of progress on Ed Mazria's 2030 Challenge, which calls for all buildings to be carbon neutral by 2030.
THE DIRT
Smart Grid for a Smart City
Amsterdam has taken its smart grid live, installing solar panels and 300 electric car recharging stations throughout the city.
Business Week
Community Energy Planning and the Stimulus -- Take a Time Out!
Stimulus money is available for a variety of energy efficiency projects, but many understaffed cities are having trouble meeting the impending deadlines. Jessica Millman, Joe Schilling, and Kathryn McCarty have found a loophole that can help.
Forget Cars: Houses Are The Real Problem
The act of running and building our homes is responsible for almost half of the U.S.'s carbon footprint. GOOD Magazine asks, so why are we so obsessed with making cars sustainable instead of homes?
GOOD Magazine
Roadmap for a Sustainable Car Industry
John DeCicco, senior fellow for automotive strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund, and author of the Green Book--a rating system for the environmental impact of cars--talks about the regulatory reforms necessary for the car industry.
VerdeXchange News
President Obama's Aiming for U.S.-China Deal
The Obama administration is making a U.S.-China deal on climate change a centerpiece, according to The Guardian (UK).
THE DIRT
Making Brownfield Sunny
A manufacturer of solar systems has planned to develop the country's largest urban solar power plant at a brownfield in Chicago.
The Architect's Newspaper
Moving A City
This piece from Wired looks at the Swedish mining town of Kiruna that is literally picking itself up and moving.
Wired
Zoning for Turbines
The city of Cumberland, Maryland is prepping a new zoning text amendment to regulate wind turbines, primarily to create height restrictions on turbines over 150 ft. in height.
Cumberland Times
Mad Tea Party At Our Airports
Mon, 06/01/2009 - 07:41
On my coveted “Bane of Americana” list just behind my cell phone company's automated customer support option to “Press '3' To Stay On Hold” (not kidding!), is the so-called “Passenger Pick-Up System” at airport terminals. Instead of realizing a purported orderly and safe system, by forcing cars to circuit the entire loop road in an attempt to perfectly intercept with arriving passengers, airports are perpetuating a half-brained scheme reminiscent of Disney World's Mad Tea Party ride.
It's Always Six O'Clock At Terminal Eight!
Scramble for the LEED
As the U.S. Green Building Council prepares to give its LEED-AP certification standards a major overhaul, test takers are scrambling to take the exam before it becomes a whole new ballgame.
The Architect's Newspaper
LaHood To Learn From Spain On HSR
Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood is visiting Spain, hoping to glean some knowledge from the country's recent successes with high-speed rail.
The New York Time - Energy & Environment
