The green marketplace is the marketplace of the future. From Wal-Mart to Toyota to the neighborhood dry cleaner, it seems like every business is going out of its way to tell us how green they are. That could either be a great thing because these businesses are actually using environmentally-friendly practices, or it could be a bad thing because they're just claiming to be green. Regardless of whether it's one or the other, what's certain is that they say they're green because that's what we want to hear.
Solar Power
Building the Smart Grid Smartly
In the sixth of a ten-part series, National Public Radio investigates the sustainability of smart grid technology in the places where its likely to be applied.
National Public Radio
Vatican Reveals Solar Plant Plans
Vatican City has plans to build the largest solar plant in Europe, which will supply enough power for 40,000 households in a state of 900 inhabitants.
Bloomberg
The Planetizen News Brief - 4/23/09
4:25 minutes (4.05 MB)
Condos converting to affordable housing in New York, bankrupt developments converting to parks in Florida, and solar power heads to the Vatican, all on this week's Planetizen News Brief, airing weekly on the nationally-syndicated radio show "Smart City". Read, listen or download.
Vatican Embraces the Power of the Sun
The Vatican has announced plans to build Europe's largest solar plant to power the state.
Bloomberg
Solar City in the Works
Developers in Florida have announced plans to build a new 17,000 acre city that will run entirely on solar power.
The Miami Herald
California Desert A Hotbed for Alternative Energy
On the state's path towards drawing 20 percent of its energy from renewable sources by the end of 2010, California is focusing on its southern desert as the site of this alternative energy generation.
NPR
Massive Solar Plants Spur Ecological Debate in California
The ecological impact of solar power plants is fueling a huge debate in the small rural town of Carissa Plains in California's coastal San Luis Obispo County, where the world's largest solar plants are being planned.
Time
California Desert Contested in Alternative Energy Plans
California wants solar and wind power, but just where it goes is rife with controversy. Senator Dianne Feinstein is coming out against plans to build huge solar and wind farms in sensitive desert areas.
Los Angeles Times
City Financing is Spurring Solar Growth
Municipal financing gives homeowners the ability to install solar panels while defraying the large initial investment. The system is creating a solar boom throughout California.
The New York Times
The Sun Rises in Atlantic City
Atlantic City's convention center features the largest solar panel array in the United States.
CNN
A Major Step Toward An Ambitious Energy Goal
The City of Austin is set to take in a record amount of solar power to advance towards a goal of deriving 30% of local energy from renewable sources by 2020.
Austin American-Statesman
Can L.A. Go Solar?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has an ambitious plan to get L.A. to go solar. Still, without a proper financial analysis, skeptics find it too lofty to be true.
Los Angeles Times
Financing Solar Power
Berkeley, CA was one of the first cities to use special utility districts to fund the switch to solar power in their community. Now the man behind the plan is trying to make the financing system national.
East Bay Express
Solar Doesn't Have To Be Ugly
Architect Stephen A. Mouzon illustrates one way to create solar power without making your home ugly, which he says is imperative to the future of green energy.
The Original Green Blog
Balloons, The New Green Power
A start-up in Livermore, CA is generating buzz with its plan to generate power from thousands of aluminum-coated balloons.
Fortune
Building the 'Electranet'
Al Gore did in fact invent the 'electranet', or at least he coined the term to explain the necessity of a new smart grid to transmit electricity from new, green sources like wind and solar. GOOD Magazine reports on the state of the electranet.
GOOD Magazine
Rays of Hope
Solar energy initiatives are taking off all across the country, despite some reservations over the impacts of large-scale installations.
AlterNet
A Big Idea: Solar-Powered Cargo Ships
Toyota has hired two firms to build solar panels to augment the diesel engines on their car-carrying behemoths. The result will be a cut in CO2 emissions of 1 to 2 percent per year, or about 20 tons.
Wired
Concentrating Solar
Concentrating solar, or 'solar thermal', is an old technology getting an update as solar power spreads across the Southwest.
The Christian Science Monitor
Planetizen picks
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- Boomburb Growth Must Go Up, Not Out, To Retain Viability
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- The Robots Behind Interactive Architecture
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- Change the Built Environment, Make the World Better
- Broad Plan to Reshape San Francisco's Skyline
- The Totalitarianism of Le Corbusier
"Hoboken Daylighting" In Lieu Of Bump-Outs -- Ian Sacs
Learning from TTI -- Michael Lewyn
Automobility and Freedom: Conflicts and Resolutions -- Todd Litman
Somewhere Between Blight and Gentrification... -- Diana DeRubertis
The Future of American High Speed Rail: Regional and Slow -- Robert Goodspeed
Student Writing Competition - Deadline Extended!
APA Urban Design and Preservation Division
Nov 20, 2009
NEW NCI 2009 Best Practices Report
National Charrette Institute
Nov 19, 2009
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH) Request for Proposals
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (DPH)
Nov 19, 2009
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