Energy
In the next few months, the Dutch capital will make numerous changes to make its infrastructure greener. With the help of private companies like Cisco and IBM, Amsterdam is closer to becoming a "smart city" than any other in Europe.
BusinessWeek
Fifty years ago, Kenneth E. Norwood placed a time capsule and his predictions for Burbank, CA in a newly constructed bridge. According to the planner, monorails and "multi-unit garden apartments" were the waves of the future.
Los Angeles Times Blog
Good green jobs are on the way - just not right away due to recession. Stimulus funds - not just from U.S. but many nations are investing in their economies by targeting renewable energy, smart electricity grids, energy efficiency, and more.
Financial Times - Business & The Environment
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
$147 per barrel oil prices set off a frenzy of new domestic oil drilling that has all but ceased with $46 per barrel. The drop in natural gas drilling has been even more pronounced. When demand returns, domestic oil and gas supplies will likely not.
The New York Times - Business
$16.8 billion of Pres. Obama's stimulus package is allocated to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Steve Coll of the New Yorker explains where the funding is going, and what it means.
The New Yorker
The idea of sustainability is growing up, and as concerns about the environment take hold in cities from the bottom up, some are calling for a more sophisticated approach to "green" city development, write Anthony Flint and William Shutkin.
Citiwire
CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage) is an abbreviation that may become more common if the coal industry has its way. But The Economist argues that carbon taxes are a better way to improve the environment than investing in CCS technology.
Minneapolis Star-Tribune
Fast Company blogger Michael Cannell says the economic crisis stands to make big winners out of the new urbanists.
Fast Company
Treehugger recently heralded fuel-producing algae the hottest green technology going. GOOD Magazine takes a clear-eyed look at the promise and the pitfalls.
GOOD Magazine
CA's Air Resources Board has issued a new regulation to reduce carbon from fuels - and the ethanol industry isn't happy.
Los Angeles Times
The stimulus package promises to create new green jobs, but are they really the economic solution they're cracked up to be? This piece from <em>Slate</em> questions the common perception.
Slate
The Texas Legislature is considering a bill that mirrors efforts in cities across the state and nation to reduce the use of plastic bags or charge for their use.
Dallas Morning News
A study released last week by NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, concluded that green standards were not financially feasible for Class A office buildings. Not so, experts say.
CoStar Group News
Atlantic City's convention center features the largest solar panel array in the United States.
CNN
This piece from <em>Construction Week</em> looks at the environmentally-conscious Xeritown proposed in Dubai and the methods it will take to conserve and create energy.
Construction Week
A new study shows that green buildings are far more expensive than they are made out to be, and that it may take longer than advertised for energy savings to cancel out costs.
The New York Times
New projects in North Carolina and Ontario take an old idea of district heating to new levels using solar.
The Wall St. Journal
The Buckminster Fuller Institute has announced the 33 finalists in its Buckminster Fuller Challenge. All contest entries are featured on their website, ranging from an 'Urban Space Station' to an idea for 'making energy from dirt'.
The Buckminster Fuller Institute
A mapping project has laid out a blueprint for the location of new green energy sites in British Columbia. Officials are hoping it will help guide the province towards more sustainable growth, but others worry it will encourage sprawl.
The Tyee
