Chevron is moving its New Orleans offices from downtown to a brand new, "eco-friendly" campus- opening up the discussion of whether new construction is ever greener than staying put.
"When Chevron moved across the lake last month, it vacated a 21-story office tower in downtown New Orleans that it spent a million dollars renovating after Hurricane Katrina. For all the sustainable flourishes of the new campus -- the walking paths, the reflective roof, the energy-efficient glass -- the company overlooked perhaps the greenest option of all when it decided not to adapt the building it already had.
"The greenest building is the one that's already built," said Patrice Frey, director of sustainability research for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. "There's a tremendous impact to the environment whenever you construct something new."
Buildings are suffused with what architects call embodied energy -- the fossil fuels consumed to harvest lumber, manufacture concrete, and assemble such materials into a finished product. The National Trust estimates that constructing a new 50,000-square-foot commercial building releases the same amount of carbon into the atmosphere as driving a car 2.8 million miles. Chevron's is six times that size.
It's a concept of special relevance in New Orleans, where public and private institutions have used Katrina as an opportunity to retire old but functional buildings and replace them with contemporary models better suited to the demands of the modern workplace. Charity Hospital, some public schools and the state offices near Duncan Plaza all face the prospect of disuse, or even demolition."

Rethinking Redlining
For decades we have blamed 100-year-old maps for the patterns of spatial racial inequity that persist in American cities today. An esteemed researcher says: we’ve got it all wrong.

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Walmart Announces Nationwide EV Charging Network
The company plans to install electric car chargers at most of its stores by 2030.

New State Study Suggests Homelessness Far Undercounted in New Mexico
An analysis of hospital visit records provided a more accurate count than the annual point-in-time count used by most agencies.

Michigan Bills Would Stiffen Penalties for Deadly Crashes
Proposed state legislation would close a ‘legal gap’ that lets drivers who kill get away with few repercussions.

Report: Bus Ridership Back to 86 Percent of Pre-Covid Levels
Transit ridership around the country was up by 85 percent in all modes in 2024.
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