Nate Berg examines the nexus between water use and energy use, and the need to bring this frequently overlooked connection to the attention of planners and designers.
In an effort to shed light on the inexorable link between water and energy, Berg points to the high use of energy in transporting water and the high use of water in creating energy. For example, In 2005, "the California Energy Commission found that water-related energy use accounts for 19 percent of the state's energy use."
This concern was the main focus of a conference hosted by the Arid Lands Institute last week, which laid the groundwork for emerging designs and ideas on smart water uses. The design fields are just beginning to develop processes to help integrate these resources, which has traditionally been the purview of engineers.
Hadley Arnold, co-director of the Arid Lands Institute affirms that the resources of water and energy cannot be separated. "When you sit down to come up with your general plan or your sustainability plan or your climate action plan, if you're not looking at water goals, energy goals and climate goals as all aligning, you're missing an opportunity,"
Read the full story: Why Energy Use Is Really Water Use
Santa Monica Designs Greenest Municipal Building in the World
Amber Richane, Project Manager for the city of Santa Monica's new City Services Building, on the city's commitment to building the world's most sustainable public building.
Architecture Projects with a Regional Mindframe
An increasing amount of architecture projects in the U.S. are taking regional concerns like water and energy production into consideration.
California’s ‘unrecognizable’ water plan may go down the drain
After four years of regulatory processes, water agencies say the plan to overhaul how cities and farms take water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta has changed dramatically.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Los Angeles just elected an urban planner as its mayor
Transportation analysts are optimistic that Raman will be more aggressive in addressing transit issues than Bass.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority