Moira Quinn takes a look at Charlotte, North Carolina, where businesses and local government have teamed up to keep office buildings green as the central business district grows.
Over the past two years, a handful of major players in Charlotte have been developing a program intended to "demonstrate its leadership as a sustainable, progressive, cost-efficient place to do business," Quinn writes. Formed by institutions in the public, private, academic, and nonprofit sectors, Envision Charlotte provides building owners with hard data on resource consumption to help steer their tenants toward greener habits.
The first model program within Envision Charlotte, dubbed Smart Energy Now, pools the resources of Verizon, Cisco, and Charlotte-based Duke Energy to monitor energy use in 70 buildings in the Uptown area. Each property owner will receive a report outlining building-specific energy use, and aggregated numbers will be released to the public.
"The information gained will have a profound impact on how a community, property owner, tenant, and individual will view and utilize electricity," said Michael Delev, property manager for a 25-story, Class A office tower located in Uptown.
Smart Energy Now includes commercial spaces as small as 10,000 square feet. "Individual building owners have the ability to make an impact in our community in a significant way," said property owner and businessman Dan Roselli. "Taking a building built in 1928 as a parking garage and turning it into a LEED building shows that every building has the potential to decrease its environmental footprint.
Model programs monitoring water usage, waste, and air quality are soon to come.
FULL STORY: Envision Charlotte
Is Charlotte Overselling Plan to Expand Transit?
Even if voters approve a new one-cent transit sales tax, will Charlotte be able to deliver on its promise of two new commuter rail lines and a new bus rapid transit line?
AI’s Thirst for Energy Threatens Electric Grids
The rapidly growing demand for electricity could lead to shortages and is already impacting where data centers are built.
How Salt Lake City Maintained a Vibrant Downtown
Unlike other major cities, the Utah capital’s downtown has seen a steady stream of visitors even as demand for office space diminishes.
Maui's Vacation Rental Debate Turns Ugly
Verbal attacks, misinformation campaigns and fistfights plague a high-stakes debate to convert thousands of vacation rentals into long-term housing.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
In Urban Planning, AI Prompting Could be the New Design Thinking
Creativity has long been key to great urban design. What if we see AI as our new creative partner?
Cal Fire Chatbot Fails to Answer Basic Questions
An AI chatbot designed to provide information about wildfires can’t answer questions about evacuation orders, among other problems.
What Happens if Trump Kills Section 8?
The Trump admin aims to slash federal rental aid by nearly half and shift distribution to states. Experts warn this could spike homelessness and destabilize communities nationwide.
Sean Duffy Targets Rainbow Crosswalks in Road Safety Efforts
Despite evidence that colorful crosswalks actually improve intersection safety — and the lack of almost any crosswalks at all on the nation’s most dangerous arterial roads — U.S. Transportation Secretary Duffy is calling on states to remove them.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Appalachian Highlands Housing Partners
Gallatin County Department of Planning & Community Development
Heyer Gruel & Associates PA
Mpact (founded as Rail~Volution)
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
City of Portland
City of Laramie