With two new wind turbine installations at the tops of buildings in New York and dozens more in the pipeline, will turbines be as ubiquitous as water towers on the New York skyline?
"In an industry, a city and a society obsessed with being green, wind turbines remain scarce — only two apartment buildings in New York City harvest the skies for energy, with limited yields," reports Matt Chaban. "But in the past few weeks, two new installations have popped up, the one on Pearson Street and another atop what is now Brooklyn’s tallest building, 388 Bridge Street. At least half a dozen more are on the horizon."
The article details the market for the turbines, the city's history of turbines (all the way back to 1626), and the complicated system of New York winds determine their installation and operation.
A fairly large (and familiar) piece of the puzzle has yet to be resolved before the mass-adoption of turbine technology as a green building best practice, however, which is how helpful the turbines actually are. "'A tiny windmill on a big building is just silly — it might as well be a pinwheel,' said Russell Unger, executive director of the Urban Green Council. 'It’s a lovely idea, if people want to pay for it and test it out, but as far as return on investment goes, it’s a waste compared to more insulation and efficient building systems.'"
FULL STORY: Turbines Popping Up on New York Roofs, Along With Questions of Efficiency

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

San Francisco Suspends Traffic Calming Amidst Record Deaths
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Half of Post-Fire Altadena Home Sales Were to Corporations
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Opinion: What San Francisco’s Proposed ‘Family Zoning’ Could Really Mean
Mayor Lurie is using ‘family zoning’ to encourage denser development and upzoning — but could the concept actually foster community and more human-scale public spaces?

Jacksonville Launches First Autonomous Transit Shuttle in US
A fleet of 14 fully autonomous vehicles will serve a 3.5-mile downtown Jacksonville route with 12 stops.
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