Nine Cities, Nine Green Ideas

The Wall Street Journal ran a nice piece on Monday looking at 9 cities around the world and steps they’ve taken to reduce energy consumption.

 Some of the highlights:

• Chicago’s efforts to plant rooftop gardens to cool municipal buildings.

• Amsterdam’s cool water air conditioning system.

• London’s “localized power” concept - moving energy generation closer to users.

  
• New York’s tidal generation - this is my personal favourite.

The only one on the list that didn’t make sense to me was Bejing.  Apparently, in an effort to both cut energy consumption and reduce pollution leading up to the Olympics, Bejing has been focusing on closing and moving a number of cement kilns, coal mines and chemical plants.  I think the key piece is the moving aspect.  I’m pretty sure it doesn’t count as reduction if you’re just shifting the plant to another area…but I’m not an scientist, nor am I Chinese.

This is why, this is why I’m dork

 

I’m probably the worst dork ever.  I’m not dorky enough to know all the Simpson’s or Star Trek episodes, but I’m enough of a dork to make women slightly uneasy in my presence.  Frankly, I like it.

My mid-level dorkiness explains why I was giddy as a schoolgirl when I found this.

More good municipal planning news from Minnesota

Last week I highlighted a nice affordable housing complex in Minnesota that went green here.  Now there is more good news from Minneapolis, according to the New York Times.

15 years ago the Phillips neighbourhood was similar to many inner-city urban areas: abandoned, derelict buildings abounded, drug traffic was rampant, and residents were fleeing. 

Now, through the work of the Hope Community, the area is in the middle of a major revitalization project.  The group has acquired homes in the area with the help of the city, rehabilitated 10 houses, and developed a 126 affordable housing units, a playground and a community centre.  Plans are in the works for two more projects, one a mixed-use building with 49 rental units and 6,000 sq feet of commercial space.

It appears that the Hope Community has taken a “whole-community” approach to their re-development in an effort to prepare for gentrification as it pushes up from the downtown core.  By creating a mix of affordable housing and mixed use properties Hope Community seeks to develop an area that can be revitalized without forcing out existing residents.

It IS easy being green

Two U.S. municipalities offer some great examples of the relatively small and affordable steps that can be taken to both find cost savings and significantly reduce environmental impacts.

As reported in Governing Magazine, Viking Terrace Apartments, a 60-unit affordable housing complex in Worthington, MN, has made a number green improvements that have reduced environmental impacts and lowered costs for both owners and tenants.  Improvements have include low-flow plumbing fixtures, carpets made from recycled materials, and geo-thermal heating and cooling systems.  To top it off, Viking residents have had their electricity bills cut by 1/3 and water bills drop, as well.

Meanwhile, on the west coast, Richland, WA has realized $150,000 in cost savings since replacing traditional incandesant traffic lights with LED lights in 2002.  City engineers also state that the LED traffic lights are cheaper and easier to maintain as they need less frequent replacement.  Check out the news report here (warning, local news!).

So, there you have it.  Two examples of some easy steps developers and municipalities can take.  If you have a minute, ask your Mayor why you don’t have LED lights yet or your apartment manager about getting low-flow toilets.  Hell, send them a link to this post!

Not your average college football player

USA Today is reporting on Duke football center Matt Rumsey’s research with the Cool Cities program, which looks at ways for cities to cut greenhouse gas emissions.  Working as through an internship with the Sierra Club, Rumsey spent 11 weeks researching and writing, as well as eventually convincing the city of Raleigh to sign on with the program.

View the article and get a link to the report here.

See, who says I’m all sarcasm and cynicism?