Locavolts or Super Grids? Where to Source Clean Energy?
Saturday, March 7th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffShould clean energy be distributed energy made locally and connected to a smart grid, or should it be gathered from the windiest and sunniest places on the planet and shipped to us in giant new super ...
Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, Smart Grids
Thursday, March 5th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThis week's cartoon describes smart grids (BRT) – systems for transmitting energy that use two-way sensors to detect and respond to changing power supplies and demands in real time. Smart grids have the capacity to transfer ...
Community as Technology
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffBy Andrew Outhwaite With new options for collaboration, telecommunications and social networking coming online at a furious pace, it's worth pondering how society will continue to change as a result. Having the tools in place is, of ...
Community as Technology
Wednesday, March 4th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffBy Andrew Outhwaite With new options for collaboration, telecommunications and social networking coming online at a furious pace, it's worth pondering how society will continue to change as a result. Having the tools in place is, of ...
Designing a Zero-Waste City: A Visit to the San Francisco Dump
Tuesday, March 3rd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWith Julia Levitt On February 20, I had the opportunity to tour the San Francisco city dump, a facility run by Norcal Waste Systems. The tour was part of Compostmodern 09, a conference sponsored by AIGA, ...
Project Get Ready Aims to Create Electric Vehicle Revolution
Friday, February 27th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffCreating a well functioning smart grid – cyclically connected to smart vehicles and buildings and houses, as well as personal and public renewable energy systems – will be no small infrastructure feat. Utility providers, technology ...
Island Economies in a Globalized World
Friday, February 27th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffIn Swedish, the word for "island" is a single letter, itself a small island: ö. When one comes upon it in reading, this little "o" with two dots over it appears suddenly and alone in ...
Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, High Voltage Direct Current
Friday, February 27th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThis week's cartoon describes high voltage direct current (HVDC), an efficient alternative method for transmitting bulk power. Many people are hopeful that this technology will allow use of renewable energy sources to grow, because it can ...
Turning Shipping Containers Into Customizable, Affordable Housing
Thursday, February 26th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWe recently started following the development of a cool new project taking root at Clemson University in South Carolina. Architecture faculty Martha Skinner and Doug Hecker and Landscape Architecture faculty Pernille Christensen are working with their ...
War Stories, Cultural Bridge-Building and Sustainability
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffField Notes of an Accidental Eco-Tourist, Part 4: Holiday Reading I will say this, right off the top, for the Houston airport: it has excellent shopping. Houston was my transit point en route to Costa Rica ...
Philadelphia’s New Green Future: A Guide to Surviving and Thriving
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffBy Paul Glover The Dark Season closes around Philadelphia. Wolves howl, "Tough times coming!" Young professionals with good jobs study budget cuts, watch stocks flail. Career bureaucrats are laid off; college students wonder who's hiring. Old-timers remember ...
Compostmodern ‘09
Monday, February 23rd, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWith reporting by Adele Peters This past weekend in San Francisco was Compostmodern, the green design conference we've mentioned many times before (Alex Steffen keynoted last year's event). Despite being thrown by the AIGA, it feels ...
Sonoma Mountain Village: Is Green Suburbia Possible?
Thursday, February 19th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffIs green suburbia possible? Forty miles north of San Francisco, on the site of a former industrial park, work is underway on the ambitious new Sonoma Mountain Village, a 200-acre development that aims to be truly sustainable. ...
Treating the Blues Could Save the Planet
Wednesday, February 18th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffI suffer, at times, from anxiety and depression. Not the worst kind of anxiety and depression. I'm talking about the kind that takes the edge off the gratitude I should be feeling for a good life ...
Climate Change Demands a Transformative Change in Direction
Monday, February 16th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments Offby James Hansen Over a year ago I wrote to Prime Minister Brown asking him to place a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants in Britain. I have asked the same of Angela Merkel, Barak Obama, Kevin ...
Comparative Measurements and Knowing Our Facts
Monday, February 16th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWe all see sustainability comparisons regularly: "...if Americans stopped buying red, round clown noses, they'd save as much energy as it takes to make all the pogo sticks used worldwide." These are fun. Sometimes these are clever. ...
Graphic Series: Earthly Ideas, Bus Rapid Transit
Thursday, February 12th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffThis week's cartoon describes bus rapid transit (BRT) -- a system for improving public bus service so that it's faster, more efficient and more pleasant for users. As we discussed in this 2006 post, "BRT combines ...
Report from Hallbarhet2009: Sustainable Strategy in the 21st Century
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffWhat does it mean to "work in sustainability" in the 21st century? Last weekend, I traveled to Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia to attend the North American regional gathering paralleling the international sustainability conference Hallbarhet2009 in ...
Casa De Botellas: Turning Waste into Modular Construction
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffI'm not usually impressed by people making products or buildings out of trash. Not because it isn't a good idea -- it clearly is -- but because most such projects don't scale well. They're nice ...
Geoengineering Megaprojects are Bad Planetary Management
Monday, February 9th, 2009 Posted in Columns, Green News | Comments OffMega-project geoengineering proponents love to set up the following argument: 1) Climate change is real and worse than we thought. 2) Humanity will not or cannot reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, or will not or cannot reduce them ...