Building for Today, Planning for Tomorrow – 2014 National Public Works Week is May 18-24
Building for Today, Planning for Tomorrow – 2014 National Public Works Week is May 18-24, 2014.
Since 1960, APWA has sponsored National Public Works Week. Across North America, our more than 28,000 members in the US and Canada use this week to energize and educate the public on the importance of the contribution of public works to their daily lives: planning, building, managing and operating the heart of our local communities and building the quality of life.
This years theme “Building for Today, Planning for Tomorrow” represents the classic idea of stewardship embodied by the profession of public works and the professionals that practice it. Focusing on the communities; “building” points out the day to day aspect of public works that is quality of life, while “planning” references the sustainable practices that ensure that quality of life for future generations
The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders – Peter Diamandis
The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders
http://ht.ly/vHj50
In an era that feels starved for leadership, we’ve found men and women who will inspire you — some famous, others little known, all of them energizing their followers and making the world better. #43 Peter Diamandis – CEO, X Prize Foundation
Apart from the 14 other companies he has founded, Diamandis presides over X Prize Foundation, which hosts $10 million competitions to solve global problems. “He has an infectious optimism, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says futurist Ray Kurzweil. He makes “each person understand that their role is critical to the success of their organization and in turn that the overall project is critical to transforming the world.”
How the U.S. Navy will turn seawater into fuel
How the U.S. Navy will turn seawater into fuel http://ht.ly/vHdKV Navy destroyers burn through a thousand gallons of fuel an hour. No wonder researchers have been feverishly working towards alternatives. the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) has spent years researching the possibility of extracting liquid hydrocarbon from seawater to power its ships. In addition to H20 and salt, ocean water is rich in carbon dioxide. (Make that very rich: Navy scientists say the CO2 concentration is 140 times that of air.) So the Navy built a large system including a catalytic converter that extracts hydrogen and carbon dioxide from the water with 92 percent efficiency and then — via a reaction with a metal catalyst — transforms those gases into a liquid hydrocarbon fuel that the ship’s existing engines can burn. In a proof-of-concept test held last week, naval researchers made enough of the stuff to fly the model plane with its small off-the-shelf engine. With the test flight a success, the Navy now must prove it can produce sea-based fuels in mass quantity. Researchers will start by setting up test production facilities on land. Eventually, the goal is to turn the catalytic converter into something no larger than a car that can live aboard a ship and supply its fuel by processing seawater.
Biofuel Industry ‘Faces Huge Slowdown’
Biofuel Industry ‘Faces Huge Slowdown’
http://ht.ly/uw91h
The 53.2 billion gallon a year biofuel industry is poised for a “huge” slowdown in capacity growth, according to a study by Lux Research. The industry will grow to 60.4 billion gallons a year between 2013 and 2017 representing a 3.2 percent annual growth rate, but this is a far slower rate of growth than the 19.6 percent achieved annually from 2005 to 2013, according to Emerging Feedstocks and Fuels Spark Biofuel Capacity Expansion through 2017.
The sharp decline is on account of a significant industry transition to novel fuels and feedstocks, to enable long-term growth in the face of impediments like the food vs. fuel debate and the imminent blend limits for biodiesel and ethanol, the report says. Next-generation biofuels – such as renewable diesel and butanol – that can offer higher blends, in contrast, are not quite mature, the report says.
Next-generation feedstocks like waste oils and cellulosic biomass are not tied up in the food supply and could unlock significant economic advantages, assuming novel conversions commercialize. Meanwhile, next-generation fuels like renewable diesel will break down current barriers and drive long-term biofuel capacity expansion, according to Andrew Soare, Lux Research Senior Analyst and the lead author of the report.
To quantify global capacity expansion of biofuels, Lux Research analysts built a database of over 1,700 biofuel production facilities in 82 countries with capacity data through 2017, besides evaluating leading technology providers. Among their findings:
· Ethanol’s dominance will continue.
· Renewable diesel leads next-generation biofuels.
· Growth of cellulosic ethanol will be slower.
Estimates for potential biofuel feedstock crop yields from some widely cited research studies may overstate those yields by as much as 100 percent, according to research by the International Council on Clean Transportation released earlier this month. One key factor in developing a sustainable biofuels policy is to realistically estimate the amount of biomass that can on average be grown on a given amount of land to produce cellulosic biofuel. But Will energy crop yields meet expectations? found that the highest predicted yields, and associated expectations of how much biomass could be grown for energy, could not be supported by an overview of studies in this field.
Lessons Learned from the Clean Cities Community Electric Vehicle Readiness Projects
Lessons Learned from the Clean Cities Community Electric Vehicle Readiness Projects
The U.S. Department of Energy has released a report that summarizes the activities, outputs, and lessons of projects intended to advance the deployment of plug-in electric vehicles. Full .pdf may be found here: http://ht.ly/tYqUX
Local governments can be powerful supporters of charging station deployment – Local governments have a critical role to play in the development of both public and private charging infrastructure due to their authority over zoning, parking, and signage; building codes; and permitting and inspection processes. Local ordinances and procedures can interfere with charging station development, which can be avoided by amending codes and streamlining processes. Local ordinances and procedures also present opportunities to proactively support or offer incentives for charging station installations.
Additional information may be found at the VA EV website:
http://www.virginiaev.org/
Clean Cities 2014 Vehicle Buyer’s Guide
Clean Cities 2014 Vehicle Buyer’s Guide – Alternative fuel and advanced vehicles, grouped by fuel and technology
http://ht.ly/tofG4
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy has released a guide that presents a list of 2014 light-duty alternative fuel and advanced vehicles, grouped by fuel and technology
How the Complete Streets Movement is Improving our Communities
How the Complete Streets Movement is Improving our Communities
http://ht.ly/s91Ei
The Complete Streets Movement aims for pragmatic, incremental improvement, not utopia – streets should safely accommodate not just automobiles but also pedestrians, bicyclists and public transit users. If you live in one of the hundreds of communities (such as Roanoke) that have recently adopted policies favoring such measures as new types of crosswalks, slower vehicular traffic in areas where there are pedestrians, and more prominent bicycle lanes, chances are you have noticed that many streets look and feel different – more thoughtfully designed, with more than just cars in mind.
The complete streets movement has been as successful as it has been precisely because of its laser-like focus on the accommodation of different types of street users. The book stresses that the movement aims for pragmatic, incremental improvement, not utopia:
“This book . . . does not paint a vision of an ideal future or provide a template for the ‘perfect complete street.’ This book is not the cutting-edge design manifesto that some people may expect. Plenty of others have created beautiful, innovative templates for multimodal streets and compact, walkable towns and neighborhoods. But I’ve found that those finely crafted visions are not of much immediate use in the communities I see as my baseline: Atlanta and the small towns across Georgia and the suburban United States. These places, and so many more across the United States, have been shaped by sprawling development. It will be quite a while before they reach any sort of smart growth ideal— if ever. But the people who live there still need to be able to reach their neighborhood schools safely and walk to and from the bus stop.”
As Barbara writes, some of the most effective implementation strategies for improving streets on the ground lie not in big capital improvement projects but in the most mundane repair projects and in the details of development codes. The book explains the advantages of bringing about change “not through big signature projects but through small, gradual improvements.”
USDOE Clean Cities Newsletter – National Mall begins using Propane Powered Mowers
USDOE‘s latest Clean Cities Newsletter http://ht.ly/rCHCP
Glad to see the National Park Service has finally begun using propane-powered mowers at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program has released the latest version of its biannual newsletter. Clean Cities is an initiative designed to reduce petroleum consumption in the transportation sector by advancing the use of alternative fuel vehicles, idle reduction technologies, hybrid electric vehicles, fuel blends, and fuel economy
New York manhole covers double as electric vehicle charging stations
New York manhole covers double as electric vehicle charging stations
http://ht.ly/qwIU4
Can manhole covers that act as electric vehicle charges solve New York’s EV support infrastructure problem?
Local startup HEVO Power and the Polytechnic Institute of New York University think so.
The student-led startup and university engineers have developed a wireless charging system which can be “embedded” within underground tunnel access points.
The system’s power stations use resonance charging and can either be bolted to the street or embedded as in a manhole cover. Vehicle batteries are fitted with receivers, and a mobile application helps juice-seeking drivers find available spots to park up and charge.
Once parked, a car’s battery will wirelessly charge. The teams say that the design can “overcome problems of electric vehicle ownership like driver error in remembering to plug-in the vehicle, faulty connections between cords and vehicle charging terminals, cluttered sidewalks and tangled loading bays.”
Can Cities Solve Climate Change? Warming is global, but local efforts make the most difference
Can Cities Solve Climate Change? Warming is global, but efforts at the local level make the most difference http://ht.ly/pHhky
Cities are at the forefront of dealing with the impacts of global warming, so CityLab posed the question: Are they also the best places to begin combating the pollution that causes climate change? As sociologist Daniel Bell once wrote, “The nation-state is becoming too small for the big problems of life, and too big for the small problems of life.” So, in the same spirit, perhaps city governments offer solutions to the problems caused by the 90 million metric tons of greenhouse gases pumped into the atmosphere daily.
Roanoke’s 7 year Sustainability Quest to Reduce Consumption and Emissions
Excellent article by Ken Cronin, Director of Sustainability about Roanoke’s quest to reduce consumption and emissions http://ht.ly/pa1Xq
Seattle Mayor issues Million Gallon Fuel Challenge
Seattle Mayor issues Million Gallon Challenge: http://ht.ly/lomYT
Mayor Mike McGinn announced that he has directed city departments to build on earlier “green fleet” efforts to meet the challenge of cutting the city’s annual use of petroleum-based fuels by 1 million gallons by 2020. Accomplishing this goal will require improving operational efficiencies, making investments in alternative-fuel infrastructure, and ramping up purchases of alternative vehicles.
Goats to provide sustainable vegetation management at O’Hare
#Goats to provide #sustainable #vegetation management at #OHareInternationalAirport.
http://ht.ly/kUxZC
How #NASCAR builds #Sustainability initiatives with staying power
How #NASCAR builds #Sustainability initiatives with staying power – #SolarCars, #Ethanol, & #Environmental actions http://ht.ly/kxWxW
#TEDTalk Elon Musk (PayPal & SpaceX) shares vision of future
#TEDTalk Elon Musk (PayPal & SpaceX) plans mass-market #Tesla car, solar energy leasing & reusable rocket, http://ht.ly/jtX8o
Toronto to cut #Emissions 70%-LEDs, #EnergyStar, #GreenRoofs, #BikeLanes
Toronto to cut #Emissions 70%-LEDs, #EnergyStar, #GroundSourceHeatPumps, #GreenRoofs, #BikeLanes, #VMT http://ht.ly/hyWnN
#Gasoline lawn mowers pollute as much in an hour as 40 cars
#Gasoline lawn mowers pollute as much in an hour as 40 cars. #Propane-Powered mowers are the answer. http://ht.ly/fnGG9
Yes, 40 cars is a lot, but that article link is actually from 2007 not long after we bought our 1st 3 Propane-Powered ZTR mowers. At that time, only Phase 2 small engine exhaust emission standards were in effect. As of 2012 and the Phase 3 small engine exhaust emission standards, the new data seems to be 1 hour of mowing = between 8 and 11 cars – which is still a lot. Regardless of the emissions issue, the best part of Propane power, as far as I’m concerned, is the $1 per gallon cost savings…
#Toro #580D batwing Diesel mowers injected with Propane
#Toro #580D batwing mowers injected with #Propane to clean #Diesel emissions yet increase #Torque & #Hp http://ht.ly/fnF4r
#Propane-Powered Mowers improve #AirQuality & Save $1 per Gallon of #Fuel
#Propane-Powered Mowers help to improve #Roanoke’s #AirQuality and saves $1 per gallon of #Fuel. http://ht.ly/fnG9a
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