Greening Cities to Become Climate Smart
By Jad Daley
Director, Climate Conservation Program
The Trust for Public Land
The “smart cities” movement often seems primarily focused on technological solutions, such as smarter buildings, public transit, and other energy efficient infrastructure. However, less attention is placed on the role of our oldest “technology” — nature — in creating climate-smart cities.
Abundant opportunities exist for cities to harness nature and “nature-like” green features for climate-related benefits. Where greening cities was once mostly about quality of life, the same strategies offer immense potential to reduce carbon emissions and…
Full article is here: http://ht.ly/EI4sT
Montgomery Co, MD – Caching the Rain Geocaching Trail
Montgomery Co, MD – Caching the Rain Geocaching Trail
http://ht.ly/A8A9g
Geocaching is a family-friendly outdoor scavenger hunt using GPS coordinates to search for and locate hidden containers called “geocaches”. A geotrail is a series of geocaches united under one common theme. The Caching the Rain geotrail’s theme is stormwater awareness.
The Caching the Rain Geotrail takes you on a tour of some of Montgomery County’s stormwater management practices. There are geocaches placed nearby various practices that help improve water quality in our local streams.
The geotrail was first launched on June 28th, 2014 and included 6 geocaches.
What is EPA Doing to Support Green Infrastructure
What is EPA Doing to Support Green Infrastructure? http://ht.ly/zjAoZ
Since 2007, EPA has actively supported the use of green infrastructure to manage wet weather. EPA has released a series of policy memos encouraging the use of green infrastructure to meet regulatory requirements, as well as a series of Strategic Agendas describing the actions the Agency is taking to promote green infrastructure.
Here’s a Creative Stormwater Solution from the west coast – Splash Boxx
Here’s a Creative Stormwater Solution from the west coast – Splash boxx: Rain Gardens in Roll-Off Containers
http://ht.ly/yy9hA
Splash Boxx is a vertical-walled, 12′ x 8′ bioretention planter box, constructed of steel and painted with non-toxic paint, which accommodates a profile of aggregate (with underdrain), bioretention soil, vegetation, and live storage (ponding) to promote the detention and filtration of stormwater runoff.
Solar Roadways ‘Could Power America’ while treating urban stormwater
Solar Roadways ‘Could Power America’
http://ht.ly/xTiT9
Solar Roadways is a modular paving system of hexagonal solar panels that can withstand up to 250,000 pounds of pressure. These panels can be installed on roads, parking lots, driveways, sidewalks and bike paths, and the panels contain LEDs that road managers can light up to display lane lines and other road features that would traditionally be painted.
The surface of the panels, which are about the size of a car tire, is covered with hexagonal bumps that SingularityHub reports offer better traction than asphalt.
According to the crowd-funding website, panels pay for themselves primarily through the generation of electricity, which can power homes and businesses connected via driveways and parking lots. A nationwide system could produce more renewable energy than a country uses as a whole, the website says.
The roadways also have the ability to treat stormwater. Currently, over half of the pollution in US waterways comes from stormwater, according to Solar Roadways. The company has created stormwater treatment and storage areas in the pipelines used for housing cable.
Edyn smart garden monitoring system helps your garden grow
Edyn smart garden monitoring system helps your garden grow
http://ht.ly/xIaoQ
Edyn was developed to help users monitor and track environmental conditions in their garden, provide guidance on how conditions can be improved and water the plants automatically as required. The smart garden system comprises a sensor, a smart water-valve and a mobile app.
Company founder Jason Aramburu says Edyn was founded with the aim of helping people to better understand the environment. Aramburu studied ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University, before working on projects in Panama’s rainforests and with farmers in Africa. Edyn, he says, draws on those experiences and the use of technology to try and help people create thriving gardens.
Solar Roadways installs energy harvesting parking lot
Solar Roadways installs energy harvesting parking lot. Roanoke’s Transportation Division has been in touch with the Brusaws since 2010 regarding their exciting R&D.
http://ht.ly/x6dtj
About 8 years ago, an electrical engineer and his counselor wife started throwing around an idea to replace asphalt on highways and byways throughout the US with electricity-producing solar panels that were tough enough to be driven upon. The idea blossomed into a project, where the panels featured built-in LEDs that could “paint the road” with markings and warnings, and could be heated to prevent snow and ice build up. The US Federal Highway Administration paid for the couple to produce a working prototype, which they did, and then again to expand the concept into an operational parking lot setup. As the latter contract comes to an end, the Solar Roadways project has released photos of the (almost) completed installation at its Idaho electronics lab. Now the team is dipping into crowd-funding waters with a campaign to raise funds for the move into commercial production.
the Solar Roadways project has hit Indiegogo (starting, appropriately enough, on Earth Day) to help raise enough money to hire a team of engineers and other professionals, streamline the production process and move into manufacturing proper.
A lofty funding target of $1 million has been set, and the project will receive all funding, even if the campaign goal is not met. Rewards include t-shirts, coffee mugs, a backer’s name engraved on one of the prototype’s 396 mounting hole covers, and samples of the toughened glass.
How Successful People Start their Day
How Successful People Start their Day
http://ht.ly/vHgvV
All hours have sixty minutes, not all hours are created equal. Some will fly by as you are “in the flow,” doing something you find exciting and fulfilling.
In the summer of 2012, Fast Company looked at how successful people spend the first hour of their day, and not one included getting bogged down in tasks and processes.Just as we did in high school homeroom, our first hour should include private reflection, reviewing our schedule, catching up with our colleagues, and choosing the One Big Thing that you want to accomplish for that day.
#1 – Stay Away from the Minutia
#2 – Gain Awareness & Be Grateful
#3 – Choose Your Frog
#4 – Ask Yourself if You’re Doing What You Want to Do
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.”
Grow Salad In Your Kitchen Inside This Sleek Sensor-Driven Cabinet
Grow Salad In Your Kitchen Inside This Sleek Sensor-Driven Cabinet http://ht.ly/vVNB8
It started with an aquaponics system in a frat house. Now the two MIT grads want to scale the idea and make it easy to grow veggies right in your kitchen.
There’s plenty of excitement about urban farms using aquaponics and hydroponics. The idea of growing food closer to consumers means less fossil fuels burned, fewer chemical inputs, and fresher food. But logic says it should be possible to go further. Why stop with a farm somewhere on the edge of town? Why not bring it to the home and have even fresher food?
There are several home hydroponic systems on the market, such as this Internet-connected home garden, and even some involving fish. But what Grove Labs is talking about is more like an appliance, just like your fridge or washing machine.
To test out the OS, Blanchet and Byron are currently working with controlled-environment commercial farms in the northeast. Later this year, they’ll start prototyping the cabinet and piloting it in a few homes. The final product should be ready by the end of next year, Blanchet says. Grove has taken pre-orders.
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.
Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative – Resilience & economic empowerment one bicycle at a time
Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative – Resilience and economic empowerment sustainably built one bicycle at a time.
http://ht.ly/vwf6Q
Founded by a female entrepreneur, the Ghana Bamboo Bikes Initiative trains and employs women with limited access to education to manufacture bicycles out of bamboo. In one fell swoop, this remarkable organization is providing Ghanaian women with a sustainable source of income while addressing wider challenges like traffic congestion, migration between urban and rural areas, and ever-increasing carbon emissions
How to survive the Windows XP apocalypse
How to survive the Windows XP apocalypse
Windows is ending its support of its XP operating system. The move will compromise the security of many computers worldwide. Here’s what to do if your computer is still running XP: http://ht.ly/vBHbi
Honda Mean Mower is officially the fastest in the world
Honda Mean Mower is officially the fastest lawnmower in the world
http://ht.ly/vp0qu
Cutting the lawn can be a tedious chore, so no-one wants to be doing it for longer than they must. The bods at Honda obviously feel the same way. The Honda Mean Mower has broken a Guinness World Record to become the world’s fastest lawnmower at 116.57 MPH
6 Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever
6 Freeway Removals That Changed Their Cities Forever by:Alissa Walker
It seems counter-intuitive, right? Rip out eight lanes of freeway through the middle of your metropolis and you’ll be rewarded with not only less traffic, but safer, more efficient cities? But it’s true, and it’s happening in places all over the world.
Many freeway systems were overbuilt in an auto-obsessed era, only to realize later that cities are actually healthier, greener, and safer without them. Like freeway cap parks, which hope to bridge the chasms through severed neighborhoods—Boston’s Big Dig is a great example—freeway removal projects try to eradicate and undo the damage wrought from highways, while creating new, multifunctional shared streets that can be utilized by transit, bikes, walkers and yes, even cars.
Okay, you’re thinking, but where do all the cars go? It turns out that when you take out a high-occupancy freeway it doesn’t turn the surface streets into the equivalent of the Autobahn. A theory called “induced demand” proves that if you make streets bigger, more people will use them. When you make them smaller, drivers discover and use other routes, and traffic turns out to be about the same. Don’t believe it? Check out http://ht.ly/vdhTe to see freeway removals that have occured in cities all over the world.
Improving Cyclist and Pedestrian Environment while maintaining vehicle throughput
Improving Cyclist and Pedestrian Environment While Maintaining Vehicle Throughput – Before- and After-Construction Analysis http://ht.ly/uTxGi
Reallocating road space to enhance bicycle and pedestrian access is frequently a contentious issue in many American cities. This resistance to the redesign was characteristic in Eugene, Oregon, where a key street segment adjacent to a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly university was retrofitted to accommodate nonmotorized vehicles better. The intention was to expand pedestrian and bicycle access, so a bicycle lane was actually removed in one direction in favor of implementing a shared lane, and physical barriers between an existing contraflow bicycle lane and a one-way automobile traffic lane were also removed. In addition, two-sided parallel parking stalls were replaced with single-sided, back-in angle parking stalls (a first for Eugene), and sidewalks were widened to better accommodate high pedestrian volumes. Video footage to record behavior along this block before and after the redesign was used to study traffic volume changes by mode and changes in behavior. The results demonstrated that bicycle volumes increased, pedestrian crossing volumes increased, and vehicular traffic volumes showed little change after the redesign. The integration of bicycle and vehicular traffic lanes and removal of physical barriers improved safety for nonmotorized vehicles because the rate of traffic conflicts remained low, no collisions occurred, and the redesign provided new ways for convenient navigation around blockages. Despite a perceived increase in chaos, given increased nonmotorized traffic volumes, this block became no less safe after redesign even though nonmotorized traffic volumes and adaptive use of the space greatly increased. Examination of the particular elements of this redesign provides insight into ways that other multimodal traffic streams could be improved.
Mostly taken for granted in the US – Saturday was World Water Day 2014
Mostly taken for granted in the US – Saturday was World Water Day 2014: Water and Energy
http://ht.ly/uS3He
World Water Day is about what you will do in 2014 and beyond to promote sustainable practices in the realm of water and energy. The “bottom billion” urgently needs access to both water and sanitation services, and electricity – Worldwide, 1.3 billion people cannot access electricity, 768 million people lack access to improved water sources and 2.5 billion people have no improved sanitation. Water and energy have crucial impacts on poverty alleviation.
London to trial “intelligent” pedestrian crossings
London to trial “intelligent” pedestrian crossings – Time allowed changes with number of people waiting to cross.
http://ht.ly/uwavu
Ever walk halfway across a road only to have the light change and force you to make an undignified rush to the other side? The answer is almost certainly yes. If you’re in London, that may soon be a thing of the past however, with Transport for London (TfL) announcing upcoming trials of an “intelligent” pedestrian crossing. Called the Pedestrian Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique (SCOOT), it’s part of a £2 billion to £4 billion (US$3.3 billion to US$6.6 billion) program to improve roads over the next ten years and decrease traffic fatalities in the capital by 40 percent by the year 2020.
SCOOT addresses the problem of how to properly time pedestrian crossings in such a way as to make sure as many people as possible cross with the lights, as well as keeping traffic flowing as smoothly as possible. This is especially difficult in high traffic areas. Ideally, the light should be timed to allow everyone to cross, but pedestrian traffic isn’t uniform and what might work for two people might not work for a dozen. Worse, there’s the problem of pedestrians pressing the request button and then crossing against the lights or simply walking away, which creates needless delays.
Pedestrian SCOOT seeks to remedy this by using video cameras to count the number of people in a digital “box” on the crossing pavement. If a large number of people are detected, the system alters the timing of the green walk light to allow more people to cross safely. In addition, if no one is at the crossing, or if someone presses the request button and then crosses against the lights or walks away, the system switches to “call cancel” and doesn’t activate the walk light.
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.
Cradle to Cradle Product Standard Under Revision
Cradle to Cradle Product Standard Under Revision
http://ht.ly/uw8gf
The Cradle to Cradle Certified Product Standard will be updated, and for the first time, outside input will be sought.
The Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute’s certification standards board, an independent entity, said it is seeking more stakeholders in an effort to bring more transparency to the process.
The standards revision will continue throughout the year and will culminate in a new Cradle to Cradle Product Standards Revision to be finalized in the first quarter of 2015.
The call for advisors with scientific, academic, and/or industry expertise will be spread across the following five fields:
1. Material health examines whether ingredients are safe for human health and the environment
2. Material reutilization evaluates whether products can return safely to nature or industry after use
3. Renewable energy and carbon management measures the use of renewable energy in product manufacturing and assembly
4. Water stewardship determines whether product manufacturing processes protect water supplies
5. Social fairness evaluates the impact upon employees and communities involved in product production
This revision will result in Version 4 of the standard.
A brilliant composting island concept for New York’s Municipal Solid Waste
A brilliant composting island concept for New York’s Municipal Solid Waste http://ht.ly/ulyEC
These islands could add 125 acres of open space to New York City and compost waste at the same time. By Tyler Falk
In 2012, New York City spent $85 million to send organic waste to out-of-state landfills. Since then, the city has been steadily expanding a curbside-composting program. Last year, it collected organic waste from 30,000 households and this year more households have already been added to the program. But as the city collects more and more organic waste it will need to find more locations nearby to process the waste in order to achieve the program’s stated goal of diverting “organic material from disposal for beneficial use.”
Boring municipal talk, right? Not if Present Architecture gets their way.
The New York-based architecture firm has developed a concept that would not only keep some of that organic waste — 30 percent of NYC’s waste stream — local instead of trucking it to landfills in faraway places, but also create places people might actually want to visit.
The idea, called Green Loop, is a network of compost islands that float in New York’s waterways and connect to the city’s waterfront. In addition to composting waste, these islands would also serve as green space with waterfront walkways.
“New York City has less open space per person than almost every major city in the country, and the Green Loop alleviates two major urban problems at once,” the project’s website says. The network of composting islands would provide New Yorkers with 125 acres of public space. And below the elevated park is the composting facility. We’ll have to wait to see if this idea ever becomes a reality. And while it’s certainly ambitious and maybe even a little crazy to imagine it ever happening, it’s far from the craziest infrastructure projects proposed for the city.
More on the Green Loop concept:
http://ht.ly/ulzeH
Urban Cycling as Seen Through Google Glass
Urban Cycling as Seen Through Google Glass
http://ht.ly/uk9Dw
Authored by: Florian Lorenz
Smart glasses like Google Glass are the latest gizmo available on the tech market: what if we combined the bicycle-specific sense of place and space with them?
Becoming smarter through glasses?
If you are old enough: did you think in 1995 that 20 years later you would be equipped with mobile advanced computing and communication devices allowing you to instantly access all the information of the planet and to talk with almost everybody around the globe? Moreover, could you imagine being able to do all of this while riding a bicycle?
This is the perspective one may take on smartglasses as new technology. Technological innovation often comes unexpected and is leading quite often to unexpected cultural adaptation and further innovation. Our cities are the places where such innovation and adaptation is taking shape, in some cases even from the back of a bicycle. It would be a pity not to use the potentials of smartglasses in a creative way and to think about how this technology can be used for building sustainable cities.
In this sense: Let’s look clearly into the future.
ODOT Evaluates Winter Pothole Patching Methods – Infrared Repairs Most Effective
ODOT Evaluates Winter Pothole Patching Methods
The Ohio Department of Transportation has released a report that evaluates the performance and cost-effectiveness of the tow-behind combination infrared asphalt heater/reclaimer patching method and compares it to the throw and roll and spray injection methods.
The results of the cost analyses showed that the infrared method can be more cost-effective than the spray injection method when used for winter pothole patching. For short term repairs, the throw and roll method was found to cost less than the infrared method if the user cost were not considered.
Bottom line results:
- The infrared patches had significantly better performance than those installed using the two other patching methods.
- The results of survivability analyses also indicated that the patches installed using infrared had much longer expected life than those installed using the other two considered methods.
- The results of the cost analyses showed that the infrared method can be more cost-effective than the spray injection method when used for winter pothole patching.
- For short term repairs, the throw and roll method was found to cost less than the infrared method if the user cost were not considered. However, for permanent repairs, the infrared method can be more cost effective than throw and roll method.
- In summary, the tow-behind infrared heater/reclaimer was found to be an efficient and cost effective method for patching certain types of potholes as well as performing other pavement repairs.
- There are several infrared asphalt heaters/reclaimer systems available in the market. Based on the comparison that was conducted in this study between the three main infrared asphalt heaters/reclaimer systems, the KASI Minuteman was found to be most suitable
No question that IR costs more upfront. On page 83, however, this report quantifies City of Roanoke’s in-house anecdotal experience regarding IR patch longevity: “the results of the statistical survivability analysis showed that the infrared patches are expected to survive at least 14 times the expected life of throw and roll and spray injection patches.”
View the full 118 page report here: http://ht.ly/udtUV
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/
GoProGreen.com 