Sustainable Development Focus
Microgrid Knowledge - May 30 The Port of Los Angeles, North America’s largest port, plans to install a $26.6 million solar microgrid this year, as it moves toward becoming the first marine terminal to operate solely on renewable energy. The port is building the Green Omni Terminal Demonstration Project in partnership with Pasha Stevedoring and Terminals. It will demonstrate use of zero and near-zero emission technologies at a marine terminal. In all, the project is expected to reduce 3,200 tons/year of greenhouse gases and nearly 28 tons annually of diesel particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and other harmful emissions from operations at the nation’s busiest container port. The clean air gains equate to taking 14,100 cars a day off the road in the South Coast Air Basin.
San Mateo Daily Journal - May 30 San Mateo is moving to step up its efforts to combat climate change by going beyond state building codes and mandating many new properties incorporate green technologies. Assuming the state approves, those who build new residential and non-residential properties could be required to incorporate a range of features such as solar panels, cool roofs, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The City Council approved updating its building code earlier this month and the proposed changes must undergo an extensive review and approval from the California Energy Commission before going into effect as early as Jan. 1, 2017, according to a city staff report. The requirements go above state mandates known as the Green Building Code and Energy Code sections of the California Building Code, which is currently being updated and expected to also go into effect in 2017, according to the report.
Real Estate Weekly - May 25 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has released a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) for the design, construction, and management of a sustainable, mixed-income, and mixed-use affordable housing development in the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. The development will offer no less than 400 new affordable homes. By requiring that submissions include Passive House designs, the RFP, titled SustaiNYC, also advances the goals of Mayor de Blasio’ s One City: Built to Last. Passive House is a building standard that reduces a building’s energy consumption by as much as 75 percent, as compared to standard building designs. It focuses on passive measures such as insulation, airtightness, and heat recovery, while increasing long term viability for building owners through lower utility bills.
Yale Environment 360 - May 31 Gary, Indiana is joining Detroit and other fading U.S. industrial centers in an effort to turn abandoned neighborhoods and factory sites into gardens, parks, and forests. Gary has quantities of open space that more prosperous cities can only dream of, and sits on a stretch of lakeshore where plant biodiversity rivals Yellowstone National Park. Now, the big question for Gary, and for dozens of other shrinking cities across the Rust Belt, which collectively have lost more than a third of their population since the middle of the 20th century, is how to turn this situation to their advantage. The answer that is beginning to emerge is urban greening on a large scale. The idea is to turn scrubby, trash-strewn vacant lots into vegetable gardens, tree farms, stormwater management parks, and pocket prairies that make neighborhoods both more livable and more sustainable.
The Guardian - May 31 If all goes according to plan, next year construction will begin on a 30-story residential tower in Austin, Texas. Nothing new in the daily life of a booming city, except for one thing: the apartment tower will offer no parking spaces to residents. Whether you gauge it by the growth of car-free homes, a steady drop in drivers’ licenses for younger age-groups, or the rise in car-sharing, metropolitan areas across the U.S. have lately made strides in getting residents out of – and rid of – their cars. In Austin and elsewhere, what’s made this possible? The short answer is technology: it’s hard to overstate the impact ride-hailing services such as Uber and Lyft have had on urban transportation in the past five years. Those technologies arrived amid a renewed emphasis by city and regional planners on improving public transit and encouraging non-car modes of transportation.
Long Beach Post - May 27 The Long Beach City Council approved last week the Downtown and Transit-Oriented Development Pedestrian Master Plan, the product of a three-year planning effort to create a safer and more enjoyable pedestrian-friendly downtown, as well as enhanced commuting options throughout Long Beach. The council accepted a Planning Grant award on July 23, 2013 from the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority to prepare a plan to create new public and private investment around Metro light rail stations, support increased walking and transit use as an alternative to traveling by car, and increase access to jobs and services for residents.
