US Clean Energy Facts From Obama's 1st Term

There is no doubt that clean energy sources increased significantly in President Obama's first term in office. Here are some of the highlights:

1. Boosted fuel standards for cars and trucks that is expected to reduce climate-warming pollution (like CO2) by 6 billion metric tons.
2. Wind energy production has doubled in the last 4 years.
3. Solar installations have increased 6-fold in the last 4 years.
4. In 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that carbon emissions are indeed a pollutant as defined by the Clean Air Act.

However, despite the advances in clean energy right now in the US "Energy Independence" is still code for more mining and more drilling but it doesn't need to be so in the future. Energy independence needs to become more interrelated to weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels with renewable energy. Subsidies for renewable energy are being reduced and in some cases coming to an end.

On the other hand, oil subsidies remain stronger than ever even after decades of exponential industry growth and multiple economic downturns and hardly come into to question. Moreover with all of the big craze around natural gas in the US, many are forgetting that methane that escapes from drilling and pumping natural gas is 70 times more harmful than CO2 emissions.

In fact the head of the Environmental Defense Fund, Fred Krupp says that "Fugitive gas is the biggest unknown of all the US emissions sources."

IBM Smarter Cities Tests and Finds...

Using one of its own facilities to in a way "beta" test some of its new building analytics gadgets the IBM Smarter Cities team found some interesting cost-saving metrics to lure new customers to its portfolio of data-based services. In their Ireland facility they found that replacing paper towels in bathrooms with high-speed hand-dryers saved the IBM Ireland Research Lab building around 5,000 euros a year. In addition, the hand-dryers also reduced the environmental impact involved with processing 400,000 pieces of waste paper.

The Electric Vehicle Chicken and the Egg Problem

Transitioning to Electric Vehicles (EVs) is not just about getting more vehicles on the road, it also requires additional infrastructure investments to help support charge/power EVs. Thus while EV subsidies to end users are helpful to increase the EV customer base (public or commercial) there also needs to be a plan/strategy - some financial help would also be ideal - for infrastructure improvements like EV chargers.

Interestingly progressive countries like Spain already have about 1850 EV chargers, but even more interesting is that Spain wants to increase that number to 85000 in the next 2 years. That's a lofty and very commendable goal, however how is that going to happen. For instance EV chargers are not very expensive, but policies are needed to help facilitate the actual installation. And then there is the elephant in the room that everyone is talking about: the actual cleanliness of the energy sources used by the EV charger.

Today EV's in a way its like the chicken and the egg problem, automobile manufacturers are hesitant to bring to EVs to countries that are not attempting to put forth EV strategies, but governments are also hesitant to put forth EV strategies if they do not see much of a public demand.

Before we can get to the "How green is your EV charge source?" question, we must first address the question of "Who should take the risk, government or private industry?

New Opps in Cheaper Health Care: Smart Devices & Wireless Medicine

My favorite concept that I read about today is about wireless medicine and how smart devices are opening new opportunities to provide better and cheaper health care everywhere, from airplanes to senior citizen’s homes to poor rural communities.

This is just a quick recap summary of an interesting article I read: The Key to Better Health Care May Be Already in Your Pocket and Its Not Your Wallet.

Did you know it's possible to snap an AliveCor device onto an iPhone and perform a cardiogram at 30,000 feet? Well it is. Dr. Eric Topol was recently able to do a cardiogram on a flight from DC to San Diego after a passenger on a flight started to into heart attach-like motions on the plane and a flight attendant asked if there was a doctor on the flight. Dr. Topol was able to assess that the passenger was definitely having a heart attack an recommended an emergency landing. The passenger was taken to the
hospital and survived the heart attack.

Dr. Topol told NBC: “These days, I’m prescribing a lot more apps than I am medications.”

EPA Study Finds More US Communities Are Embracing Infill Redevelopment

Highlights from the EPA's 2012 Residential Construction Trends in America's Metropolitan Regions report indicates that infill development is becoming increasingly more popular. In the US there still plenty of suburban development on the books, interest in urban development continues to increase because of the intrinsic overall access that comes with urban development. As an urban planner I am excited to explore new concepts for urban living that better aligns with transportation networks. I'm sure architects are excited to get out their creativity pens...I can't wait to see new designs for urban residential architecture.

3 out of 4 large metropolitan regions in saw an increased share of new housing development in previously developed areas during 2005 - 2009 compared to 2000 - 2004.

Source: U.S. EPA

21% of new homes in the 209 metropolitan regions examined were infill. 

8 out of 10 new homes in San Jose, California were infill.

Miami increased from 40% to 49% infill, and Providence, Rhode Island, increased from 20%t to 29%.

New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco all saw a majority of new home construction in previously developed areas during the same time period.

Benefits of Infill Development

• Provides economic and public health benefits to metropolitan areas while protecting the local environment
• Saves money and energy
• Takes advantage of previous investments in existing infrastructure such as water, sewer, and roads 
• Preserves open space
• Protects natural resources
• Reduces transportation emissions
• Decreases the amount of polluted stormwater washing off new roadways and other paved surfaces
• Raises property values 
• Increases a community’s tax base 
• Attracts retail businesses to serve the larger residential population

Source: U.S. EPA

The EPA report includes a listing of resources available to local, regional, and state leaders that want to coordinate land use, housing, and transportation policies.

For more information see the EPA press release.

The Original LA Metro Tunnel

From the LA Times archives: here are photos from LA's first subway tunnel from First Street and Glendale Boulevard to Hill street, between Fifth and Fourth Streets that began construction on May 3, 1924. The subway tunnel was a mile long, 28 feet wide and 21 feet high. It varied from 30 feet to 60 feet below the ground.

Source: LA Times

Source: LA Times

Source: LA Times

NYC DOT Rolls Out ILook NYC Campaign

NYC DOT Commissioner Janet Sadik-Khan rolls out the ILook NYC Campaign with US Secretary of Transportation Ray La Hood on September 19, 2012.

The campaign includes innovative pedestrian street markings, and distracted driving ads to alert New Yorkers to walk safely and drive smart.

Click here for more information about the ILook NYC Campaign on the US DOT Fast Lane Blog. 

Retro London Underground Propaganda

In the earlier days of public transit, posters were used to make a case for the efficiencies and benefits of the London Underground in city life.

1915 

1924

1969

More great London Underground propaganda can be found at the Retronaut.

Quotes Inspired by Cities

I love getting furniture store catalogs in the mail...they are great idea generators, very therapeutic, and inspirational.

Yesterday I was even more wowed by Restoration Hardware's catalog around the theme of "Big Style Small Spaces," not so much because of its great ideas of how to turn small apartments into stylish homes, but because of its compilation of quotes from iconic figures inspired by particular cities around the world.

Barcelona
"This is where it all began...there is where I understood how far I could go." - Pablo Picasso

Los Angeles
"I love Los Angeles. It reinvents itself every two days." - Billy Connolly

New York
"Once you have lived in New York and it has become your home, no place else is good enough." - John Steinbeck

Paris
"Though I often looked for one, I finally had to admit that there could be no cure for Paris." - Ernest Hemingway

Milan
"You may have the universe if I may have Italy." - Giuseppe Verdi

More on how US Exports Benefit from NAFTA

I'm not the only one obsessed with the US-Mexico trade numbers, the Washington Post ran a story in their
Sunday, September 9th edition: "Middle-class Mexicans snap up more products ‘Made in USA’."

About 6 million jobs in the United States depend on trade with Mexico (Source: Trade Partnership Worldwide 2008)

US exports to Mexico 2011 FACT highlights from the article and infographic:

• Texas exports more than 70 percent of the chickens it ships out of Texas to Mexico
• California exported $9.3 billion in computers and electronics
• New Jersey exported about $1 billion in pharmaceuticals 
• Iowa exported $121 million in pork (us Mexicans love "carnitas") 
• Montana exported $59 million in copper and molybdenum
• New York exported $500 million in jewelry (I don't think this accounts for the amount of jewelry Mexican tourists purchase on their visits to The Big Apple especially at Tiffany's)
• Tennessee's biggest export south of the border was transportation equipment, totaling $855 million
• Michigan exported $3.6 billion in transportation  equipment, mostly for the automobile industry

Envision Solar set for partnership with Al Habtoor | utilities-me.com

Envision Solar set for partnership with Al Habtoor | utilities-me.com

Excerpt:

Aconfort president and CEO Aquilino Ornia, speaking on the deal, said, “It is a tremendous opportunity to partner with Envision Solar to expand the Solar Shaded Parking market in the UAE, Qatar and Spain. In the Middle East, the sun shines almost 365 days a year – we must take advantage of this opportunity to capture so much free energy and to also generate clean electricity that will help protect the environment. We selected Envision’s Solar Tree arrays because they are the best and will be most appealing to the market where we operate.”

The ACEEE 2012 International Energy Efficiency Scorecard

The ACEEE created an interesting map that ranks countries on overall "energy efficiency" and across sectors.

However, in this map the energy efficiency innovating countries Norway, the Netherlands, Sweden or Spain are not necessarily ranked.

Renzo Piano on Sustainability & the New York Times Building

In an interview with Architectural Record in 2008 Renzo Piano comments on the inspirational nature of sustainability: 

“Constantly present in my mind when designing the New York Times Building was that today's architecture should be inspired by what is happening with the climatic crisis. In the way the last [20th] century opened with an interest in rationalism and the modern movement, I like the idea that this century is opening up with a discovery that the earth is fragile and the environment is vulnerable. Fragility, breathing with the earth and the environment, is part of a new culture. I thought the Times Building should have the qualities of lightness, vibrancy, transparency, and immateriality."

LA Transit Culture, Will it ever stick?

Mass Transit and LA in the same sentence always seems to garner up a sense of: "Are you serious? Nope, never going to happen." The thing is, that it is happening. Los Angelenos do ride public transit, but not enough to make positive headlines. So the question is, "If they build it, will they come?." I think the problem is that everyone is trying to solve is the basic home to work commute problem, but for travel needs go beyond the simple work and home point A to point B commute.

For some, even if the new infrastructure is in place (as it is) and makes it easy for them to get from home to work and vice versa they won't choose mass transit over their car for two reasons. One,people are obviously obsessed with their cars and the other is that life is just not that simple. People need more than just mobility options to and from work. For instance, if you have a work meeting in the middle of the day and mass transit is not an option, how will you get there? Taxis? Unlike in New York, London and Paris, in LA it is only legal to hail a cab in downtown LA (meaning the City of LA, not the County of LA which is comprised of 66 cities)...exactly, it makes you think twice about leaving the MINI at home.

I'm optimistic, once there are better options, and better interconnectivity between mass transit agencies I think mass transit will become more popular in LA and better yet a real option to go from many point As to a multitude of points Bs and Cs. Need evidence? Just look at the way Angelenos embraced the Prius (Sorry Toyota, it wasn't aesthetics). Even Beverly Hills residents traded in their European luxury toys and SUVs for the Prius. Thus my advice for Toyota: watch out, Angelenos will eventually move to greener solutions, the Prius must go greener!

BTW check out an interesting NY Times article on the state of mass transit in LA: "In Los Angeles, Big Step Ahead for Mass Transit."

Greening the White House

Walking the Green Walk: Today, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu, announced that in the very near future the White House residence will be installing solar panels and a solar hot water heater.

The aim is multi-purposed. On the one hand, this is clearly a step in the right green sustainable direction as the administration explicitly shows its commitment to renewable energy. Secondly, this also demonstrates that American solar technologies are "available, reliable, and ready for installation throughout the country." As a result, as Secretary Chu puts it, the nationwide deployment and implementation of clean energy technologies will help "America lead the global economy for years to come" and create more local clean energy jobs.

For more info on state, local, and utility rebates for renewable energy generation throughout the country visit the Database of State Incentives for Renewable and Efficiency website.

This is just another reason Obama still Rocks!