Placemaking

News on green building, urban planning, public transportation, and community

I'm only human, of flesh and blood I'm made

Making buildings more efficient: It helps to understand human behavior 13
Posted 1 day, 19 hours ago by David Roberts
If I told you how much energy your neighbors use on average, and whether you fell above or below that average, would that induce you to save more energy? What if, depending on whether you came in above or below average, you got an emoticon on your energy bill? Say, a smiley face if you save more energy than they do, a frowny face if less. Sounds silly, right? We're all rational people here. We do things for considered reasons, not some cartoon face! Except not so much. Read More
How a simple renovation turned into the "Big Dig" of rehabs

Home Economics of the JP Green House, Part 1 0
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago by Ken Ward
From an initial budget of $25,000 to a revised estimate of $200,000, the JP Green House has taken on Big Dig proportions -- but the new reality will mean a smarter eco-model in the end. Read More
Placemakers

A surprising sneak peek at the clothesline revolution 33
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago by Katharine Wroth
Alexander Lee travels the country evangelizing the merits of clotheslines through his organization, Project Laundry List. He says the humble laundry tool can have a real impact on climate and energy -- he'd even like to see one at the White House. So why are so many people vehemently opposed? Read More

More Placemaking

Toward a more perfect invisible hand

Making buildings more efficient: rationalizing retrofit markets 6
Posted 1 week, 1 day ago by David Roberts
As I said in my last post, taking energy efficiency in buildings seriously means expanding our policy horizons beyond the blunt tool of raising energy prices. We have to think in creative ways about how to remove market and behavioral failures that inhibit cost-effective responses to today's energy prices. How can we make efficiency markets more rational and robust? What follows is not intended to be comprehensive, just to call out some of the bigger challenges and a few interesting attempts to overcome… Read More
Of price and men

Making buildings more efficient: looking beyond price 5
Posted 1 week, 2 days ago by David Roberts
The market for building efficiency is snarled with market and behavioral failures that prevent price signals from getting translated into action. Instead of merely raising prices further, policymakers ought to look into ways to correct some of those failures. Read More
Jobs we can believe in

Merkley wants Senate jobs bill to help finance building efficiency retrofits 5
Posted 1 week, 4 days ago by David Roberts
Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid met with the chairs of six committees that might have some hand in developing the clean energy bill. The question at hand was whether the bill should be pushed back in favor of a short-term focus on finance reform, jobs, and the deficit. Though John Kerry argued vigorously that the clean energy is a jobs bill that won't grow the deficit, it looks like he lost out and there will be some kind of standalone jobs bill in the interim. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)… Read More
They Nailed It

Slideshow: Reinventing the JP Green House 1
Posted 1 week, 5 days ago by Andrée Zaleska, Ken Ward
Ken Ward and Andrée Zaleska are turning an old Boston store into a new model of eco-living -- here's a glimpse at the work underway. Read More
The night I slept with Jim Hansen 15
Posted 2 weeks, 6 days ago by Ken Ward
College students in Massachusetts got tired of letting climate worries keep them up all night. Now they're sleeping soundly -- in the middle of Boston Common. Read More
Low Impact, No Publicity

Simple people 6
Posted 3 weeks, 6 days ago by Andrée Zaleska
Certain people get a lot of attention for living simply (ahem, No Impact Man, Sleeping Naked lady). But simple living is all around us, offering inspiration that doesn't come in the form of press releases. Read More
PBS NOW - Electric Car Dreams

The long and wind-powered road 7
Posted 1 month ago by David Brancaccio
The Danes are hard at work cracking one of the great challenges of wind power: the fact that the wind blows when it darn well pleases. Read More
How to Actually Solve Climate Change, Part Whatever

Energy Trust and the Big Hope 13
Posted 1 month ago by Auden Schendler
One glimmer of hope in the campaign against climate change is called Energy Trust, an organization in Oregon that, if widely copied, would move us well on the way to solving the problem. Read More
Green Jobs Now

Weatherizing Portland 0
Posted 1 month ago by Andrea Buffa
Clean Energy Works Portland is a groundbreaking new program that enables Portland residents to improve the energy efficiency of their homes and pay for the improvements over time through their utility bills. Read More
Mass. religious, environmental leaders beseech Obama to take action

WWLD: What Would Lincoln Do? 2
Posted 1 month ago by Ken Ward
Conjuring images of another world leader faced with a profound moral challenge, Massachusetts religious and environmental leaders call upon Obama to act on climate quickly. Read More
Listen to the coal guy!

Why it’s better to invest in efficiency than to hold electricity rates down 9
Posted 1 month ago by David Roberts
A utility representative, of all people, recognizes the important truth that it is better to give consumers efficiency than to give them cheaper electricity. Read More
the rhymes they are a-changin'

Eve of Destruction (New Millennium) 5
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago by Ken Ward
As a rallying cry for this weekend's Day of Climate Action, veteran activist Ken Ward rewrote a classic tune -- see him perform it with partner Andrée Zaleska here. Read More
Climate Corps interns save Fortune 500 firms $54 million 4
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago by Todd Woody
A $4 billion push to make affordable housing green 0
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago by Katharine Wroth
For public transportation to survive, we all need to ... drive more? 4
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago by Katharine Wroth
Weatherization will save us all 6
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Katharine Wroth
4.5 things I learned at my energy audit 8
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Katharine Wroth
The best part about climate change 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago by Andrée Zaleska
SolarCity makes electric cars an even smarter investment 19
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Todd Woody
Obama’s absurd Olympic boosterism 2
Posted 2 months ago by Tom Philpott
Therapy on the Titanic 4
Posted 2 months ago by Andrée Zaleska
As Philadelphia goes, so goes the nation 1
Posted 2 months ago by Katharine Wroth