VW has been showing off a 1-Liter diesel-hybrid concept car, which gets 170 MPG. Then again, clean and green mechanized transport is hardly a new thing: in the 19th century, hill-side cable cars often ran on water. In Switzerland, they did one better: powering a train with sewage.
Why don’t parents want to bring their kids onto the streets of New York, and why isn’t there enough space on the sidewalk for pedestrians? Because, says Mark Gorton of Streetsblog, we give all of our space to the least spatially-efficient or environmentally-friendly mode of transportation.
The Times reports that in the past 40 years, the number of children who walked to school dropped by nearly 30 percent. How can parents get their kids to enjoy walking again (assuming parents still walk anywhere)? Don’t mention a walk, but ask “who wants to go exploring?”
A new push for new e-waste rules in the U.S. reminds that in a metric ton of old cell phones, there’s $15,000 worth of metals, giving recyclers an incentive not to ship all our discarded phones to China. An updated version of the website e-cycler connects those with recyclable items and no good way of getting rid of them with those who can make some cash off them.
Thom Mayne’s new academic building at Cooper Union is an object lesson in civic architecture and sustainability — and with a gorgeous staircase and an elevator that only stops on three floors, it reminds us to walk. Relatedly, we took a moment to appreciate the architectural genre of towers. They’re often built on environmentally important or sensitive sites, are often designed for education. We have a slideshow.
Though the tax credits are big and the vinyl window replacement salesmen are aggressive, Lloyd Alter notes that repairing your older windows isn’t just more energy efficient but helps preserve a small piece of history.
Ponoko, the digital fabricator, has teamed up with ShopBot to form 100K Garages, which will link up those who need something made with a community of over six thousand fabricators–like a Kinkos for things.
Yanaizu, Japan is apparently 3290% sustainable, due to its dependence on geothermal energy. Could it be done in Alaska? According to Kurasaka-sensei, a zone where all energy requirements can be met by renewable, natural energy created there can be called self-sufficient if the supply rate is more than 100%. Geothermal power plants are pretty common here due to the volcanic activity, just like in parts of Alaska and elsewhere in Southeast Asi
The latest art project by John Fekner, is a tour through toxic sites in the U.S., and he wonders how much has really changed after more than a generation of environmental awareness.
