Posted on Tuesday October 20th by Alex Lessard-Pilon | 528
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- The production and use of energy in the US creates about $120 billion each year in health and environmental costs. About half of that is directly attributable to motor vehicles and their pollution. Interestingly, electric vehicles scored a bit worse than gas-powered rigs. (Nat’l Academy of Sciences)
- The bad news: More than half of teens text while they’re driving. The good news: 62 percent of teens support making said activity illegal. The takeaway: Teens are dumb but also smart. (Wireless Week)
- The gents who made all that money creating the Freakonomics empire are being destroyed over the global warming chapter in their new book. Nobel winner Paul Krugman is now part of the beat-down crew, calling them out for screwing up a reference to a major economist’s work on climate. (PK’s blog)
- Japan’s post-war economy has always relied heavily on massive public works spending – particularly so since the 1990s. The new government is trying to pare back the country’s construction budget. But as one rural dam project illustrates, that can be a thorny business. (NYT)
- In Vienna, four giant coal gasometers–23-story tanks for a 19th century power plant–have been gutted and converted into apartments, offices, restaurants, etc. Today the amazing structures “form a unique city center all their own, with a strong sense of community given its abundant housing and diversity of destinations.” (Inhabitat pic via)
- The WSJ introduces us to 5 energy technologies that could, ahem, “change everything.” They are: Space-based solar power, functional carbon capture systems, making cheap fuel from algae, high quality car batteries, and utility storage for all that sun and wind energy we’ll be generating in the The Future. (WSJ)
- In other list-related news, Fast Company rounds up eight “Blinding Buildings” from around the world–essentially, a fashion show for the most extravagant, extreme and kaleidoscopic structures of recent architectural history. Pretty! (Fast Company)
- According to new research, people living near green spaces are happier and less anxious. A perfectly intuitive conclusion, but the point isn’t that an apartment overlooking the park makes you feel good–they also prevent heart disease, back pain, and asthma. (Bloomberg)
October 20th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
I love those Gazometers in Vienna. Love it when form meets function so to speak.
The Japan piece shows how too much of a good thing is not good. There needs to be balance of sorts, excess in one area leads to neglect in others. The US has some good examples of excess and neglect, Military spending (excess), healthcare (neglect), It enrages me that money can be found to kill people but speak of providing the American people affordable healthcare now no money can be found.
Same thing with Highways and Airports (Excess) Rail (Neglect). There is no balance, it doesn’t need to be a healthy balance just a less lopsided one. Its infuriating.
Texting while driving should be made illegal. Everywhere.
October 20th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
The survey said that 60% of teens read incoming texts while driving. This is still an unsafe behavior, but I’d wager that it’s substantially less-unsafe (don’t want to say ‘more safe,’ ’cause it’s not safe) than actually composing a text message, which is what most people think of when they hear the word “texting.”
October 20th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
If you look at a phone to read a text for 3 seconds at 60km/hr (40mph) you’ve travelled half the length of a football field without looking at the road. A number of studies show you’re four times more likely to have a crash while using a hand-held device.
Virginia Tech did a big study of commercial drivers and found that they were much more affected by talking and texting than car drivers. They were six times more likely to have a collision or near-collision while dialing or reaching for the phone, and a staggering 23 times more likely if they were texting.
October 20th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Gasometer turned into apartments in Dublin. Sadly they have barely been occupied at all in the few years of theor existance due to the property market collapse. They sure do look good though:
http://media.photobucket.com/image/gasworks%20apartments/emmamanifesta/Gasworks.jpg
October 20th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Here’s a site link for the Vienna, AT gasometers :
http://www.wiener-gasometer.at/en/
. Primary site language is German and not all of the content has been translated to English.
October 20th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
The Czech National Technical Library, from the Blinding Buildings round-up, looks like an amazing place. Like some sort of scientist or engineer’s childhood fantasy hideout! I know I imagined that life as a scientist included glamorous buildings, witty architectural details, and fun places that only other scientists would want to come to.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:20 am
re: living near green spaces - IMO, simply living near a green space is not enough. I used to live across from a huge park (Van Cortlandt Park in NYC) but between my apartment building and the park was the nasty traffic sewer Broadway. Despite my close proximity, the traffic on this road basically ruined any tranquility the parked could have offered me. Same deal with the folks who have picnics in the park and blast reggaeton on stereos in the middle of the woods. Serene and rejuvenating, this isn’t.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:42 pm
If you crossed Austria and Singapore it would be a good shot at Utopia. I lived near Vienna and it is shocking how well/smart their institutions are. North America is to Europe what Africa is to North America.
October 28th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
The Gasometer complex in Vienna also has a stop on U3 subway line.