Blogs

Jerry Yudelson: Top Ten Green Building Trends for 2009

By Admin / On January 28th, 2009

Green building consultant Jerry Yudelson has published his "Top Ten" list of green building trends for 2009. Yudelson says that green building will continue to grow in spite of the global credit crisis and the ongoing economic recession in most countries."What we're seeing is that more people are going green each year, and there is nothing on the horizon that will stop this trend. In putting together my Top Ten trends for 2009, I'm taking advantage of conversations I've had with green building leaders in the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Middle East over the past year," said Yudelson.

The Crash, Peak Oil and Resilient Cities

By Peter Newman / On December 9th, 2008

How did the crash happen? Over-inflating the economic balloon with debt that was vulnerable to rises in oil price. What do we do about it? Use non-oil-based projects and approaches to generate economic growth or else we are going to make things worse. In detail....

What the stock market and environmentalists could learn from each other

By Frank Ackerman / On November 24th, 2008

It's no surprise that financial disaster has pushed environmental problems out of the news of late. But it's too bad that they can't get together somehow; the two areas of crisis, and the needed solutions, have a lot in common. The common thread is that both involve risks of rare, catastrophic events. In both cases, the prudent response is to focus on insurance against worst-case risks, rather than cost-benefit analysis of the most likely outcomes.

What comes after Yes, we can!

By Jonathan Isham / On November 18th, 2008

So what next for climate activists swept up in ‘Yes, we can!' mania? Perhaps we first must acknowledge how hard this is going to be. As a friend wrote to me in reaction to last week's blog post, "I share your enthusiasm about the long-term, but the near term is going to be very challenging. Obama needs to convince the public that some pain is required immediately in order to clean out the problems in the financial system, mortgage markets, and budget deficit." My friend is right of course, and so-far-so-good

2009 - The end of an error?

By Frank Ackerman / On November 18th, 2008

My favorite quote from the recent campaign was the statement in Obama's acceptance speech at the convention in Denver. Speaking about the United States, he said, "We are better than these last eight years."

Resiliant cities and the crash

By Peter Newman / On November 12th, 2008

The financial crash is developing a whole industry of responses that can tell us where we went wrong and what we must do to make our future more resilient, especially in our cities where so much of the crash is hurting. Finance and economics dominate this discussion. We believe that a better understanding of what makes cities work will help in this debate, especially how urban transport and energy are fundamental to how the urban economy works or doesn't. What caused the crash?

Last minute Bush Administration actions

By Elizabeth Grossman / On November 10th, 2008

On November 4, from the White House to state houses and the unsung offices of Soil & Water Conservation and Public Utility Districts, American voters elected what is likely an unprecedented number of pro-environment candidates.

Solar, the benefits are big but the funding is not

By Walker Wells / On November 4th, 2008

In the green world, the "benefits of solar" is bandied about as dogma. But exactly what kind of benefits are we talking about? Economic? Environmental? Social? All of the above?

Bail-out or Build-out, Part 2

By Terry Tamminen / On October 27th, 2008

As the Presidential race nears the finish line— with the candidates and voters both gasping for air amidst the ubiquitous onslaught of commercials on everything from lawn signs to Saturday Night Live—there are no shortages of "new and improved" proposals for dealing with the current financial mess. Well, if politicians can constantly add to their repertoires, so can we.

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