May 19th, 2011

Developers in California previewed today what they say will be the largest “Zero Net Energy development of its kind in the U.S.,” showing off the first phase of a 130-acre community at the University of California at Davis.

The project will be home to apartments for more than 2,000 students, an education center, recreation and study facilities, as well as 343 homes to be sold to faculty and staff, and a scenic village square. A complex solar energy system created by SunPower, Inc., will supply all of the community’s electricity, allowing West Village to meet its zero-impact goal.

“This is a demonstration of California’s excellence in sustainability, and should set an example for the rest of the nation,” said Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, who toured the complex, called West Village. He was accompanied by UC Davis Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi, Jim Pape, president of SunPower, and Nolan Zail, vice president of lead developer Carmel Partners.

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May 5th, 2011

Bike Month rolls around every May, sallying in on spring weather and renewing hopes for cleaner air.
This year’s Bike Month, though, arrives with a certain urgency: Gasoline is at $4 a gallon and travel by car is becoming more of a burden to Americans already pinched by stagnant salaries, sharply rising medical costs and higher food prices. We’ve got a tank full of costs and urban centers choking on ozone, particulate and greenhouse gas pollution. So this year, instead of looking like a “nice to have,” bike trails are increasingly vital to any urban or suburban redesign. Climate change “believers” already see it that way. They know that every time someone bikes, walks or takes mass transit to work they’ve lower their carbon impact, and contributed to cleaner skies for all of us.

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May 20th, 2010

strong>By Lester R. Brown

Lester Brown founded the Earth Policy Institute and Worldwatch Institute

Cars promise mobility, and in a largely rural setting they provide it. But in an urbanizing world, where more than half of us live in cities, there is an inherent conflict between the automobile and the city. After a point, as their numbers multiply, automobiles provide not mobility but immobility, as well as increased air pollution and the health problems that come with it. Urban transport systems based on a combination of rail lines, bus lines, bicycle pathways, and pedestrian walkways offer the best of all possible worlds in providing mobility, low-cost transportation, and a healthy urban environment.

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