Lack of Trained Workforce Still an Obstacle to Smart Grid Success

Ever since the phrase “smart grid” started showing up in news articles, analysts have been looking at what it would take for a smarter power grid to deliver on promises of energy savings, reduced emissions and lower bills.

Portland State's new energy initiative

portland state is a leader in sustainability and place based education, two faculty from Brooklyn College went to visit last year and we're largely impressed.  This initiative really ups the ante in terms of their role in promoting sustainability in the region.  because of the density of the NYC metro area it would play out differently, but still interesting to ponder, especially as Obama has put nukes back on the table. 

Portland General Electric, the region’s major urban utility, and Portland State University, the region’s major urban university, have formed a long-term strategic partnership to promote the economic, environmental, and social sustainability of the Portland metro area.

new Fed office connecting housing, transportation and sustainable development

The word "silos" is most often used to talk about grain or
coal, not the federal government. But in the case of transportation and housing
-- two sectors that accounted for more than 43 percent of the nation's carbon emissions in
2008 -- Washington's
siloed approach of divided, blindered policymaking could put wheat farmers to
shame.

The Obama administration is starting to break down those
barriers between agencies, asking the Department of Transportation (DOT), the
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to take an all-hands-on-deck approach to smart growth.
Dubbed the Partnership for Sustainable Communities, the effort aims to provide
federal support for localities that want to offer more walkable neighborhoods
and cleaner commuting options than the car.

Urban Biofilter Project Plants Bamboo Forests to Clean up Brownfields

When i lived in Ft. greene our neighbor's back yard was OVEERRUN, and i mean OVERRUN with bamboo.  it was crazy. so i know this would work in bklyn. 

Bamboo forests are beautiful things — especially when they are cleaning urban air, soil, and water AND shielding communities from industry and heavily trafficked areas. Urban Biofilter creates bamboo forests on brownfields that are fed with wastewater. The harvested Bamboo then creates income in areas that are otherwise neglected through sustainable bamboo harvesting and timber production.

Public Art for Sustainability?

This is a review of a new book about the role of art production during the new deal; would be interesting to think about such a project for environmental sustainability; i think this is a neglected aspect in sustainability dicussions: the new for visual renderings and depictions of sustainable economic activities (gardening, green energy) but in ways that resonate with people culturally, including in terms of popculture, not just public-national culture. 

When Art Worked

A stunning new book shows how New Deal art helped remake democratic culture.

Posted by David Bollier

A portion of “Ranchers of the Panhandle,” by Frank Mechau, 1940, a mural in the Brownfield, Texas, post office.

At a time when our national (and global) predicaments are seen mostly as a matter for economists and policy wonks to solve, historian Roger Kennedy comes forward to remind us of the critical role of art. Art is not just an aesthetic pleasure or indulgence, he insists; it is a way in which people makes sense of their problems. It is a way of re-imagining the common good.