Green

Environmentally friendly, green ways of living

There are 363 posts filed in Green (this is page 18 of 37).

N.C. panel touts wind energy use

The Wright Brothers came to North Carolina for a reason!

RALEIGH — A new study released Wednesday by Gov. Bev Perdue said North Carolina had the largest offshore wind resource on the East Coast and that the state should work with industry to develop the wind energy industry.

The 15-member panel said wind energy along North Carolina’s coast and sounds offered significant opportunities for renewable energy and for job creation.

“North Carolina’s extensive coastline and large offshore wind resources appear to make it a prime area for offshore-wind development,” the panel said.

via N.C. panel touts wind energy use – Technology – NewsObserver.com.

Water system bills, revisited

Remember how I said that John Carman, Raleigh’s Public Utilities Director, has been going around telling anyone who’ll listen that Raleigh’s water infrastructure is aging rapidly and will soon need major maintenance? The Raleigh Public Record looked at the report put out by the city’s Water Utility Transition Advisory Task Force (WUTAT):

Raleigh’s underground water infrastructure, mainly pipes in the ground, needs more than $7 billion in repairs, according to City Public Utilities Director John Carman. These are not immediate costs, he said, but now is when Raleigh should be planning to replace pipes that will age out during the coming decades.

Carman told the Record the current financial model for the system does not put away any money to pay for replacing pipes that have a lifespan of anywhere from 60 to 100 years.

“We have $500 million worth of pipe that was installed before World War II,” Carman said.

Kudos to the Raleigh Public Record for raising awareness about this issue.

Big water bills coming due

I spent a little time this evening attending the inaugural meeting of the Midtown CAC. Among the presenters was the City of Raleigh’s Public Utilities Director, John Carman. Carman (as he’s known around the city) has been meeting with CACs and other civic groups on a speaking tour. He gave a similar talk to the East CAC back in April.

In his talk, Carman explains the many challenges of running his department, among which is the conflicting problem of water conservation. As you may remember, the city’s droughts have prompted many residents to drastically cut back on their water usage. This was good news to almost everyone but Carman, who has to fund his department through water bills. Thus when folks used less water, they actually get charged more because public utilities needs to make up the balance.
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Taking a u-turn on the one-way street

City of Raleigh Transportation guru Eric Lamb shared this story of one successful conversion of a one-way street to two-way in St. Catharines, Ontario. It provides hope that East Raleigh may also enjoy a renaissance once it banishes its one-way streets.

Two years ago, city crews went to St. Paul Street — the one-way spine of downtown St. Catharines, Ont. — took down the “no entry” signs, painted new lines and opened up the street to two-way traffic. According to planners, it would slow cars down, make the downtown more pedestrian friendly and spur retail development.

People, especially businesspeople, didn’t like it. And then they did.

“A prominent local businessman came up to me the other day and said, ‘I didn’t support it from the start, but this is the best thing you’ve ever done.’ ”

via Taking a u-turn on the one-way street | News | National Post.

Gas-Fracking Chemicals Found in WY Aquifer

Whoopsie.

And to think the American Petroleum Institute ran a 3/4 page color ad in today’s News and Observer, singing the praises of fracking.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said for the first time it found chemicals used in extracting natural gas through hydraulic fracturing in a drinking-water aquifer in west-central Wyoming.

Samples taken from two deep water-monitoring wells near a gas field in Pavillion, Wyoming, showed synthetic chemicals such as glycols and alcohols “consistent with gas production and hydraulic-fracturing fluids,” the agency said today in an e- mailed statement.

via Gas-Fracking Chemicals Found in WY Aquifer – Bloomberg.

Woman finishing up driving test crashes into Fayetteville DMV

This is a sad reminder that at a certain point some folks lose the ability to drive safely when they age.

Cars mean independence. If you take away someone’s driving ability, you take away their independence. We need to build our cities and communities so that one doesn’t need cars to retain one’s independence.

Three customers at a Fayetteville DMV office required medical attention Wednesday after a car came crashing through the building.

Gavin MacRoberts, spokesman for the Fayetteville Police, says a 2008 Acura crashed into the DMV office, located at 841 Elm Street, shortly after Noon.

It appears the driver, 77-year-old Annie Gore, was pulling into a parking space after completing a driving test when she accidentally stepped on the gas and crashed into the front of the building.

via Woman finishing up driving test crashes into Fayetteville DMV | NBC17.com.

Downtown wildlife

Early Monday morning, Kelly and I were awakened by the sound of a critter squealing outside our bedroom. This was followed by two excited hoots from a barred owl that apparently just scooped up a late night snack (a rabbit, in my guess).

That same morning my neighbor told me of being awakened by his dog barking wildly at something behind his home. My neighbor looked to find three deer (a doe and two fawns) standing in Lions Park.

It’s still amazing to me to live so close to downtown Raleigh and still be so close to wildlife.

Solar Shakeout Could Soon Reach China

This is astonishing news.

The race of utilities and dirty-fuel industries to build more power plants or drill more wells is not so much a race against dwindling dirty-fuel supplies, it’s a race against dirty-fuel obsolescence.

Oh, and that Solyndra so-called scandal? It’s a blessing in disguise, caused by the falling price of solar cells.

If oil prices fell from their 2008 peak as far as solar component prices have, a barrel of oil would cost about $10 – a 93 percent drop. Everyone could afford to fuel his own Formula One racecar.

Solar is already competitive with fossil fuel power in many markets around the world, especially where supply is unreliable and diesel backup generation is uncommon. “People are missing out about how cheap solar power has become,” said Ramesh Misra, senior analyst covering solar and technology at Brigantine Advisors in New York. “There is no other energy source that can make that claim.”

via Solar Shakeout Could Soon Reach China – Bloomberg.

One-way streets and property values

By BigBuzzMedia


I did a little bit of Googling tonight on the issue of one-way streets and property values. It seems that many sites say that one-way streets likely decrease property values:

From the University of Louisville comes Matt Hanka, ABD; and John Gilderbloom, Ph.D.’s paper entitled How One-Way Thinking is Hurting Historic Downtown Neighborhoods (a short but informative read):

One-way streets pose many threats for pedestrian and motorist safety, make city streets seem less safe, disproportionately impact poor and minority neighborhoods, hurt downtown businesses, reduce the property values of homes, and negatively impact the environment and contribute to global warming. Conversions to two-way have already happened in more than 100 cities around the United States.
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Tree planting at Chavis Park


I spent yesterday morning volunteering to plant trees around Chavis Park through the city’s Neighborwoods program and a generous gift from the Siemens Corporation. About 72 volunteers made up of Siemens employees, the St. Augustine’s Lady Falcons basketball team, Parks and Rec staff, Parks board members (Scott Reston, Kimberly Siran, and me) and other volunteers spent three hours planting new trees in the hardscrabble neighborhoods surrounding the park.

The weather was brisk in the morning but as the crew got rolling with tree planting we warmed up quickly. I had a wonderful time meeting folks from Siemens and working the the Lady Falcons to help beautify Raleigh with new trees.