This week we say stories of several communities that have started to take control of their own destiny relative to energy decisions. First, in California - where granted it might be a bit easier - one community decides that it will become a solar town.
Renewable rules: Lancaster, Calif., requires all new homes to have solar power
"Most notably, in 2010 Lancaster partnered with SolarCity to launch a successful solar financing program for homeowners, nonprofits and businesses called Solar Lancaster. According to Greentech Media, the 1.45-megawatt program — it extends not only to private homes and businesses but also to city hall, the Lancaster Performing Arts Center, Clear Channel Stadium, churches, schools and more — will generate $1.5 million annually through 2017 and then $800,000 per year for the next 20 years."
On the other end of the spectrum, one town in Minnesota is trying to keep its citizens from having to live with the waste products of an environmentally damaging extraction process for fossil fuels.
Mining hub town of St. Charles says no to major frac sand facility
"The project promised 50 new jobs, but citizens feared the loss of tourism, depletion of groundwater used to wash the sand, pollution of groundwater from frac sand waste, lung disease from airborne crystalline silica dust and unsafe truck traffic."
In developing communities around the world, these similar questions will be raised, and it is up to all of us - both in the developed and developing world - to come to an understanding on how we can achieve the goal of increasing quality of life for some without decreasing quality of life for others.
Can the world fight climate change and energy poverty at the same time?
"That said, other experts are skeptical that tackling climate change and energy poverty at once is as easy as it sounds. Roger Pielke Jr., an environmental studies professor at the University of Colorado, has pointed out that the international community’s definition of 'modern energy access' tends to be pitiful — it means providing people with a mere 2.2 percent of the energy that the average American uses."
Some are taking a creative approach to visualizing and dealing with this issue.
What if the entire world lived in one city?
"This is the premise behind an ambitious research project, called 'The City of 7 Billion,' for which the two recently won the $100,000 Latrobe Prize from the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows. With the geo-spatial model Mendis and Hsiang are creating – think a super-enhanced, zoomable Google Earth, Hsiang says – they’re hoping to study the impact of population growth and resource consumption at the scale of the whole world."
Meanwhile, across the pond, London is taking a new approach to transportation infrastructure that seeks to keep people mobile, while improving air quality. Hopefully, it will inspire communities across the world to shift from vehicle-centered transportation development to people-centered transportation development.
London unveils $1.51 billion bicycle master plan with 15-mile bike highway
"London is about to get a Holland-style bike-ability makeover, as Mayor Boris Johnson just announced a $1.51 billion master plan to improve the city’s bicycle network. The safer bicycle network is designed to relieve pressure on inner-London’s roads and public transportation systems. The plan also includes an ambitious 'Crossrail for Bike' – a 15-mile bicycle highway segregated from road traffic that will connect the suburbs of East and West London."
Happy Friday!
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