Monthly Archives: July 2013
A Two Minute Walk Thru Hydra
“Rubbish trucks are the only motor vehicles on the island, as cars or motorcycles are not allowed by law. Donkeys, bicycles, and water taxis provide public transportation. The inhabited area, however, is so compact that most people walk everywhere.” Population … Continue reading
Guest Post: Suburbia and the American Dream
Strong Towns – Will Seath “To put it bluntly, President Obama would like to abolish the suburbs… Moving to a suburb in pursuit of the American dream… looks to Obama and his [community] organizing mentors like selfishly refusing to share … Continue reading
Finally: A Life Cycle Analysis of Electric Cars
No Tech Magazine-Kris De Decker “We develop and provide a transparent life cycle inventory of conventional and electric vehicles and apply our inventory to assess conventional and EVs over a range of impact categories. For all scenarios analyzed, the use … Continue reading
The Status Quo of Electric Cars: Better Batteries, Same Range
Low-Tech Magazine – Kris De Decker Electric motors and batteries have improved substantially over the past one hundred years, but today’s much hyped electric cars have a range that is – at best – comparable to that of their predecessors … Continue reading
Electric Cars:Unclean At Any Speed
World Streets:The Politics of Transport in Cities Upon closer consideration, moving from petroleum-fueled vehicles to electric cars begins to look more and more like shifting from one brand of cigarettes to another. The critical consideration is this: Are EVs in … Continue reading
The Coming Bold Transformation of the American City
The Atlantic Cities-Enrique Penalosa “I believe a different urban model is possible: a dense city with a large percentage of buildings facing pedestrian-and-bicycle-only promenades or greenways.” In 40 years, 2.7 billion more people will live in world cities than do … Continue reading
Toward Resilient Architecture:Why Green Often Isn’t
Something surprising has happened with many so-called “sustainable” buildings. When actually measured in post-occupancy assessments, they’ve proven far less sustainable than their proponents have claimed. In some cases they’ve actually performed worse than much older buildings, with no such claims. … Continue reading