Green Building

Yeah, we said billion

A $4 billion push to make affordable housing green 0
Posted 2 weeks, 3 days ago Today brings news of a major investment in making affordable housing greener, and an ambitious call for an even bigger national conversion. Find out who's behind it.
Bumper to Bonkers

For public transportation to survive, we all need to ... drive more? 4
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago Could traffic jams convert drivers into subway riders? Are eco-parking garages the key to increasing train use? A look at the inescapable role of the car in our every deliberation, even when that deliberation is how to ditch the car.
Stripping for a cause

Weatherization will save us all 6
Posted 2 weeks, 5 days ago Despite its terrible name, Joe Biden's Middle Class Task Force has some solid ideas on saving energy and money. Find out what innovations are coming to your neighborhood.
Placemakers

Stockton Williams on urban retrofits, Obama, and the sexiness of caulking guns 1
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago What do you call a consortium of global foundations and banks intent on using energy retrofits to create jobs for low-income people? You could call it dreamy -- or you could call it Living Cities. We talk with the group's green-economy expert.
no more playing hooky

Will a greener White House complex mean a more productive president? 0
Posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago
A study released this week says employees in greener buildings are more productive, just as news spreads that the White House complex is seeking LEED certification. What does this bode for Obama? And will he have to sneak smokes under the portico?
China’s rearview mirror

China is leaving the U.S. in the dust as it surges ahead on clean energy 14
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago
Even as China overtakes the U.S. in the dubious category of “world’s leading greenhouse gas producer,” it is also well ahead of the U.S. in developing the technologies and policies to solve the problem -- and selling those solutions to us at massive profits that could have been ours.
Visions of the Green Future

California students take Refract House to Solar Decathlon 5
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
On the Silicon Valley campus of Santa Clara University, workers are building a contemporary wood-clad home that wouldn't look out of place in the pages of Dwell or another shelter magazine for the po-mo, Tesla-driving, little-square-eyeglasses-wearing set. Which is exactly the idea. The home is California's entry into the U.S. Department of Energy's biannual Solar Decathlon and is a collaboration between undergraduates at Santa Clara University and the California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
Humbly lining up behind Thoreau

Blood, sweat, and vision: The JP Green House in its ugly duckling phase 3
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago
You can't tell from the tall grass and gutted interior that the JP Green House is going to be a model of sustainable living, but its creators still believe -- and most of their visitors do too.
Will Skyscrape for Wind

Portland’s newest high-rise has wind turbines on the roof 1
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
It's so brilliant we wish we'd thought of it: wind turbines on skyscraper roofs. Will a new building in Portland pave the way?
Beginning the Great Leap

Four ways the U.S. & China can start cooperating now to tackle climate change 0
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
The recent high-profile visits to China by leading members of Congress and the Obama administration have made it clear that China and the U.S. are taking climate change seriously and recognize the importance of working closely together to find ways to reduce global warming pollution.
Placemakers

Tim Halbur on sprawl, propaganda, and Obama’s approach to urban issues 0
Posted 2 months, 2 weeks ago
We kick off a new interview series by talking with the managing editor of Planetizen, who knows a thing or two about how cities grow.
Oh, those pesky existential questions!

Puppies and bunnies and carnivorous eco-curmudgeons 7
Posted 2 months, 3 weeks ago
Should the JP Green House raise and slaughter bunnies in their back yard? That's just one of the questions they're struggling with. Weigh in!
Rebuilding america

A policy framework for investment in energy efficiency retrofits 1
Posted 2 months, 4 weeks ago
Any strategy to capture the benefits of energy efficiency in our “built environment” must include a program to retrofit our existing stock of residential, commercial and industrial structures.
Exhibit G

Slideshow: A tour of green-leaning museums 0
Posted 3 months ago
Whether their specialty is Monet or municipal planning, museums across the country are helping visitors see the green light. Take our tour -- admission is free!
It's crafty all right

Is this a green home? 21
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
I’m thinking about reporting on this house as an example of sensible environmental design reproducible for the masses. Can anyone help me decide?
...or, how we fight over the kids, housework, and money like everyone else!

Love in a time of cataclysm 4
Posted 3 months, 1 week ago
Everyone told us that building a house could wreck a relationship. And from past experience, we knew it to be true. But we plunged ahead despite our fundamentally different ways of navigating this warming world.
Are new nuclear plants the answer? No.

Oh, those sexy building codes: More powerful than 100 nuclear plants 2
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago
All of the other emissions-reduction approaches in the House climate bill pale in comparison to what the building energy codes will accomplish. Without them, we simply cannot meet the greenhouse-gas emissions reduction targets called for in the bill. We won't even come close.
This Week in Placemaking

The greenest grocery store, biggest “living wall,” and more eco-innovations 5
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago
From the country's greenest grocery store in Augusta, Maine, to a soaring transit station in Anaheim, Calif., we survey the landscape of green-building projects in the news.
The Grist List: From Baywatch to Bridge

Pamela Anderson grows her eco-assets, and more 6
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago By Ashley Braun, Sarah van Schagen
Pamela Anderson has transformed from Baywatch babe to eco-entrepreneur.
Ambition and trouble collide

Vancouver’s Olympic village aims for green, runs into problems 4
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
The athletes’ village is the centerpiece of efforts to green the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. Now being constructed on an 80-acre rehabbed brownfield near downtown, the village is intended to be a whole new kind of sustainable neighborhood. The development has impressive green features, but some serious problems too.