Telecommuting has become more and more prevalent since the advent of cloud computing and the internet. Employees and students alike are sitting down in their home office, living room or bedroom to do their jobs and complete their courses.

Beyond the obvious benefits of choosing to attend (more…)

Rep. Ed Perlmutter, Secretary of HUD Shaun Donovan and Denver Mayor Hickenlooper, Benedict Park Place housing development in Denver.

I believe that when you set out to look for a home, you aren’t just looking for a house, but you are also looking for a community.  You are thinking about access to quality schools and safe streets for your children.  You are thinking about transportation to work and school.  It’s important for you to have access to good jobs, grocery stores and transportation.  When you choose a home, you choose a community and all that is has to offer.  As a father, I understand how important it is to spend less time commuting and more time with family.

Through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development department’s Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities, we are working with the Department of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency to create those sustainable communities.  Guided by six “livability principles,” our Interagency Partnership is working to break down silos that traditionally exist in the federal government and help local communities across the country improve access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs, while protecting our environment.  It will help communities build more livable, walkable, environmentally sustainable regions by connecting housing to jobs, fostering and encouraging local innovation, and by building a clean energy economy. (more…)

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released the15th annual U.S. greenhouse gas inventory report, which shows a drop in overall emissions of 2.9 percent from 2007 to 2008.

The downward trend is attributed to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions associated with fuel and electricity consumption.

An emissions inventory that identifies and quantifies a country’s primary anthropogenic1 sources and sinks of greenhouse gases is essential for addressing climate change. (more…)

Authors Andres Duany and Jeff Speck, renowned city planners who brought the issue of suburban sprawl to the forefront of the national debate, have come together again with The Smart Growth Manual, which details the path to creating better, greener and environmentally-friendly communities.

CleanTechies caught up with Speck for three questions on better living through planning.

CleanTechies: When you hear the term smart growth, what does it mean to you?

Jeff Speck: It’s the opposite of sprawl. And sprawl is identified as growth that spreads out at low density, separates uses and relies on automotive transportation and has a concomitant disinvestment in city centers.  So smart growth is the attempt to reverse those trends, or to continue the momentum that’s already been begun toward reversing those trends.

I have a specific message for CleanTechies: Sustainability is about systems. Unless we approach our footprint systematically, we’re just kind of nibbling around the edges. And I think almost all of the gizmo green solutions to climate change and post-peak oil challenges are nibbling around the edges without getting to the meat of the problem.

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New England has some hard learned lessons for the rest of the country when it comes to infrastructure. Boston is home to the nation’s biggest highway project, the Central Artery/Tunnel Project (a.k.a. “the Big Dig”).

The Big Dig has become synonymous with corruption, cost overruns, delays, shoddy workmanship and waste. It is a model for what not to do when building national infrastructure. High speed rail planners should review it step-by step and formulate a plan that is an exact opposite of the Big Dig.

Why was the Big Dig such a calamity? Many reasons can be singled out, but the primary one is that it’s the way we Americans do business: contract the work to the private sector that seeks maximum profit while giving minimum return. (more…)

In Cape Town, South Africa, as well as in many U.S. cities, wealthy suburban dwellers choke roads driving into the city, eschewing the public transit that shuttles blue collar workers. The addition of bus and rail lines in the city’s center in anticipation of hosting the 2010 World Cup has city leaders increasing efforts to get people out of their cars and on to public transit.

In Cape Town, most white collar workers drive themselves to work, fearing crime on trains and on the 20-seat shared taxis that shuttle one-third of inner city commuters. Business leaders from the Cape Town Partnership, along with the University of Michigan and Ford, are working with the city’s largest employers to get more of the 400,000 daily commuters moving by alternative modes of transportation by establishing mobility hubs.

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