Outtakes from today’s sustainable roundtable
Filed under: Cityscape, GREEN BUILDING, SMART GROWTH
Well, darn if you can never tell where I might show up on the Web!
I covered Southface’s Sustainable Roundtable this morning for SaportaReport.
The topic, one near and dear to my heart and yours, was the future of transit in Atlanta, and the featured speakers were Erik Steavens, director of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s Intermodal Programs, and Lee Biola, president of Citizens For Progressive Transit.
The event gave us, as I put it in the piece, reasons for optimism and reasons for skepticism. Read the piece here.
So what’s with the photo above?
Please go to My Green ATL to read the rest of the post.
DOT Chief visit, Part two
Filed under: ARTS & EVENTS, GREEN BUILDING, SMART GROWTH
When I give my opinion here, I’m taking one of the liberties that, I think, blogging affords.
But as a former — very recently former — newspaper reporter, I always feel weird, for lack of a more eloquent phrase.
So I want to add some other context to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood’s visit to Atlanta today.
First off, if one of the feds is here, and he wants to talk about transportation, I would like to think he won’t forget us, and he will keep an eye on our progress, or lack thereof.
Also, any money for MARTA is good.
So LaHood brought the classic big check in the amount of $10.8 million to help MARTA become more energy-efficient.
By installing solar panels at the Laredo bus maintenance facility in Decatur, MARTA will save at least $150,000 a year for the next 45 years.
Lord knows, MARTA needs an extra $150,000. I think MARTA may even need an an extra $1.50, while we’re on the topic.
And the initiative will translate into other money for MARTA because the excess electricity the panels generate at the facility will then be sold to Georgia Power, bringing in some much-needed income.
What organization doesn’t want to be more energy-efficient these days?
Construction starts on green building in SE Atlanta
Work in progress at 880 Glenwood Ave.
The five-acre plot of land at 880 Glenwood Ave. in Southeast Atlanta is now just a huge mound of dirt.
But by the end of next year, those five acres (see photo at left) will have morphed into a 325-unit luxury apartment complex that will also include retail (sound familiar?).
WSB Radio reported on this green development back in January. (The AJC also reported on it then).
Site preparation, including demolition of an existing low-slung 50s-era building, however, just began recently. The long narrow sliver of land actually runs behind the Shed At Glenwood restaurant in the Glenwood Park planned community off of I-20. The project abuts the Beltline, and fronts two streets, Glenwood and Bill Kennedy Way, also known as the Glenwood-Memorial Connector. The developer is Capital 33, which is working in conjunction with the Trust for Public Land.
What’s notable about the mixed-use development, in addition to the (expected) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, is density.
One south Georgia builder sees green in green
To hear Jack Daniel Garrett tell it, all contractors in South Georgia eventually use only environmentally friendly building procedures. For now, he’s the only one, according to the Albany Herald.
Media Mayhem: My new column for Mother Nature News!
My first “Media Mayhem” column for the Mother Nature Network (and, hey, how about also checking out Cult of Green, my new blog on the media, pop culture and the environment?):
OK. Take a few deep breaths. Don’t get as worked up about these things as I do: This is how cable news coverage of the climate change bill that’s working its way through Congress will go for the next two months — at least in some media quarters.
Story continued on Mother Nature Network
New green building materials
Yeah, California may be a dysfunctional mess. But it’s still ahead of the Southeast in developing affordable green building materials.
There are a lot of great sustainable products out there. Before the housing downturn, more and more of them — from insulating concrete forms to solar hot water systems — were being produced within 100 miles of Atlanta. And I imagine that the trend will continue even through this recession.
One of the big frustrations for green homebuilding, however, remains the cost of transporting the really heavy stuff that’s only available from some distant innovator on the West Coast. Read more
The neverending project
Silvia and I have been working toward renovating our house in a green manner for about three years now. I’d actually been doodling out a plan for years earlier, as a batchelor.
But the forces of nature are conspiring to keep the project from reaching completion. After we’d been working with an architect for half a year, family tribulations issues caused us to put the project on hold. Then, when we almost had nailed down the final plan, we decided to part ways with our architect.
In September, we moved into a condo and were just about prepared to sign on the dotted line with a contractor. But the company I worked for (Creative Loafing) filed on Sept. 29 for bankruptcy protection, so we decided to hold off for a bit. Then, CL and I parted ways, and we decided to rent out the house.
Silvia fixed things up and a nice couple move in. But I’m still obessed with green building techniques, which I’ll write about here — along with musings and tall tales involving hammers, nails, and smashed thumbs and fingers.
Our new website!
