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New York's Real Climate Challenge: Fixing Its Aging Buildings

Patrick Sisson

December 29, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

A housing project in Brooklyn is taking nine apartment buildings and retrofitting them to be more sustainable and cut carbon emissions. Casa Pasiva is a $20 million project that aims to reduce heating and cooling costs because of updated machinery and thick exteriors that will improve air quality. Funding for these types of initiatives is not always certain, but a collaboration between a developer and a nonprofit, with some city financing, made this first-of-a-kind green building renovation in New York possible.

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London Is “Rewilding” and Native Species Are Flocking In

Alasdair Lane

December 21, 2020 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom, London

Indigenous flora and fauna are returning to London in a successful effort to maintain the indigenous biodiversity of city centers. The Wild West End project is “rewilding” through green spaces to bring back natural habitats that have been disrupted due to urban, and now suburban, development. A noted increase in wildlife is helping achieve the goal of revitalizing “pathways of natural habitat along which wildlife can travel and flourish unfettered by human activity."

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Breaking Buildings' Addiction to Fossil Fuels

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson Alex Blumberg

December 10, 2020 |

Gimlet Media |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

BlocPower retrofits buildings with energy-efficient equipment in financially underserved communities by offering loans to building owners for no money down. The company has completed about 1,000 projects by bundling the financing for many projects and finding investors willing to provide capital for the larger sum, which reduces investor risk. The group also created technology to reduce the costs of building inspections and energy usage monitoring. The new equipment increases building values and reduces energy costs so that owners pay less in monthly loan repayments than they would with the old equipment.

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A System for Sharing Household Heat Is Growing Beneath France

Chad Small

December 04, 2020 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: France, Paris

In Paris, about 7,500 buildings are heated using geothermal energy, a cost-saving and carbon neutral energy source. Water is drawn from deep below ground at a central location and heated by the earth, and then sent via underground pipes to individual buildings. The Bagneux and Chatillon district has scaled up the system, providing heat to over 40,000 people. Districts created joint ventures to reduce construction costs and residents do not notice the energy source shift because when the temperature drops to a point where geothermal energy is not viable, gas boilers automatically keeps the heat flowing.

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Heat Waves Kill More People Than Any Other Weather Disaster. These Cities Have A Plan.

Rachel Ramirez

December 01, 2020 |

The Huffington Post |

Multi-Media |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: India, Ahmedabad, Gujarat

With rising temperatures occurring all over the world, cities are implementing plans to combat heat waves and protect its residents. The city of Ahmedabad in India has been a model for heat resiliency after it created its first heat action plan that centered around “community-focused social measures.” Because of the plan, a 2015 heat wave resulted in fewer than 20 fatalities compared with thousands of deaths in previous years. Other cities like New York City are also participating in heat resiliency efforts aimed at protecting all of its residents.

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Crowdfunded solar puts Red Lake Nation on a path to energy sovereignty

Frank Jossi

November 13, 2020 |

Energy News Network |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Red Lake Indian Reservation, Minnesota

The Red Lake Nation in Minnesota is building a 240-kilowatt solar array on top of a workforce training center, which will generate about half of the building’s electricity. This project was financed through crowdfunding, where they raised $250,000 from religiously inclined microlenders. The goal: to allow the tribe to have energy sovereignty, create higher-paying jobs, and maintain a healthy environment.

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Gamification in Urban Planning: Participation Through Minecraft

Laura von Puttkamer

November 03, 2020 |

Urbanet |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: Sweden

Urban planning using gamification is a viable way of engaging diverse parts of the population and placing people and communities at the center of the process. “Block by Block” is a collaboration between UN Habitat and the game company Mojang that holds participatory workshops, where people design public spaces using the game Minecraft. Over 25,000 people from diverse backgrounds and age groups have participated. Professional advisers are present and they adjust the designs for implementation. The method has been used by the City of Stockholm and to create the first skatepark in Kosovo.

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Of hemp's many uses, one of the most promising could be in construction

Nate Berg

October 06, 2020 |

Ensia |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom

Hempcrete is made from the dried core of hemp stalks and a lime-based binder and can be cast into blocks and panels just like concrete. But unlike concrete, which emits CO2, hempcrete actually absorbs it while also reducing construction waste. Though not strong enough to be load bearing, it has outperformed other materials in terms of insulation, and is therefore an ecofriendly option for covering walls. Reducing the need for air conditioners in warm climates limits CO2 emissions even more. Hempcrete has been used to build new structures and retrofit existing ones in Europe and Australia.

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Kenyan engineers recycling plastics for bricks

Yvonne Okwara-Matole

September 28, 2020 |

Citizen TV Kenya |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: Kenya

Gjenge Makers Ltd is an alternative building product manufacturing company that creates products – such as pavers and blocks – out of recycled plastics. Founded by four Kenyan engineers, the team began by studying the manufacturing process and researching what products would do well on the market. They then built all of the machinery themselves, which break down the plastics, and then mix them with other building material products to ultimately create customizable plastic bricks that can withstand larger weight and are less expensive than concrete. They are popular in rural and lower-income areas.

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As Concerns Over Climate Change Rise, More Developers Turn to Wood

Keith Schneider

September 22, 2020 |

The New York Times |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Spokane, Washington

Eastern Washington University recently built the first tall wood office building in the state joining hundreds of other large “mass-timber” projects in the United States. This growing industry constructs panels, beams, and columns from trees that need to be thinned to curb wildfires in forests. While wood buildings can be more expensive to build than ones constructed from concrete and steel, environmentalists are on board because wood can store carbon, which can help offset greenhouse gas emissions.

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