Planning Pool

CEOs for Cities just released a study showing that homes located close to shops, schools, churches, offices, libraries, parks, and restaurants are worth more than similar homes in less-walkable neighborhoods.

The report, “Walking the Walk: How Walkability Raises Housing Values in U.S. Cities” by Joseph Cortright, analyzed data from 94,000 real estate transactions in 15 major markets. Cortright found that in 13 of the 15 markets, higher levels of walkability, as measured by Walk Score, correlated to higher home values.

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Sun Edison, North America’s largest solar energy provider, has finally located a suitable property to build a 21 Megawatt solar photovoltaic farm, according to Davidson County Economic Development Commission.

Duke Energy, North Carolina’s largest energy provider, plans to buy all of the output from the $173 million operation. Maryland-based Sun Edison estimates that this Davidson solar farm will be one of the biggest in the United States, larger than the 14 MW Nellis Solar Power Plant. The 21 MW facility is also significant for Sun Edison, who currently has about 67 MW installed in the US. However, on the global scale, the 21 MW facility is overshadowed by a number of Spanish farms.

The Davidson … Continue Reading

The U.S. Congress just put another US$2 billion into the popular Cash for Clunkers program.

The Cars Allowance Rebate System (CARS), which has been dubbed “Cash for Clunkers,” has been so popular in the US that the $1 billion allocated for the program ran out in just a week, three months ahead of schedule. The $2 billion extension will let car owners trade in old fuel-inefficient cars for $3,500 to $4,500 until September 1.

This week, the Transportation Department released data showing that more than 184,000 cars had been traded in, with the Toyota Corolla as the best-selling new car under the clunker program.

Cash for Clunkers requires car dealerships to shred the old, gas-guzzling auto … Continue Reading

The City Fix just posted a really interesting video about an advertising campaign in Sweden that hoped to get drivers to take the bus. The campaign started with an installation on the side of a busy highway of bus made out of 50 crushed cars. The installation created such a huge buzz on local media that it became viral, spreading to other media channels and eventually the internet.

Probably the most interesting part of the campaign is the website that the advertising company set up. The site (unfortunately there isn’t an English version but check out this site anyways – it has some really interesting pictures and graphs) has a video of the road where the advertising installation is located. A camera counts the number … Continue Reading

Here’s an interesting article by Edward Glaeser and Matthew Kahn, economists well-known in the urban economics and environmental economics fields. They have found that Manhattan residents emit almost 4,500 pounds less of transportation-related carbon dioxide than suburban New York residents, making Manhattan one of the greenest places in America.
The data suggest a strong general pattern: households in dense urban areas have significantly lower carbon emissions than households in the suburbs.
Counter-intuitive, or does this really make sense?

Matthew Kahn also has an informative and interesting blog here. He also just posted a reader’s response to his and Glaeser’s article. The reader pointed out that cities rely heavily on imported goods, especially water, which is unsustainable. If you’re interested in water issues, you might like to check out the post here.

via www.dcexaminer.com >> Opinion.