Planning Pool

A technologically advanced rain barrel, as captured by Jason Vance on Flickr. Thanks for the Creative Commons photo!

We all know that outdated legislation can often be one of the largest barriers change. Up until 2009, in the state of Colorado it was illegal to have a rain barrel and still is illegal for a majority of its residents. They would probably not hang you for it and it was mostly unenforced but it still had an effect on how infrastructure in that state could be designed, particularly for large developments. You couldn’t bring a development application which included a rainwater collection system no matter what the planned use for that water.

The reason rain barrels were and still are in most circumstances illegal is … Continue Reading

For all of the attention paid to our inefficient cities and the need for higher building standards, the elephant in the room is how to retrofit the housing stock that we already have.  It’s not a sexy task, but the truth is that building new domiciles for everyone, or even most people, is way out of the question.  

When lobbying for the recently adopted American economic stimulus package, President Barack Obama hit the media circuit touting the stimulative effects of home-weatherization.  Though hardly inspirational (John Stewart had a field-day with the mundane soundbites), Obama hit on an important need, especially in North American suburbs.

Tom Zeller, editor of the New York Times’ Green Inc. blog, recently began a video series documenting the weatherization of his Colorado home.  His project is likely to be replicated millions of times over … Continue Reading