Center for Neighborhood Technology has been conducting research and developing and testing innovative programs to use urban resources more efficiently for almost 30 years. These efforts inevitably relate to the growing concerns about reducing greenhouse gas emissions and slowing global warming.
CNT’s research has shown that cities can be the most efficient places to live, with their lower per capita greenhouse gas emissions due to efficient land use and transportation alternatives. Because urban areas are compact and have extensive mass transit and communication networks, they offer the greatest opportunities to help solve the climate crisis by expanding and enhancing their existing strategies for reducing carbon emissions.
Learn more about our research and steps you can take to help improve the environment by checking out our current projects at right.
Friday, July 23rd, 2010 at 6:21 pm
News that the Senate leadership in Congress has decided to indefinitely postpone passing comprehensive climate and energy legislation this year is tremendously disappointing. Though climate change regulations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, states and regions are still moving forward, many viewed this summer as the best opportunity for Congress to pass legislation that would create a national framework to transform our energy system and cut global warming emissions.
Today’s news from Capitol Hill underscores why CNT’s work is more important than ever. Since the day CNT opened its doors more than 30 years ago, our philosophy is that change comes at the neighborhood level. And although it is crucial for the United States to implement a federal-level strategy to improve our energy system and reduce our global warming pollution, many of the actions required to meet any national climate goal will occur at the local level. That means every community can and should continue to move forward and do its part.
That’s why we at CNT focus on giving communities the tools and information they need to take action that improves and strengthens their communities and reduces their impact on the environment. For example:
- CNT directs cities on how best to monitor its emissions and create strategies to reduce them. CNT’s mitigation research for the Chicago Climate Action Plan serves as a guide for other communities to measure and strategically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. CNT Board Member Julia Parzen’s “Lessons Learned: Creating the Chicago Climate Action Plan” can help cities design their own climate action plan process that engages the whole community and creates real climate action.
- CNT brings energy efficiency retrofits for our building stock to scale. CNT’s multi-family building energy retrofits have created real dollar savings for building owners while reducing energy demand and cutting air pollution and global warming emissions.
- CNT created and continues to disseminate the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index (H+TSM Index), a tool for policy makers and homeowners to assess the transportation costs of a particular community. The H+T Index provides a complete picture of housing affordability and encourages people to re-think where they live based on transportation costs. Urging homeowners and policy makers to broaden their definition of affordability promotes dense community development and helps reduce driving, cut auto pollution, and save people money.
- CNT launched I-GO Car Sharing, which provides a sustainable, convenient, cost-effective alternative to car ownership. I-GO’s 15,000 members cumulatively save an estimated $25 million each year on avoided costs to own, insure and repair a vehicle.
- CNT promotes wide-scale use of green infrastructure, which can reduce the energy and conventional man-made infrastructure needed to manage and treat stormwater, while helping communities adapt to the changing rainfall patterns caused by global warming. Green infrastructure can also reduce the urban heat island effect and the need for dirty electricity to cool buildings in summer.
Through all of these projects and more, CNT will continue to work to help communities sustainably address global climate change while creating cost savings for residents and businesses.
Comments (0) »
Monday, July 12th, 2010 at 5:23 pm
The White House Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force is holding a series of meetings to “hear local and regional ideas, questions and concerns about climate change impacts and to describe Federal planning efforts already underway.” Three (in Florida, Oregon and Hawaii) have occurred. On Thursday July 15, 2010, the Chicago meeting will be held at the Metcalfe Federal Building from 1-5 PM. CNT President Scott Bernstein will participate in the “Great Lakes Urban Infrastructure Panel” at 3:30 PM.
This session, organized and co-hosted by the EPA and HUD, will focus on local and regional ideas and concerns about climate change impacts in the Great Lakes region, including impacts to urban infrastructure and the Great Lakes ecosystem.
There will be a live webcasts of the events available online.
Background
The White House Council on Environmental Quality provides the following background:
In 2009, the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration initiated the Interagency Climate Change Adaptation Task Force, which includes representatives from more than 20 Federal Agencies. When the President signed the Executive Order on Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, on October 5, 2009, he called on the Task Force to develop, within one year, Federal recommendations for adapting to climate change impacts both domestically and internationally.
On March 16, 2010, the Task Force released an interim report which outlines progress to date and recommends key components to include in a national strategy on climate change adaptation.
Meetings that already have been held include…
Oregon Regional Meeting: June 6, 2010 – Portland
* View the media advisory
* View the agenda
* Watch the video
Florida Regional Meeting: June 23, 2010 – Miami
* View the media advisory
* View the agenda
* Watch the video
Hawaii Regional Meeting: July 9, 2010 – Honolulu
* View the media advisory
* View the agenda
* Watch the video
The next two upcoming meetings…
Chicago, Illinois:
When:
Thursday, July 15
Media availability at 12:30 p.m. and public outreach meeting at 1 p.m.
Note: Please allow up to 30 minutes to get through security at the Metcalfe Federal Building.
Where:
Room 325, Metcalf Federal Building, 77 W. Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL
Who:
** Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality
** Ronald Sims, Deputy Secretary of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
** Robert Verchick, Deputy Associate Administrator of the Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
** Jo-Ellen Darcy, Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works
** John Balbus, Senior Adviser for Public Health at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Denver, Colorado:
Organized by the United States Department of Agriculture and co-hosted by the American Farmland Trust and the National Center for Atmospheric Research. Go here for more information, agenda updates, and to RSVP.
When:
Monday, July 19, 2010; 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Where:
Doubletree Hotel Denver
Grand Ballroom
3203 Quebec Street
Denver, Colorado 80207
More Information
Online Resources:
Climate Change Adaptation Task Force. Led by White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and including more than 20 Federal Agencies.
Integrating Valuation Methods to Recognize Green Infrastructure’s Multiple Benefits. Reviews current methods, tools and case studies of valuation of the economic and social benefits produced by green infrastructure practices, particularly as they are applied in urban settings.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Chicago: Emissions Inventories and Reduction Strategies for Chicago and its Metropolitan Region. A summary of the research methods and results CNT used to develop Chicago’s greenhouse gas inventory for the Chicago Climate Action Plan. NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in Journal of Great Lakes Research.
Chicago’s Guide to Completing an Energy Efficiency & Conservation Strategy. The purpose of Chicago’s Guide is to help cities and counties to develop a long-term and sustainable energy efficiency and conservation plan and maximize the opportunity for cost savings, environmental benefits, financial leverage and economic development.
Summary Report: Chicago’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An Inventory, Forecast and Mitigation Analysis for Chicago and the Metropolitan Region. This research was part of a broader effort by the City to determine the local ramifications of climate change, for its citizens and for City operations. In addition to CNT’s work on emissions and mitigation strategies, the City engaged researchers to examine climate-change adaptation, economic impacts, and the effects of climate change on City departments.
Chicago’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions: An Inventory, Forecast and Mitigation Analysis for Chicago and the Metropolitan Region. Commissioned by the city to help create its recently released Climate Action Plan, CNT conducted the emissions and mitigation-strategies research to reach the city’s emission reduction target of 25% below 1990 levels by the year 2020.
The Presidential Climate Action Plan. Developed by a broad group of leaders from around the nation, the PCAP is the most comprehensive and detailed plan for national climate action yet presented to the presidential candidates and the American people. It consists of more than 100 proposed policies and programs covering more than a dozen critical areas of endeavor. More broadly, PCAP identifies how the 44th President and the Congress can help America find its path to a 21st Century economy that achieves three critical objectives: security, opportunity and stewardship.
CNT’s Climate news archive.
Comments (0) »
Thursday, July 1st, 2010 at 1:49 pm
CNT and its affiliates, CNT Energy and I-GO, were present at the opening of “Climate Change,” an exhibit organized by the American Museum of Natural History in collaboration with the Field Museum and several other museums. The exhibit includes the Chicago Climate Action Room that highlights the Chicago Climate Action Plan. Several local organizations were invited to produce a panel about their work addressing climate change. CNT’s panel shows what the public can do to reduce their emissions while saving money. Our panel focuses on energy reduction at home and on the road as well as ways to green communities.
In conjunction with the exhibit, the Chicago Wilderness launched their Climate Action Plan for Nature that establishes a framework to address issues of biodiversity conservation and climate change in the Chicago region. CNT is a member of the Chicago Wilderness alliance.
This traveling exhibit, along with the local focus on solutions to climate change, will remain at the Field Museum through November 28, 2010. For more information on the exhibit, visit www.fieldmuseum.org.
Comments (0) »
