CNT Update, October 2006
CNT Update, October 2006
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October 2006
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Civic Footprint says:”Don’t forget to vote – early and enthusiastically”
Sustainability News
1. Housing and Transportation Costs Get National Attention
2. Just Think, Green Buildings in Green Neighborhoods
3. Sustainability Hits the Art Scene
What’s New @ CNT?
1. Energy-Smart Pricing Plan Wins Chicago Innovation Award
2. CNT Partners with the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative
3. USEPA Grant Awarded to Value Green Infrastructure
4. New staff
CNT Toolbox
1. CNT Calculator: Do your Greenhouse Gas Accounting
2. CNT in the News
3. Jobs
Local Events
1. Chicago 101
2. Rail-Volution
3. Leaders in Sustainable Architecture
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Energy Tip: Solar water heating offers an attractive, reliable option for home owners who are interested in solar power, and a system can pay for itself relatively quickly through lower energy bills. Even in the winter, four hours of sunlight can provide 24-hours worth of hot water.
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SUSTAINABILITY NEWS
1. Housing and Transportation Costs Get National Attention
At the National Housing Conference’s 75th Annual Summit held in Chicago, the focus was looking toward future housing policy. One standout issue was CNT’s research that examined the affordability of a specific place by looking at both the housing and transportation costs. And the idea of what is “affordable” may now look a lot different.
CNT presented at the event and discussed the Affordability Index tool to measure housing and transportation costs in a region. The tool was most recently used to conduct a study of working families in 28 major metropolitan areas. The study, by CNT and Virginia Tech, was released in conjunction with the NHC Summit.
The revealed combined costs of housing and transportation in determining affordability of a place is a national issue, relevant to any metropolitan area, and is evident by the media coverage this event and the associated reports, are commanding.
Click on the link to read the new paper, “Housing + Transportation Cost Trade-Offs and Burdens of Working Households in 28 Metros”, at:
http://info.cnt.org/~annette/HT-Tradeoffs.pdf
Here is some of the most recent coverage on the issue:
Wall Street Journal: http://info.cnt.org/~annette/WSJ.101106.pdf
Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel: http://info.cnt.org/~annette/MJS.101406.pdf
2. Just Think, Green Buildings in Green Neighborhoods
If you live in Chicago, you’ve probably heard of Mayor Daley’s declaration to make Chicago the greenest city in the country. You may even know that every new city building constructed in the city of Chicago follows green guidelines, or that many large corporations with buildings in the city are incorporating green roofs and other green features as a matter of standard practice.
Green buildings are a very popular part of the discussion surrounding the green movement. And now that the benefits of green building are well-recognized and accepted, green advocates are thinking and talking bigger. What about green neighborhoods? It’s great to see progressive structures as part of mainstream architecture but what about the neighborhoods that the buildings are part of?
One of the newer LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications is for Neighborhood Developments – ND (CNT’s certification is LEED-NC, “new construction and major renovations”). LEED-ND is holistic in that it will place the emphasis on the elements that bring the buildings together into a neighborhood, and relate the neighborhood to its larger region and landscape.
Read more about this emerging green form in Grist at:
http://info.cnt.org/~annette/CNT Update/Grist.101206.pdf
3. Sustainability Hits the Art Scene
A new exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago displays the ideas of sustainability in a newer medium: art and design. Massive Change looks at the capabilities in the design world at harnessing many of the sustainability-themed ideas typically limited to academic and practitioner-talk. How pragmatic, though, when you realize that this is where many of our ideas actually come to fruition: through execution?
The exhibit is really much more than that. It was dreamed up by Bruce Mau Design and the Institute without Boundaries and the project weaves through societal issues like urbanization, wealth and politics and is really an indication of a movement going on beyond the art and design world and beyond the world of advocates for sustainability.
The website is worth checking out, and if you have some time, the exhibit at the MCA shows through December 31.
Massive Change website: http://www.massivechange.com
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WHAT’S NEW @ CNT?
1. Energy-Smart Pricing Plan Wins Chicago Innovation Award
We just got the word that the Community Energy Cooperative’s Energy-Smart Pricing Plan (ESPP) is a recipient of a 2006 Chicago Innovation Award. The awards are given to ten groups which over the last year have displayed innovation in products and services. For the past three years, the Energy-Smart Pricing Plan has helps consumers save money on their energy bills, reduce their power, and cut stress on the system as a whole. The voluntary pilot program has also paved way for a law which goes into effect in 2007 that will give consumers this option of buying their electricity at hourly, market-based rates.
The Energy-Smart Pricing Plan is also proving to be a very timely program when energy prices in Illinois are expected to go up by 22% next year. Through the demonstration of the ESPP, now consumers can have a choice about their energy rates and will stand to save money by doing so.
To read the article in the Sun-Times about the Energy-Smart Pricing Plan receiving a 2006 Innovation Award, go to the link below:
http://info.cnt.org/~annette/BLOG/ESPP-InnovationAward-Suntimes.102306.pdf
2. CNT Partners with the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative
CNT’s work to bring climate change into our portfolio of issues toward making communities more sustainable and livable has gained the attention of the Clinton Foundation. Recently CNT was asked to partner with the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative in developing an online greenhouse gas measurement tool for the world’s 40 largest cities.
CNT has extensive experience in developing data-driven tools and calculators in helping individuals and communities to make better-informed decisions, including the Travel Emissions Calculator, the Housing and Transportation Affordability Index and the Green Infrastructure Cost-Benefit Calculator, so we are excited and honored to bring our experience in developing a tool that will enable cities to establish baselines of their greenhouse gas emissions.
To learn more about the Clinton Foundation’s Climate Initiative, click on link below:
http://www.clintonfoundation.org/cf-pgm-cci-home.htm
3. USEPA Grant Awarded to Value Green Infrastructure
CNT has been awarded a $250,000 USEPA grant to quantify and assess the value of green infrastructure in two Chicago neighborhoods: the Calumet area and East Garfield Park. The Calumet area is industrial and East Garfield Park is a mix of industrial, commercial and residential.
The project will scientifically measure the impact of green infrastructure in absorbing stormwater, thereby reducing flooding and stormwater runoff, and will become part of CNT’s toolkit of green valuation projects. We’ll keep you posted as this project develops.
4. New Staff
To keep up all the great work we are doing at CNT, we have brought some new staff aboard. Welcome!
Jill Siegel is our new Publications and Grant Manager. Jill has a Master’s in Architecture and a strong background in grant writing and community development. One of Jill’s first projects, though, will be to run the New York Marathon in November!
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CNT TOOLBOX
1. CNT Calculator: Do your Greenhouse Gas Accounting
Wonder what your individual contribution to global warming is? And what can you possibly do about it? The TravelMatters Individual Calculator measures how much greenhouse gas you generate as a result of your daily transportation activity. Simply enter the monthly distances you traveled by mode of transportation – on foot, by bicycle, car, bus, train, plane, or boat – and the calculator will do your “greenhouse gas accounting” for you. You can even save and later access your monthly emissions profile.
To see what your emissions are, go to http://www.travelmatters.org/calculator/individual/
2. CNT in the News
October has been a very busy and exciting month for CNT; read some of the news we were part of below:
Ditch your car! You can do it! At least the Chicago Tribune says you can:
http://info.cnt.org/~annette/CNT Update/IGO-Tribune.093006.pdf
Read more about Mayor Daley’s plans to make Chicago the greenest city in the country and the work CNT is doing:
http://info.cnt.org/~annette/CNT Update/ProgPlan_06.pdf
Some people’s solution to the troubles of commuting in a sprawled-out region: shopping?
http://info.cnt.org/~annette/CNT Update/PETraffic.092906.pdf
3. Jobs
Natural Resources Portfolio Manager, posted 8/1/06
http://www.cnt.org/jobs?job=natural-resources-manager&nofoot=1
I-GO Administrative and Outreach Associate
http://www.cnt.org/jobs?job=i-go-administrative-and-outreach-associate
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EVENTS
1. Chicago 101: An Introduction to the City of Chicago, October 25, 2006
Come and learn more about the City of Chicago and what it has to offer, while also seeing CNT’s Platinum-certified green building. Also I-GO’s Melissa Haeffner is one of the speakers! This event is sponsored by the Young Nonprofits Professional Network (YNPN) and is open to anyone.
Details at http://www.ynpnchicago.org/s/269/index.aspx
2. Rail-Volution Conference, November 5-8, Chicago IL
It’s almost here! Rail-Volution is, first and foremost, a conference for passionate practitioners-people from all perspectives who believe strongly in the role of land use and transit as equal partners in the quest for greater livability and greater communities. Jacky Grimshaw, Vice President for Policy, Transportation and Community Development, will be a featured speaker as well as Board Member, Susan Mudd. Also look for Scott Bernstein’s new book on the history of streetcars at the event.
3. Leaders in Sustainable Architecture, Nov. 7
Presented by the Chicago Architecture Foundation as part of a series of lectures, the event is titled, “Organic Architecture for a Sustainable Future”, by Lars Danielsson.
The event is co-sponsored with the AIA Chicago Committees on the Environment, Housing, and Healthcare; with generous support from the American Scandinavian Foundation.
http://www.architecture.org/programs.html#sustainable
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You can support our efforts in building more sustainable urban communities by making a donation online. Visit: http://www.cnt.org/support. You can also support CNT as part of Earth Share of Illinois workplace campaigns. For more information about workplace giving, contact Nicole at nicoleg@cnt.org. Thank you for your generosity!
Questions about anything you’ve read or interested in learning more? Contact Annette at annette@cnt.org
© 2006 Center for Neighborhood Technology
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