News Roundup › Energy

Of those surveyed, 66% agreed that as a society we need to consume a lot less to improve the environment for future generations, and 65% agreed that they feel a sense of responsibility to purchase products that are good for the environment and society.

Source: The Guardian | Archived Copy

Now, taking down freeways has gone mainstream. Cities as diverse as New Haven, New Orleans and Seattle are either doing it or talking about it. The chief motivation seems to be money. “Listen to the story here.”:Download file

Source: National Public Radio | Archived Copy

Ending our love affair with the automobile, no matter how unhealthy it has become, seems overwhelmingly disruptive. Although more and wider roads lead only to more congestion, states are loath to reject federal highway dollars such as those offered in economic stimulus packages. Highways are easy things to spend money on, so who cares if what they stimulate is sprawl?

Source: The Washington Post | Archived Copy

“I don’t want to create any undo encouragement, ” Allen said on Fox, referring to the 10,000-barrel capture rate. “We need to be on task and get this thing done. We need to underpromise and overdeliver.”

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

In the past two years, 12.6 miles of bike lanes have been added to city roads, including the three-mile St. Claude Avenue bike lane, the 1.8-mile shared lane and 0.8-mile off-street path along Robert E. Lee Boulevard and the 2-mile Gentilly Boulevard bike lane, said Jennifer Ruley, a bicycle and pedestrian engineer who provides technical assistance to City Hall on behalf of the Louisiana Public Health Institute and Entergy New Orleans.
More bike paths are to come: The city is using bond money to finance “bikeway” development in conjunction with federally funded road resurfacing projects, Ruley said.

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

The plumes are depleting the oxygen dissolved in the gulf, worrying scientists, who fear that the oxygen level could eventually fall so low as to kill off much of the sea life near the plumes.

Source: The New York Times | Archived Copy

Source: The Times-Picayune | Archived Copy

“There are over 100 cities in the U.S. that have these and there is no city more perfect for it than New Orleans,” Lynch said.

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness | Archived Copy

“What Americans will really want in the coming years are walkable communities,” Fields said. “Where New Orleans has its real strength is that we fit that type of model.”

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness | Archived Copy

A year after the introduction of the sturdy gray bicycles known as Velib’s, they are being used all over Paris. The bikes are cheap to rent because they are subsidized by advertising, and other major cities, including American ones, are exploring similar projects.

Source: The New York Times | Archived Copy

Long before the recent spike in the price of energy, environmentalists decried suburban sprawl a waste of land, energy and tax dollars. Governments from Virginia to California have in recent decades lavished resources on building roads and schools for new subdivisions in the outer rings of development while skimping on maintaining facilities closer in. Many governments now focus on reviving their downtowns.

Source: The New York Times | Archived Copy