Observations from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s FLEXLAB
The Meeting of the Minds conference this year was a stimulating gathering of thought leaders, city leaders, and change makers, held in Richmond, California’s historic Craneway Pavilion. The agenda of esteemed speakers covered everything from Singapore’s NEWater...
Propane Refueling Infrastructure: How Viable Is It To Run Fleets on Propane in the US?
This series on propane autogas has been taking a deep-dive into the merits and challenges of converting vehicles to run on propane; the second article in the series made an attempt to qualify the benefits to society of converting 5% of San Diego’s fleet vehicles...
The Impacts of Running our Fleet Vehicles on Propane
In my last article, I focused on the seemingly overlooked benefits of using propane as fuel for our vehicles. The merits of propane have been recognized by city governments, propane alliances, and the Department of Energy through its Clean Cities program. And with the...
The Alternative On-Hand: Why Isn’t Propane a More Prominent Part of Our Alternative Fuels Conversation?
In the US, we have over 190,000 miles of pipeline devoted to the delivery of liquid oil and gas for our energy needs. Of that total, about 60,000 miles transport crude oil, another 60,000 transport refined petroleum, and the remaining 60,000 deliver natural gas...
How Local Currencies Are Driving Stronger Local Economies
Money. Our main cultural store of and standard for value, and unit of exchange. We know that our economy runs on it, that we depend on it, and that some federal agency governs it. In the midst of the movement to build sustainable systems for our cities, money is often...
Down to the Roots: How Cities Are Building Local & Sustainable Food Systems
Last month, this post looked into urban food systems through the lens of urban food deserts. Food deserts point to a bigger systemic problem of the sustainability of our food systems in the face of a globalized, polarized, and increasingly resource-scarce economy and...
Hungry for the Holidays: A Look at Urban Food Insecurity
During these holiday months, most of us are gathering with family and friends, feeling grateful for what we have (and/or letting our families drive us crazy), and eating a bounty of our favorite foods of the season between Thanksgiving, Friendsgivings, work parties,...
Community Microgrids: Envisioning the Grid of the Future
Community microgrids (CMGs) are getting more press these days as people recognize that they may provide an alternative to the traditional energy grid. The traditional energy grid has provided power to billions of people, globally, for decades. However, with bigger and...
What Do We Need to Build Sustainable Cities?
Every so often, I find it important to reset and to re-envision what a successful future looks like. This article seeks to take a step back and revisit the fundamentals of what the building of a sustainable city requires. The footprint of cities is a heavy contributor...
Getting to Zero: US Cities Innovating Their Way to Zero Waste
The United States is the world’s top producer of waste, sending approximately 240 million tons of garbage to landfills annually. That’s about one quarter of the world’s waste, produced by about 5% of the world’s population. We’re...
Drilling Deeper into California’s Drought and Water Distribution
There’s a lot of conversation going on around water in the arid West during this drought year, but not all of it is accurate. California is being hit hard, and the state is clearly taking action and taking advantage of the crisis to promote water legislation;...