The Sustainable Builder

Measure Your Neighborhood’s Transportation Costs New York Times Bucks Blog – September 2, 2010

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/09/08/cnt-press-mentions-september-2010/

How Much Do You Spend on Transport? New Web App Aims to Show You Grist – August 11, 2010

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/09/08/cnt-press-mentions-august-2010/

CNT’s dedication to producing ground-breaking data has earned us a ‘Data Innovation Award’ by the Metro Chicago Information Center for the ‘outstanding achievements CNT has committed to making data accessible, understandable and actionable in the Chicago region.’

We believe that people who have good information in a comprehensible format make good decisions. From our early work in the 80’s—creating the Neighborhood Early Warning System (NEWS) to make housing data on Cook County properties widely accessible to the H+T Affordability Index (a “datafest even by wonk standards”, as reported by The Washington Post)—CNT has been committed to compiling high-quality data, synthesizing and displaying in smart and meaningful ways for a variety of users.

Our newest tool, Abogo, powered by the H + T Index, lets consumers dig down into the nitty-gritty of housing and transportation costs while displaying the information in an easy-to-understand method. Today’s New York Times explains the necessity of the tool, “When you’re shopping around for a new place to live — whether you’re buying or renting — it’s easy to overlook how much it will cost to get around in your new neighborhood.” These are the sort of gaps in information that CNT has been striving to fill.

Abogo is just one of many of CNT’s tools that illuminate issues in urban sustainability. With E-Transpoly, you’re in charge of transit funding and priorities. Build new stations, draw new bus lines, even add turn lanes to your street. Find Green Infrastructure projects near you on our Natural Connections site. See how open spaces, waterways, and natural areas that provide wildlife habitat and recreational opportunities and helps maintain the sustainability of the region.

CNT is honored to be recognized by an organization in our hometown—the Metro Chicago Information Center—where we beta-test many of our tools. Consider supporting our work to develop tools that individuals and organizations can use to improve their lives and contribute to a better environment.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/09/02/cnt-wins-award-for-innovative-data/

The USGBC-Illinois Chapter is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2011 Chapter Board of Directors are now open!

There are 3 board seats available for nomination.  Listed below are the maximums for any one category.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY NOMINEES THAT WORK FOR NATIONAL MEMBER COMPANIES ARE ELIGIBLE AT THIS TIME.

· 1 SEAT in Category 1: Contractors/Builders
· 2 SEATS in Category 2: Corporate/Retail
· 1 SEAT in Category 3: Educational Institutions
· 2 SEATS in Category 4: Federal Government/GOCOs
· 2 SEATS in Category 5: Insurance Comp./Financial Institutions
· 2 SEATS in category 6: Non-profit/Environmental Organizations
· 2 SEATS in Category 7: Product Manufacturers
· 1 SEAT in Category 8: Professional Firms
· 2 SEATS in Category 9: Professional Societies/Trade Assoc.
· 2 SEATS in Category 10: Real Estate/R.E. Service Providers
· 2 SEATS in Category 11: State and Local Governments
· 2 SEATS in Category 12: Utilities/Energy Service Companies

Seat Distribution Process Example:
If there are two professional firms candidates that are the top two vote getters overall, only the highest vote achiever will win the one seat that is available.  The committee then selects the next top vote getter until all available board seats are distributed.

Important Election Dates:
August 23 – Nominations open
September 10 – Nominations close
September 24 – Nominee documentation and photo due
September 27-October 5 – Elections committee reviews the nominees
October 14 – Board votes on nominees
October 18 – Governance Chair notifies candidates if slate is approved/staff makes arrangements for their attendance at annual meeting.
November 2 – Candidates speak at annual meeting
November 5 – Polls open
November 28 – Polls close
December 2 – Results certified and posted. Candidates notified by Governance Chair
December 3 – Board Chair contacts new directors with welcome as well as date for December board meeting and leadership training.

Next Steps:
If you would like to nominate someone or yourself, please download the Nomination Form, and return to BlissardL@comcast.net no later than Friday September 10, 2010 @ 5:00 PM.

Source:  pjackson Read full article at:  http://www.usgbc-chicago.org/?p=6329

Location
1458 S. Canal, Chicago, IL 60607 Map
Owner
Pacific Garden Mission
Architect
Tigerman McCurry Architects
Image produced by Built Light
Pacific Garden Mission is a 3-story, 156,000 sf rescue...

GreenBeanChicago.com is your trusted source for information on built, in-progress and planned Green building projects in Chicagoland area.

Source:  Green Bean Chicago Read full article at:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenBeanChicago/~3/gHRN3-Bs9rM/

Legacy Community Press Release/Grants and Scholarship

Source:  pjackson Read full article at:  http://www.usgbc-chicago.org/?p=6314

Location: 330 N. Wabash, Chicago, IL 60611
Contractor: Bear Construction
Owner: Prime Group Realty Trust
By William Olson
At the Chicago River’s southerly hiccough, a modern icon has gone green.
The...

GreenBeanChicago.com is your trusted source for information on built, in-progress and planned Green building projects in Chicagoland area.

Source:  Green Bean Chicago Read full article at:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenBeanChicago/~3/4CX76TCMAh0/

A new report by the Grand Rapids Area Coalition to End Homelessness uses CNT’s Housing + Transportation Affordability Index (H+TSM Index) data to illustrate the dearth of affordable housing in the region. The report, part of the coalition’s decade-long plan to end homelessness, aims to re-shape how leaders in and around Grand Rapids, Michigan, think about and address homelessness.

Highlighting the impact of transportation costs on affordability, the report incorporates CNT’s first ever rural analysis of housing and transportation costs for Grand Rapids and eight nearby counties, including Allegan, Barry, Ionia, Kent, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, and Ottawa.

CNT found that in rural, dispersed areas of the region, households can spend roughly $200 a month more on transportation costs than similar income households in urbanized areas. Convenient access to jobs, retail, and transit allow residents in Grand Rapids, Muskegon, and Holland to maintain lower average transportation costs.

Based on CNT’s measure of affordability — households spend 45 percent or less on housing and transportation costs — average costs throughout the eight-county region were unaffordable for households in western Michigan that make 50 percent of the average median income (AMI). The H+T Index showed that these households spend an average of 60 percent or more of their income toward housing and transportation.

These findings provide new insight into the region’s homelessness problem by bringing transportation into the discussion. In the report, the Grand Rapids coalition calls for better coordination and collaboration between the region’s housing and transportation systems. The report authors also recommend increasing the access and availability of public transit to reduce transportation costs, which would provide more affordable housing options in the area.

The H+T Index currently provides average housing and transportation costs for 337 metro areas across the country — covering 80 percent of the U.S. population. CNT plans to expand the H+T Index to other rural areas throughout the country in early 2011.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/08/23/ht-index-data-informs-grand-rapids-report-on-...

The popular website that gives you a score based on the walkability of your neighborhood will now include CNT’s ground-breaking transportation cost information to its suite of consumer-oriented tools.

Walk Score, which allows users to obtain a “walkability” rating for a specific location based on the number of nearby amenities, is using data from CNT’s Housing + Transportation Affordability Index to provide a better sense of the transportation costs and environmental impact for a neighborhood. Adding the H+T Index to Walkscore will further illustrate how choosing to live in walkable, transit-connected neighborhood can lower household expenses and one’s impact on the environment.

CNT is making our transportation cost data available through an application programming interface (API), which allows partner sites, such as Walk Score, to integrate average transportation costs and carbon impact with their own content.

We’re very excited that such a well-regarded and popular site like Walk Score is our first API partner. “People need a complete picture of affordability when making important decisions about where to live, and CNT is excited to work with other groups to disseminate this information as far and wide as possible,“ said Linda Young, CNT’s Research Director.

The API provides a link to CNT’s new consumer-oriented website Abogo, which allows users to type in an address and find the average transportation costs for a typical household living at that location. Transportation costs include car ownership, gas and transit expenses.

Try it out at www.walkscore.com–after you type in your address, click on the “Commute” tab to get a report of your transportation options to and from work. Underneath the Commute report, you can see your estimated housing and transportation costs, each powered by Zillow and CNT, respectively, which you can also personalize with your own numbers. Walk Score’s new home and transportation costs calculator makes it easier for people to understand the true costs of owning or renting in a particular location. Click here to see an example and find your own.

Read the full press release here.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/08/16/cnt-transportation-cost-data-now-seen-on-walk...

CHICAGO (August 16, 2010)—The Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) announced today that it is providing its ground-breaking transportation cost information to the popular website WalkScore.com.

Walk Score, which allows users to obtain a “walkability” rating for a specific location based on the number of nearby amenities, is using data from CNT’s Housing + Transportation Affordability Index (H+TSM Index) to give its users a sense of transportation costs and environmental impact for a neighborhood . CNT’s H+T Index is the nation’s most comprehensive assessment of household transportation costs by location.

“The time and money spent commuting is lost forever,” said Josh Herst, CEO of Walk Score. “By incorporating CNT’s Housing + Transportation Index into our commute reports, we are increasing the transparency of transportation costs and empowering people to make more informed decisions about where they live and work.”

The H+T Index presents housing and transportation cost data for neighborhoods in 337 metro areas, enabling users to compare the relative costs of communities within a region. The H+T Index is a robust transportation model that quantifies household transportation costs using census data, residential density, transit access, employment proximity, and block size. Importantly, the H+T Index illustrates how choosing to live in walkable, transit-connected neighborhood can lower household expenses and one’s impact on the environment.

“When choosing where to live, the housing costs of a neighborhood are readily available, but the costs of getting around are hidden,” said Scott Bernstein, president of CNT. “Our data reveals a neighborhood’s hidden transportation costs and gives people a much better sense of a community’s affordability.”

CNT is making its transportation cost data available through an application programming interface (API), which allows partner sites, such as Walk Score, to integrate average transportation costs and carbon impact with their own content.

“We’re pleased to have Walk Score as our first API partner,” said Linda Young, CNT’s research director. “People need a complete picture of affordability when making important decisions about where to live, and CNT is excited to work with other groups to disseminate this information as far and wide as possible.”

The API provides a link to CNT’s new consumer-oriented website Abogo (Abogo.cnt.org). A combination of the words “abode” and “go,” Abogo allows users to type in an address and find the average transportation costs for a typical household living at that location. Transportation costs include car ownership, gas and transit expenses.

CNT’s H+T research on housing affordability has implications for the nation. Based on a traditional definition of housing affordability — households spend 30 percent or less of their income on housing — seven out of 10 U.S. communities are considered “affordable” for the typical household. But when the definition is expanded to include housing and transportation costs — households spend 45 percent or less of their income on the two expenses — only four in 10 communities are affordable to households earning the area median income. CNT’s data allows users to locate communities that fit their housing and transportation budget.

###

About CNT: Founded in 1978, CNT is a Chicago-based think-and do tank that works nationally to advance urban sustainability by researching, inventing and testing strategies that use resources more efficiently and equitably. Its programs focus on climate, energy, natural resources, transportation, and community development. CNT is one of eight nonprofits selected from around the world to be recognized by a 2009 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Visit www.cnt.org for more information

About Walk Score: Walk Score is the flagship product of Front Seat, a civic software company based in Seattle, WA. Walk Score rates any address based on its proximity to nearby amenities (grocery stores, restaurants, schools, public transit, etc.) and promotes walkable neighborhoods for their economic, environmental and health benefits. Walk Score delivers 3 million scores per day across a network of over 4,000 Websites. According to independent research conducted by CEOs for Cities, one point of Walk Score is worth as much as $3,000 in home value. Visit www.walkscore.com for more information.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/08/16/center-for-neighborhood-technology-to-provide...

Money Magazine's "best places to live" cover story fails to take into account the cost of transportation.

Money magazine’s “100 Best Places to Live in America” is the most recent, high-profile example of how we need to re-think our definition of affordability when it comes to where we live. A quick scan of the communities that topped Money’s list suggests the magazine didn’t consider the cost of transportation in making their selections. Many of the places — suburban Minneapolis, suburban Baltimore, suburban Dallas, — are low-density, outer-ring suburbs that lack transit options and require households to drive most places and own several cars.

Like the Money article, many of us fall into the trap of thinking affordability boils down to the cost of our mortgage or rent payments. That encourages a “drive ‘til you qualify” mentality, where home-hunters pass over city neighborhoods or inner-ring suburbs and choose to live in outer-ring communities where housing is cheaper. However, these people soon learn that their new community is not as affordable as they thought, finding themselves stuck behind the wheel to get to work, school and the grocery store.

A true measure of affordability must take into account housing and transportation costs, which are the two biggest expenses for households. That’s why CNT developed the H+T Affordability Index. The innovative web tool allows users to see the average household housing and transportation costs by region and neighborhood.

Although transportation costs do not necessarily define a community, transportation costs certainly should not be ignored when determining the best place to live for one’s readers or one’s family. CNT staff read Money’s rankings and wondered: These places may rank highly among Money’s various criteria — jobs/economy, arts/leisure, health, education, and housing affordability — but what are families in these places paying for transportation? And, how do their costs compare with inner-ring suburbs or city neighborhoods that have residents with similar incomes?”

We crunched some numbers using our H+TSM Index, and you can see what we found for Money’s top five places below. What’s clear is that people who move to these locations may find themselves needing more cars to drive everywhere they need to go, discovering too late that compact, transit-rich communities are often much more affordable when transportation costs are taken into account. There may in fact be better places to live than Money’s “best places,” at least from a true affordability perspective.

#1 Eden Prairie, Minnesota
The average household in Eden Prairie — Money’s best place to live — owns 1.7 cars, drives a little over 19,000 miles a year, and spends $897 per month on transportation costs. The average household in Edina, an inner-ring suburb of the Twin Cities, owns slightly fewer cars (1.6), drives nearly 4,000 fewer miles a year (15,057), and saves about $90 a month ($810) on transportation costs compared to Eden Prairie. A slightly greater percentage of Edina households take public transit for their commutes: 7 percent versus 5 percent in Eden Prairie.

Get even closer to downtown, in Minneapolis’ Prospect Park neighborhood, where household incomes roughly match Eden Prairie’s, and the average household owns 1.4 cars, drives 11,679 miles a year, and spends $709 per month on transportation. Sixteen percent of households in Prospect Park get to work by public transit. Compared with Eden Prairie’s average household, the average Prospect Park household spends $188 less per month on transportation and saves $2,256 a year.

#2 Ellicott City, Maryland
Located 21 miles west of Baltimore, the average household in Ellicott City owns 1.6 cars, drives 20,816 miles a year, and spends $890 per month on transportation costs. By comparison, in Towson, a suburb nearer downtown Baltimore, the average household owns the same number of cars but drives 6,000 miles less per year (14,739) than the Ellicott City family. The Towson household spends $781 in monthly transportation costs.

The average household in Baltimore’s Guilford neighborhood owns 1.4 cars, drives 13,956 miles a year, and spends $736 per month on transportation costs. The Guilford household has an extra $154 per month ($1,848 annually) freed up to save or pay for other expenses.

More households in Guilford take public transit to work than those outside the city. Only 3 percent of households in Ellicott City commute via transit, 6 percent take transit in Towson, while 16 percent of households in Guilford leave their car at home when heading to work.

#3 Newton, Massachusetts
The average household in Newton — an inner-ring suburb of Boston served by light rail, commuter rail and bus — owns 1.6 cars, drives 15,656 miles a year, and spends $805 per month on transportation costs. The average household in Back Bay, a Boston neighborhood, owns less than one car (.8), drives less than 7,466 miles annually, and spends $442 per month on transportation. Eleven percent of families in Newton take transit to work, while 42 percent of those in Back Bay take the “T” or the bus. The average Back Bay household spends $363 less on monthly transportation costs than the Newton household, adding up to $4,356 in annual savings.

#4 Bellevue, Washington
The average Bellevue household owns 1.8 cars, drives 15,220 miles a year, and spends $910 per month on transportation costs. Across Lake Washington in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, the average household owns 1.6 cars, drives 10,090 miles per year, and spends $788 per month on transportation. Twenty-one percent of Capitol Hill households commute by transit, while only 10 percent of Bellevue households do. The Capitol Hill household also spends $122 less on transportation than the Bellevue family, saving $1,464 a year.

#5 McKinney, Texas
The average household in McKinney, 30 miles north of Dallas, owns 1.7 cars, drives nearly 21,600 miles a year, and spends $908 a month on transportation. In Richardson, a suburb roughly halfway between McKinney and Dallas, the average household owns slightly few cars (1.6) but drives significantly less each year (14,811 miles), and spends $793 per month on transportation costs.

Meanwhile, in Dallas’ Historic District, the average household owns 1.2 cars, drives less than 9,700 miles per year, and spends $600 per month on transportation. The Historic District household saves $308 per month or nearly $3,700 annually on transportation compared with the McKinney household.

Only 3 percent of McKinney households commute using transit, 5 percent in Richardson, and 20 percent of those in the Historic District leave their cars at home when they head to work.

To learn more about the affordability of your neighborhood, go to htaindex.org.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/08/11/need-to-consider-transportation-costs-when-ch...

Now that Congress has failed to pass strong climate legislation this year, the Obama Administration has the opportunity to demonstrate its leadership and re-tool its role in supporting state and local governments in creating better solutions to address climate change.

To respond to this missed opportunity at enacting a comprehensive climate policy, the Presidential Climate Action Project (PCAP) has drafted a fresh list of recommendations that President Obama can implement in the near term. As PCAP Executive Director William Becker, put it, “Congress has passed the ball back to President Obama. He should run with it.”

The 5-point plan will help strengthen the federal government’s partnership with state and local governments, and can demonstrate the U.S. leadership on climate change when the international community meets this November in Cancun to continue work to enact a global climate treaty.

The five recommendations are:

1. Work with states, tribal governments, and local governments to create a national roadmap to the clean energy economy
2. Declare a war on energy waste
3. Begin reinventing national transportation policy
4. Eliminate fossil energy subsidies under the Administration’s control
5. Establish ecosystem restoration as a climate action strategy

CNT’s research and expertise in transportation, land use, and climate change formed the basis for much of the 2008 plan’s transportation agenda and are implicit in the newest set of recommendations. The H+T Affordability Index, for example, is cited as a tool that can help reinvent national transportation policy by giving consumers, developers and public officials needed information when making housing and planning decisions.

The Presidential Climate Action Project submitted “Plan B: Near-Term Presidential Actions for Energy & Environmental Leadership” to the Obama Administration on August 5. CNT President, Scott Bernstein, serves on PCAP’s National Advisory Committee and continues to work with the group to help create public policy that addresses climate change and energy issues.

Read more about CNT and the Presidential Climate Action Project here.

Download “Plan B: Near-Term Presidential Actions for Energy & Environmental Leadership” (PDF)

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/08/11/pcap-responds-to-stalls-in-climate-change-leg...

A partnership between HUD, DOT, EPA. Secretaries Shaun Donovan, Ray LaHood, Lisa Jackson, respectively. Photo: EPA

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee, chaired by Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.), approved the Livable Communities Act on August 3. The legislation would create an Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities to encourage comprehensive regional planning and sustainable development by breaking down federal agency and department barriers.

The Livable Communities Act would strengthen communities and increase housing affordability for families by encouraging sustainable development. Grant money made available through the legislation, for instance, would fund projects that prioritize vibrant downtown business districts within walking distance of homes and transit stops, brownfield redevelopment in struggling industrial areas, and public transit options to reduce household transportation costs—the second highest expense for Americans after housing.

The Office of Sustainable Housing and Communities would oversee two grant programs established by the Livable Communities Act. One grant program would make $2.2 billion available for communities to build and improve affordable housing, strengthen public transportation, promote transit-oriented development, and redevelop brownfield sites. A second grant program would provide $500 million to support comprehensive regional planning that recognizes the interconnectedness of transportation, housing, community and economic development and environmental sustainability.

The full Senate will likely debate the Livable Communities Act in the fall. The U.S. House of Representatives has introduced a companion bill and will likely debate it later this year as well.

The Livable Communities Act both needs and deserves your support!

You can download this letter and fill in the relevant blanks to let your Senators and Representatives know that you support passage of the Livable Communities Act.

Find your Senators and Representatives. 

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/08/05/livable-communities-act-endorsed-by-the-u-s-s...

Name: Exelon City Solar
Location: 1201 W. 120th Street, Chicago, Illinois, 60643 View Larger Map
Company: Exelon Corporation
By Rosie Powers
Chicago’s South Side has been swept by sustainability, now...

GreenBeanChicago.com is your trusted source for information on built, in-progress and planned Green building projects in Chicagoland area.

Source:  Green Bean Chicago Read full article at:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenBeanChicago/~3/O96lQlpMuiI/

Architect: Nathan Kipnis Architects
Developer: Scott Simpson Builders
Location: 370 Washington, Glencoe, IL
By Jason LaFleur
With an eye to the future, more homeowners are building green. In the...

GreenBeanChicago.com is your trusted source for information on built, in-progress and planned Green building projects in Chicagoland area.

Source:  Green Bean Chicago Read full article at:  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenBeanChicago/~3/_K24Y9uwZIY/

Our Lady Gate of Heaven Church in Calumet. Photo taken after a storm in the summer 2008. Before the bioswale was installed, the parking would be flooded for days after a big rain. The bioswale soaked up this rain after one day.

As Chicago-area residents continue to clean up from last weekend’s storms that dumped more than eight inches of rain in less than 48 hours, it is important to consider why such storms seem to be occurring more often and what we can do to lessen the damage as they happen in the future.

The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that human-induced climate change is already altering our planet. The effects of climate change will affect all parts of the planet, including the Midwest, where we can expect more extreme summer heat days, threats to agriculture, and more intense and frequent storms.

Some changes are already occurring. Average yearly temperatures have steadily increased, snow comes to the region later and melts earlier than in the past, and heavy rains occur today roughly twice as often as they did a hundred years ago.

Although climate scientists cannot determine that a single weather event is the result of climate change, observed changes and climate projections suggest that more intense storms will increase as the planet’s climate changes.

The Chicago region, like most, relies almost exclusively on man-made infrastructure – curbs, gutters, pipes and catch basins – that whisk rain away from our streets and parking lots and release it into nearby streams and lakes. This current system is mostly effective, but has significant flaws:

• Existing infrastructure cannot handle the amount of rainfall produced during large storms and will be hard-pressed in the future to handle more intense storms expected in a changing climate. That means households and businesses will continue to experience flooding.
• Rain enters the same pipes that manage the region’s household sewage. When a large storm hits, the rain overwhelms the system, which results in raw sewage overflowing into the Chicago River and, thus, other bodies of water.
• Rain picks up pollutants when it runs off roadways and parking lots. The rainwater carries that pollution through the sewer system and into our streams and lakes, contaminating drinking water sources.
• Whisking rain away from where it falls prevents local aquifers from re-charging, meaning that communities reliant on well water will face water shortages as they grow.

Meanwhile, green infrastructure, using natural systems to manage stormwater by retaining and filtering rain where it falls, can reduce runoff and flooding and remove pollutants. Numerous green infrastructure projects in the region have already made a positive impact on the properties around them. Simple green infrastructure systems installed in 2008 at St. Margaret Mary Church in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood have effectively protected the property from extensive flooding since.

Additionally, many types of green infrastructure offer benefits above and beyond what conventional infrastructure provides. Green infrastructure installations increase the natural beauty and economic value of developed areas, provide habitat and connectivity for plants and animals, clean and re-charge groundwater sources, and reduce the urban heat island effect. Some green infrastructure systems, such as green roofs and rain gardens, may improve air quality and provide benefits for the climate.

Earlier this year, a task force of planners and engineers from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) completed a green infrastructure analysis mandated by the Illinois General Assembly. The UIC-CNT report concluded that green infrastructure is effective and affordable solution to stormwater runoff and should be implemented across the state.

“The performance of green infrastructure is at the very least comparable to detention approaches to stormwater management,” the report found. And, in terms of cost, the report estimated that “green infrastructure is frequently 5-30% less costly to construct and about 25% less costly over its life cycle compared with traditional infrastructure.

Last month, in a letter to the General Assembly and Gov. Pat Quinn, Illinois EPA director Douglas P. Scott endorsed the findings of the UIC-CNT green infrastructure report and laid out next steps for his agency to implement the report recommendations.

With the likelihood of increased heavy storms in future years due to a changing climate, creating a robust and sustainable stormwater management system is more important than ever before. Green infrastructure will allow us to sustainably adapt to a changing climate as a society, and it will help individual businesses and homeowners keep stormwater out of their buildings.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/07/30/climate-change-damaging-storms-and-the-role-o...

Next year, I-GO Car Sharing will add to its fleet 30 electric vehicles that run entirely on renewable energy. For the past two weeks, I-GO has been one of the few groups in North America to test drive the Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a zero-emissions electric vehicle (EV) currently sold only in Japan.

While I-GO had the keys to the i-MiEV, we invited political leaders, funders and journalists out to preview the car and take it for a spin. Check out who took it for a spin here. Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune transportation reporters Mary Wisniewski and Jon Hilkevitch recently wrote about I-GO and their impressions of the i-MiEV here and here.

I-GO shared the car with its members as well. I-G0 members were invited to preview the i-MiEV on July 27, at I-GO’s Wicker Park office. Over 25 members came by our office to meet the i-MiEV.

CNT founded I-GO in 2002. As an environmentally driven non-profit, I-GO is working to catalyze a set of transportation innovations that make it feasible and desirable for Chicago residents to get around conveniently and economically without having to own a car. At the same time, I-GO membership helps reduce driving and cuts global warming emissions. Adding electric vehicles to its fleet makes the already-green I-GO that much greener.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/07/25/3378/

Late last week Gov. Pat Quinn signed the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index Act, which will give state agencies the complete information they need to make wise investment decisions in housing.

The theory behind the bill is simple: Housing costs do not end when we sign our rent or mortgage checks. Where we live has other costs associated with getting around: to work, to school, to the grocery store. How much that costs depends on where we live and what options are available to move us from point A to point B.

Given that reality, a true measure of affordability must take into account housing and transportation costs. In 2006, CNT launched the H + T Affordability IndexSM, a web tool that gives a more accurate assessment of affordability by providing homeowners and policy makers the housing and transportation costs for a community.

Just as families need to have the best information before they choose where to live, our state policy makers should have the best information as they invest scarce public resources in housing. With the H + T Index tool signed into law, public officials in five key state agencies will now have the best available tool to guide their investment decisions toward those that will truly reduce the cost of living for working families.

This legislation also positions Illinois as a national leader, making it the first state to create legislation that links housing and transportation affordability to reduce the cost of living for our households. New national priorities that link transportation and housing affordability to the disbursement of federal funds will make Illinois well-positioned to compete for those dollars.

CNT views this as just the beginning. We will work with the five state agencies, including the Illinois Dept. of Transportation and the Illinois Housing Development Authority, to make certain the Housing + Transportation Affordability Index Act will help create better and more affordable housing and transportation well into the future.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/07/26/governor-quinn-signs-the-housing-transportati...

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.

Source:  Center for Neighborhood Technology Read full article at:  http://www.cnt.org/news/2010/07/23/cnts-work-as-important-as-ever-as-capitol-hil...

Project Location: 3000 River Road, Des Plaines, IL
Owner: Midwest Gaming and Entertainment, LLC
Development Manager: Development Management Associates, LLC
Architect: Klai Juba
General Contractor:...

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