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O’Hare Goes Green. Big Time.

December 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

By Matt Baker

Courtesy Chicago Department of Aviation

Ten years ago, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley announced a plan to renovate the area’s overtaxed, international airport. The O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP) advocated new and extended runways, a reconfigured layout and a newly-constructed western terminal.

The project was designed to reduce delays and increase capacity at the airfield. Spend some money now, the thinking goes (the current OMP budget is estimated at $8 billion), and make more later once O’Hare’s prominence as a transportation hub is carried on into the 21st century.
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Chicago’s Nine Largest Green Roofs

December 15, 2011 by · 2 Comments 

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#1 Millennium Park

 Spanning roughly 24 acres, the 1,067,220 square foot Millennium Park is considered one of the largest green roof projects in the world. Completed in 2004, the $475 million project includes landscape art, full grown trees, interactive water fountains and a skating rink in the winter. What many people forget is that the roof actually covers two parking garages, a transit center and the 1,525 seat Harris Theater.

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The Chicago Energy Code Turns Ten

December 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

By Linda Seggelke

Ten years ago, the city of Chicago introduced its Energy Conservation Code, based largely on the International Energy Conservation Code (IECC). The 2001 Chicago Energy Code was written to increase savings by lessening energy drain both commercially and residentially.

In that time, it has been revised twice: in 2006 and 2009. These revisions have seen some modest gains in efficiency. The 2009 edition, for example, contains a 15% increase in overall energy savings beyond the 2006 book.
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Slow Down in the UK: A Chicagoan in London

December 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

By Valerie Miller

Photo: Valerie Miller

I don’t own a clothes dryer. When I go shopping, I take a bag with me. I can rent a bike to get to work.

It may sound noble. I could say I wanted to take a stand for energy consumption but the truth is, I live in London and all of this is normal. No one has dryers (or very few). People look at me a little funny when I ask for a plastic bag at the checkout and since December 2010, people have rented a bike 8,811,527 times instead of driving to work.
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Chicago’s Own High Line: The Bloomingdale Trail

December 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

By Jon Sedey

Photo: David B. Gleason

It’s an elevated corridor 2.6 miles long, along Bloomingdale Avenue through Chicago’s northwest neighborhoods of Bucktown, Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Wicker Park. To the passerby below, it looks like an old, abandoned track corridor. However, to the brave souls that ignore the “no trespassing” and “private property” signs and risk prosecution, this “Bloomingdale Trail” is the future linear park for walkers, joggers, bicyclists and all active transportation advocates.
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The John Marshall Law School Offers New Certificate in Sustainability Law

December 15, 2011 by · Leave a Comment 

By Matt Baker

The John Marshall Law School

Founded in 1899 and ABA-accredited for sixty years, the John Marshall Law School (JMLS) is perhaps Chicago’s best-known independent law school, having produced many notable jurists, including Timothy C. Evans, the Chief Judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County and the current White House Chief Of Staff, Bill Daley.

The school offers JD and other graduate degrees in a variety of curricula, such as property law, trial advocacy and legal writing; U.S. News & World Report recently ranked the institution sixth in the nation in this latter category. Starting in January 2012, JMLS will now also offer a new JD Certificate in Sustainability Law through its Center for Real Estate Law.
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