Comprehensive Plan for Chicago Region Put Into Motion
October 13, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
Last year, Daniel Burnham was as celebrated here in Chicago as at anytime during his life in recognition of the Plan of Chicago’s centennial. The 1909 Plan supplied Chicago with Navy Pier, Grant Park and Northerly Island, among other public amenities. Today, leaders from across metropolitan Chicago’s seven counties voted unanimously to adopt a new plan, GO TO 2040, designed to guide development and investment decisions through mid-century and beyond.
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Solar Panels Return to the White House
October 5, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
“A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.” So said President Jimmy Carter at the dedication ceremony for the 32 panels he had installed atop the White House in the summer of 1979. His comments proved prescient, as the panels ended up in the Carter Library, the Smithsonian and other places around the country that weren’t the roof of the presidential residence.
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DePaul’s Proposed Architecture School Bridges Streets, Minds
September 17, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
A bold new design to adjoin the DePaul University campus at State and Van Buren with a student housing tower across the street makes use of two very visible trends in green building: the use of air rights and vegetated roofing.
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DOE Announces $20 Million for Geothermal Advancement
September 16, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu yesterday announced $20 million for seven projects aimed at researching and developing cutting-edge geothermal technologies. These seven projects will demonstrate the technical and economic feasibility of non-conventional geothermal energy technologies in three research areas: low temperature fluids, highly pressurized geothermal fluids and geothermal fluids recovered from oil and gas wells. This funding will help demonstrate and commercialize innovative technologies to lower the high initial costs of geothermal development and help make the operational deployment of low temperature geothermal units more economical.
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Gold Raises Tenancy, Lowers Bottom Line at Prudential Plaza
September 8, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
By Matt Baker
Prudential Plaza is a two building office complex on prime real estate overlooking Millennium Park. Prudential One (or as tenant and staff sometimes refer to it, Pru 1) was constructed in 1955. At forty-four stories, it was the tallest building in the city at the time and featured an observation deck, now closed. Prudential Two (Pru 2) was built in 1990. With its recessed chevrons and pyramid topper, the fifty-eight story younger sibling received several design awards, including Best Structure from the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois.
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The Precautionary Principle: Bedrock of Sustainability?
September 8, 2010 by Matt Baker · 1 Comment
By Jonathan Wootliff
First mooted back in 1972 at a United Nations conference in Stockholm, the so-called “precautionary principle” has become as much anathema to some and godsend to others. A local and timely example of this highly controversial concept is a growing debate about the right of Asian Carp to swim in the Great Lakes.
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Nation’s Largest Solar Plant Provides Ray of Hope for Alternative Power
September 8, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
By Matt Baker
It seems so simple. Coal and oil are dirty, finite resources while sunlight is clean and ubiquitous. So why haven’t we made the change? There are many reasons but the most looming is money. It still costs two to three times as much to produce one kilowatt hour of solar power compared to conventional means. The best way for alternative energy to achieve parity with fossil fuels is expanded production. Increase the scale and prices will decrease.
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Natural Talent 2010: Small, Green and Affordable
September 8, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
By Matt Baker
It’s been five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. Early predictions of the city’s impending demise, especially for its poorest, hardest hit neighborhoods like the lower Ninth Ward and Broadmoor, have so far proven unfounded. Proof of a city on the mend exists beyond the Saints’ Super Bowl success. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is currently undertaking the largest task in its history, a $14 billion overhaul of the levees. And all across the Mississippi Delta, residents are slowly moving back.
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Greenbuild 2010: Bringing Green Back to Chicago
September 8, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
By Dieterich Herndobler
The annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, hosted by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC), is visiting Chicago for the second time since its beginning in 2002. The expo will be at McCormick Place West from November 17th through the 19th and will use twice the space it did in 2007.
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ANEW Life for Office Furniture
September 8, 2010 by Matt Baker · Leave a Comment
By Matt Baker
It may not happen often, but inspiration sometimes comes in the form of furniture crashing to the pavement.
Having found success as an interior designer, Rose Tourje began to have conversations with a group of others like her who wanted to give back. What came of this effort was a look at industry processes from beginning to end. With the green movement underway, plenty of front end improvements were being implemented, in great part to the leadership role of the USGBC.
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