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Archive for the ‘National’ Category

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Lifting the High Energy Burden in America’s Largest Cities

Thursday, April 21st, 2016
While energy efficiency programs provide benefits beyond energy savings, we find they are an underutilized strategy that could complement bill assistance and weatherization programs to reduce high energy burdens in low-income communities.

AMERICAN COUNCIL FOR AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT ECONOMY (ACEEE)
This report provides a snapshot of energy burdens in cities across the US. We focus on the high home energy burdens faced by select groups in major metropolitan areas…In the first half of this report, we analyze data from the US Census Bureau’s 2011 and 2013 American Housing Survey to determine energy burden values for 48 of the largest US cities and specific households within each city. In the second half of the report, we discuss strategies for alleviating high energy burdens, with a focus on policies and programs to increase the impact of energy efficiency initiatives in these communities.

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Posted in Energy, Equity, Infra Views, National, Policy, Urban Planning

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America’s Most Endangered Rivers 2016

Thursday, April 14th, 2016
America

AMERICAN RIVERS
The report is not a list of the nation’s “worst” or most polluted rivers, but rather it highlights rivers confronted by critical decisions that will determine their future…The report presents alternatives to proposals that would damage rivers, identifies those who make the crucial decisions, and points out opportunities for the public to take action on behalf of each listed river.

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Posted in Drinking Water, Infra Views, Inland Waterways, National, Policy, Pollution

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Issuance of New Money Bonds Remains Low in Large U.S. Cities

Thursday, April 14th, 2016
Figure 1 New Money Issuances Hit a 24-Year Low in 2014

THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS
Cities in the United States play a substantial role in funding critical infrastructure with investments in capital projects such as roads, bridges, schools, and libraries. For example, all local governments accounted for 35 percent of total highway and transit spending from 2008 through 2012. To pay for these projects, cities often sell bonds on the municipal market.

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Posted in Funding, Infra Views, National, Private Investment, Smart Growth, Tax, Urban Planning

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We Have the Power: 100% Renewable Energy for a Clean, Thriving America

Tuesday, April 12th, 2016
Figure ES-1: Comparison of Renewable Energy Technical Potential and Current Consumption (Data: NREL)

ENVIRONMENT AMERICA
Our transition to a clean energy system has already begun. But, with the need to reduce the pollution that causes global warming growing more urgent every day, we need to step up the pace. To maximize the benefits of moving to 100 percent renewable energy, leaders at all levels must act to accelerate our progress. America’s energy policy should facilitate mass deployment of clean energy solutions, support research and development of new clean energy technologies, and keep much of our coal, oil and gas reserves in the ground.

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Posted in Clean Air, Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Infra Views, National, Policy, Sustainability, Technology

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Bike-Share Stations in the U.S.

Friday, April 8th, 2016
FIGURE 1. Bike-Share Connectivity to Scheduled Public Transportation

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
BUREAU OF TRANSPORTATION STATISTICS
Bike-share systems typically operate independently of local transit authorities. However, most bike-share docking stations (86.3 percent) can be found near local public transportation stops (transit bus, commuter rail, heavy rail, light rail, and transit ferry). These locations offer modal choice and the opportunity to connect between modes. Transit bus is the most typical connection, with 84.2 percent (2,236) of bike-share stations located a block or less from a transit bus stop.

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Posted in Biking, Equity, Infra Views, National, Policy, Public Transportation, Transit, Urban Planning

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Guest on The Infra Blog: Rachel Gutter, Director, Center for Green Schools

Wednesday, April 6th, 2016
Rachel Gutter, Director, Center for Green Schools

Rachel Gutter is Senior Vice President of Knowledge at the U.S. Green Building Council and Director of the Center for Green Schools.

“It’s been 20 years since the federal government published a comprehensive inventory of K-12 public school facilities, and at the time…more than 15,000 schools in the United States had air that was actually unfit to breathe. And then they dropped it for the last 20 years…because of our limited insight into the conditions of the school facilities, we have no sense of just how pervasive the problem is. But just like we know that lurking across these hundred thousand K-12 public schools there are thousands of schools that still have air that’s unfit to breathe, we know that there are likely thousands of schools that have water that’s unfit for drinking. And that’s not acceptable.”

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Equity, Guests on The Infra Blog, National, Policy, Schools, The Infra Blog

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ACEC Webinar: Impact of Climate Change on Civil Infrastructure

Thursday, March 31st, 2016

The American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) is hosting a webinar on Wednesday, April 13, 2016 at 1:30pm ET in order to discuss the impacts of climate change on engineering services and civil infrastructure…The potentially severe impacts on civil infrastructure from climate change require updating infrastructure policy to integrate climate resilience planning into current decision-making. For the engineering profession, this means new service opportunities.

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AASHTO: State DOTs Using Drones to Improve Safety, Collect Data Faster and Cut Costs

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016

A growing number of state departments of transportation are leveraging innovative drone technology to creatively improve safety, reduce traffic congestion and save money. This Transportation TV Special Report explores the many ways in which state DOTs are using drones. According to a March 2016 survey by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, 33 state departments of transportation have or are exploring, researching, testing or using unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly referred to as drones, to inspect bridges and assist with clearing vehicle crashes, among other innovative applications. AASHTO has also prepared an on-line fact sheet that highlights the many benefits of UAVs.

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Posted in National, Policy, Show Us Your Infra, Technology

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The State of Our Schools

Wednesday, March 30th, 2016
The Nation Underinvests in Public School Facilities

21ST CENTURY SCHOOL FUND
NATIONAL COUNCIL ON SCHOOL FACILITIES
THE CENTER FOR GREEN SCHOOLS
School facilities represent the second largest sector of public infrastructure spending, after highways, and yet we have no comprehensive national data source on K–12 public school infrastructure. Even at the state level, school facilities information is often scant. The dearth of official data and standards for our nation’s public school infrastructure has left communities and states working largely on their own to plan for and provide high-quality facilities…These realities inspired our three organizations to assemble the best available state-by-state data and propose a standards-based framework by which we can benchmark the nation’s investment.

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Posted in Aging Infrastructure, Competitiveness, Funding, Infra Views, LEED, National, Schools

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Key Wind Energy Accomplishments

Tuesday, March 29th, 2016
Achieving 35% wind energy by 2050

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Wind Program is committed to helping the nation secure cost-competitive sources of renewable energy through the development and deployment of innovative wind power technologies. By investing in improvements to wind plant design, technology development, and operation as well as developing tools to identify the highest quality wind resources, the Wind Program serves as a leader in making wind energy technologies more competitive with traditional sources of energy and a larger part of our nation’s renewable energy portfolio.

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