Green Building Profiles: Austin Texas Dane Smith
Saturday, April 5, 2008 | | |Several cities across the USA are known for their progressive city governments and citizens in regard to environmental issues. Known as the "Green Cities", they not only initiate and practical policies that promote clean air and water, but often promote other programs and practices such as alternative energy systems and construction methods.
Austin, Texas always takes place in the various lists of the greenest cities in the USA and around the world. The Green Guide, affiliated with the National Geographic Society, Austin was chosen as No. 2 on its list of Top Green Cities in 2006. Criteria for its choices included air quality, electricity use and production, environment, environmental policy, green spaces, transport and water quality.
A commitment to solar energy and green building is what has earned its place Austin Green Guide on the list. The city offers discounts more generous in the country for customers who use solar energy. It also buys large quantities of wind energy wind farms in West Texas and plans to meet 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. Austin has also set high standards for energy efficiency for its central business district and has introduced progressive policies to preserve water quality, ensure the proximity of public transport, and maintain a pedestrian urban design.
But it is not only the city government that promotes green urban life. Many Austin creating citizens are becoming known throughout the country and the world for their initiative and success in creating local community projects that promote green lifestyles and a healthier, cleaner urban environment.
The Rhizome Collective was founded in 2000 as a center of community organization and urban sustainability, education. The group took an old warehouse with an asphalt parking and have transformed into gardens, ponds and greenhouses that support tilapia, catfish, turkey, ducks and chickens. They weekend host workshops and seminars to teach people around the world that they do not have to wait for governments and businesses to go green, but they can begin to implement their own projects with little experience in engineering or science.
Austin has led to a number of private individuals to use other methods of construction to build houses in the city limits, including straw bale construction. In 2001, there were about a dozen houses in the area of Austin that have been built from straw, with at least three in the city limits. In addition to these progressive methods of construction, the city has also enabled some people recycling old buildings such as warehouses and high-end condos or commercial properties innovative.
Another citizen draft initiative that has contributed to the environmental quality of the region is the Carshare initiative. The company allows members to pick a car for a day at different locations around the city. In this way, members can save money by not having to pay for their own cars (and, therefore, not having to pay for insurance, gas, maintenance and parking!) . It also reduces the amount of air pollution in the city by reducing the amount of vehicular traffic in the city.
Finally, it is common sense, an online store founded by well-known and highly respected musician Chris Austin Searles. Formerly a drummer for these remarkable artists like Alejandro Escovedo and Shawn Colvin, Searles founded sense in an effort to help consumers make the kind of choices that will help make the world greener and safer place to live and work. His store offers products that are environmentally friendly products that many consumers may find in regular stores and shops. Consumers can find products weatherizing homes, dinnerware compostable, the amplifier devices fuel, and all sorts of recycled products.
Austin, Texas always takes place in the various lists of the greenest cities in the USA and around the world. The Green Guide, affiliated with the National Geographic Society, Austin was chosen as No. 2 on its list of Top Green Cities in 2006. Criteria for its choices included air quality, electricity use and production, environment, environmental policy, green spaces, transport and water quality.
A commitment to solar energy and green building is what has earned its place Austin Green Guide on the list. The city offers discounts more generous in the country for customers who use solar energy. It also buys large quantities of wind energy wind farms in West Texas and plans to meet 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020. Austin has also set high standards for energy efficiency for its central business district and has introduced progressive policies to preserve water quality, ensure the proximity of public transport, and maintain a pedestrian urban design.
But it is not only the city government that promotes green urban life. Many Austin creating citizens are becoming known throughout the country and the world for their initiative and success in creating local community projects that promote green lifestyles and a healthier, cleaner urban environment.
The Rhizome Collective was founded in 2000 as a center of community organization and urban sustainability, education. The group took an old warehouse with an asphalt parking and have transformed into gardens, ponds and greenhouses that support tilapia, catfish, turkey, ducks and chickens. They weekend host workshops and seminars to teach people around the world that they do not have to wait for governments and businesses to go green, but they can begin to implement their own projects with little experience in engineering or science.
Austin has led to a number of private individuals to use other methods of construction to build houses in the city limits, including straw bale construction. In 2001, there were about a dozen houses in the area of Austin that have been built from straw, with at least three in the city limits. In addition to these progressive methods of construction, the city has also enabled some people recycling old buildings such as warehouses and high-end condos or commercial properties innovative.
Another citizen draft initiative that has contributed to the environmental quality of the region is the Carshare initiative. The company allows members to pick a car for a day at different locations around the city. In this way, members can save money by not having to pay for their own cars (and, therefore, not having to pay for insurance, gas, maintenance and parking!) . It also reduces the amount of air pollution in the city by reducing the amount of vehicular traffic in the city.
Finally, it is common sense, an online store founded by well-known and highly respected musician Chris Austin Searles. Formerly a drummer for these remarkable artists like Alejandro Escovedo and Shawn Colvin, Searles founded sense in an effort to help consumers make the kind of choices that will help make the world greener and safer place to live and work. His store offers products that are environmentally friendly products that many consumers may find in regular stores and shops. Consumers can find products weatherizing homes, dinnerware compostable, the amplifier devices fuel, and all sorts of recycled products.
