Forum #3: Can Minneapolis Meet Its Climate Action Goals? Our city-wide series of “Sustainable We” conversations continued December 14 with a panel discussion at Fulton Brewery. This one was social, including cocktails and snacks, featuring spirited group conversation with sustainably minded building designers, home builders, and anyone interested in city planning issues. Thanks to Carbon Net…
Energy & Design
Energy & Design
Minneapolis Climate Action Plan: Why It’s Important
The Minneapolis Climate Action Plan is designed to cut city-wide carbon emissions by 15% this year and 30% by 2025. This series of graphs explains why.At the 2015 World Expo in Milan, garbage is deposited from street receptacles, compacted and separated underground, and whooshed at roughly 50 miles an hour directly to a waste storage…
Energy & Design
Carbon Zero Home: Attempting to Leave the Dickensian Era
Sean McLoughlin leads a Carbon Zero Home effort to improve energy efficiency of existing Minneapolis homes. Why it is difficult to do the right thing…As a child of ‘hippy’ parents, Sean McLoughlin grew up living off-grid in the mountains of Taos, New Mexico. The fall was spent compiling the wood pile that heated their house…
Energy & Design
Designed for the Future: A Sampler
A sampler of the excellent compilation by Jared Green of communities and structures “Designed for the Future.” Much food for thought.One of the books I discovered this year is Designed for the Future: 80 Practical Ideas for a Sustainable World, by Jared Green (Princeton Architectural Press, 2015). He talked to more than 80 architects, urban…
Energy & Design
Forum #3: 5 Architects on Building a Better City
Five Minneapolis designers/builders talked with fellow residents and community leaders about how to build a better city, at the third Sustainable We forum. At Sustainable We forum #3, five home builders/designers debated the state of energy efficient housing stock in Minneapolis today. It was a lively discussion. Will we be able to meet standards to…
Energy & Design
Sustainable We Forum #4: Where Does the Sun Shine on Renewable Energy?
How are Minneapolis community gardens going to make a difference? What should we know about the developers? The options? Forum #4 Our city-wide series of “Sustainable We” conversations continued January 19 with a panel discussion at the community room of Gandhi Mahal restaurant in the Longfellow neighborhood. A short video clip from audio material below: Questions…
Energy & Design
Why Should We Care About Our Home Energy?
We hear about it as a global warming issue, but do you really know why Minneapolis energy efficiency is important? And what you are spending on home energy?The big picture… Most of the energy we create from fossil fuels is wasted, and leads to air pollution, global warming, and health issues. (The World Health Organization…
Energy & Design
Q&A: Marnie Peichel, on Affordable, Sustainable Housing
Minneapolis architect Marnie Peichel sat down to talk about ways Minneapolis is building better options for our full community — and ways we are not. As one of the 2015 Eco-Blend award winners, for her work designing sustainability into an affordable North Minneapolis multifamily unit, Marnie Peichel is finding the balance between family life and…
Energy & Design
Q&A With Home Designer Michael Anschel
Otogawa-Anschel’s Michael Anschel has been fighting to make things better in Minneapolis housing since he was a teen. He offers insights on energy standardsMinneapolis-based home designer Michael Anschel of Otogawa-Anschel Design+Build (aka OA) led the effort to develop The Minnesota GreenStar building standards, now used in a 7-state region. His has been a long-standing mission…
Energy & Design
Minneapolis and LEED Design
Part of a series that looks at Minneapolis and our approach to sustainable design, climate change and energy efficiency Commercial Minneapolis LEED Buildings might not be as extensive as Portland, Oregon (the general comparison MPLS Green is making in this series), but we do have pioneers. Of 154 LEED-oriented commercial and residential projects in Minneapolis…