Designing Climate Solutions

Author: Hal Harvey
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610919564
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Book Description
With the effects of climate change already upon us, the need to cut global greenhouse gas emissions is nothing less than urgent. It’s a daunting challenge, but the technologies and strategies to meet it exist today. A small set of energy policies, designed and implemented well, can put us on the path to a low carbon future. Energy systems are large and complex, so energy policy must be focused and cost-effective. One-size-fits-all approaches simply won’t get the job done. Policymakers need a clear, comprehensive resource that outlines the energy policies that will have the biggest impact on our climate future, and describes how to design these policies well. Designing Climate Solutions: A Policy Guide for Low-Carbon Energy is the first such guide, bringing together the latest research and analysis around low carbon energy solutions. Written by Hal Harvey, CEO of the policy firm Energy Innovation, with Robbie Orvis and Jeffrey Rissman of Energy Innovation, Designing Climate Solutions is an accessible resource on lowering carbon emissions for policymakers, activists, philanthropists, and others in the climate and energy community. In Part I, the authors deliver a roadmap for understanding which countries, sectors, and sources produce the greatest amount of greenhouse gas emissions, and give readers the tools to select and design efficient policies for each of these sectors. In Part II, they break down each type of policy, from renewable portfolio standards to carbon pricing, offering key design principles and case studies where each policy has been implemented successfully. We don’t need to wait for new technologies or strategies to create a low carbon future—and we can’t afford to. Designing Climate Solutions gives professionals the tools they need to select, design, and implement the policies that can put us on the path to a livable climate future.

Managing the Climate Crisis

Author: Jonathan Barnett
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1642832006
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 298

Book Description
Natural disasters from heat waves to coastal and river flooding will inevitably become worse because of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere. Managing them is possible, but planners, designers, and policymakers need to advance adaptation and preventative measures now. Managing the Climate Crisis: Designing and Building for Floods, Heat, Drought and Wildfire by design and planning experts Jonathan Barnett and Matthijs Bouw is a practical guide to addressing this urgent national security problem. Barnett and Bouw draw from the latest scientific findings and include many recent, real-world examples to illustrate how to manage seven climate-related threats: flooding along coastlines, river flooding, flash floods from extreme rain events, drought, wildfire, long periods of high heat, and food shortages.

Design for Climate Change

Author: Katie Puckett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000708063
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 180

Book Description
Ford architects, contractors, engineers and specialists in the field, this book uses real-world evidence from a Technology Strategy Board-funded research project to develop a set of tools for architects and other building designers to meet a growing need to anticipate future climate change. Built on in his seminal future climate change report for the TSB, identifies three broad categories of climate change impacts on building design – comfort and energy performance, construction, and managing water.

Making Climate Policy Work

Author: Danny Cullenward
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509544941
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 256

Book Description
For decades, the world’s governments have struggled to move from talk to action on climate. Many now hope that growing public concern will lead to greater policy ambition, but the most widely promoted strategy to address the climate crisis – the use of market-based programs – hasn’t been working and isn’t ready to scale. Danny Cullenward and David Victor show how the politics of creating and maintaining market-based policies render them ineffective nearly everywhere they have been applied. Reforms can help around the margins, but markets’ problems are structural and won’t disappear with increasing demand for climate solutions. Facing that reality requires relying more heavily on smart regulation and industrial policy – government-led strategies – to catalyze the transformation that markets promise, but rarely deliver.

The New Carbon Architecture

Author: Bruce King
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1550926616
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 186

Book Description
Soak up carbon into beautiful, healthy buildings that heal the climate "Green buildings" that slash energy use and carbon emissions are all the rage, but they aren't enough. The hidden culprit is embodied carbon — the carbon emitted when materials are mined, manufactured, and transported — comprising some 10% of global emissions. With the built environment doubling by 2030, buildings are a carbon juggernaut threatening to overwhelm the climate. It doesn't have to be this way. Like never before in history, buildings can become part of the climate solution. With biomimicry and innovation, we can pull huge amounts of carbon out of the atmosphere and lock it up as walls, roofs, foundations, and insulation. We can literally make buildings out of the sky with a massive positive impact. The New Carbon Architecture is a paradigm-shifting tour of the innovations in architecture and construction that are making this happen. Office towers built from advanced wood products; affordable, low-carbon concrete alternatives; plastic cleaned from the oceans and turned into building blocks. We can even grow insulation from mycelium. A tour de force by the leaders in the field, The New Carbon Architecture will fire the imagination of architects, engineers, builders, policy makers, and everyone else captivated by the possibility of architecture to heal the climate and produce safer, healthier, and more beautiful buildings.

Landscaping with Tropical Plants

Author: Monica Moran Brandies
Publisher: Sunset
ISBN:
Category : Gardening
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Book Description
Design ideas; creative garden plans; cold-climate solutions.

Build Beyond Zero

Author: Bruce King
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 164283212X
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 282

Book Description
“Net Zero” has been an effective rallying cry for the green building movement, signaling a goal of having every building generate at least as much energy as it uses. Enormous strides have been made in improving the performance of every type of new building, and even more importantly, renovating the vast and energy-inefficient collection of existing buildings in every country. If we can get every building to net-zero energy use in the next few decades, it will be a huge success, but it will not be enough. In Build Beyond Zero, carbon pioneers Bruce King and Chris Magwood re-envision buildings as one of our most practical and affordable climate solutions instead of leading drivers of climate change. They provide a snapshot of a beginning and map towards a carbon-smart built environment that acts as a CO2 filter. Professional engineers, designers, and developers are invited to imagine the very real potential for our built environment to be a site of net carbon storage, a massive drawdown pool that could help to heal our climate. The authors, with the help of other industry experts, show the importance of examining what components of an efficient building (from windows to solar photovoltaics) are made with, and how the supply chains deliver all those products and materials to a jobsite. Build Beyond Zero looks at the good and the bad of how we track carbon (Life Cycle Assessment), then takes a deep dive into materials (with a focus on steel and concrete) and biological architecture, and wraps up with education, policy and governance, circular economy, and where we go in the next three decades. In Build Beyond Zero, King and Magwood show how buildings are culprits but stand poised to act as climate healers. They offer an exciting vision of climate-friendly architecture, along with practical advice for professionals working to address the carbon footprint of our built environment.

Climate Action Planning

Author: Michael R. Boswell
Publisher: Island Press
ISBN: 1610919637
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 382

Book Description
Climate change continues to impact our health and safety, the economy, and natural systems. With climate-related protections and programs under attack at the federal level, it is critical for cities to address climate impacts locally. Every day there are new examples of cities approaching the challenge of climate change in creative and innovative ways—from rethinking transportation, to greening city buildings, to protecting against sea-level rise. Climate Action Planning is designed to help planners, municipal staff and officials, citizens and others working at local levels to develop and implement plans to mitigate a community's greenhouse gas emissions and increase the resilience of communities against climate change impacts. This fully revised and expanded edition goes well beyond climate action plans to examine the mix of policy and planning instruments available to every community. Boswell, Greve, and Seale also look at process and communication: How does a community bring diverse voices to the table? What do recent examples and research tell us about successful communication strategies? Climate Action Planning brings in new examples of implemented projects to highlight what has worked and the challenges that remain. A completely new chapter on vulnerability assessment will help each community to identify their greatest risks and opportunities. Sections on land use and transportation have been expanded to reflect their growing contribution to greenhouse gas emissions. The guidance in the book is put in context of international, national, and state mandates and goals. Climate Action Planning is the most comprehensive book on the state of the art, science, and practice of local climate action planning. It should be a first stop for any local government interested in addressing climate change.

Making Shift Happen

Author: Nya Van Leuvan
Publisher: New Society Publishers
ISBN: 1771423374
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 560

Book Description
Nautilus Book Award Winner: An “engagingly written” behavioral science-based guide to tackling our urgent environmental problems (Robert B. Cialdini, author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion). To create a sustainable future and achieve positive, durable change, we must design solutions based directly on how people think, make decisions, and act. From hotels that save water (and money) using simple signage to energy suppliers that boost participation in renewable energy programs through mere enrollment-form tweaks, it’s clear that shifting the behavior of millions for the better is possible. Based on decades of research into what drives behavior change, Making Shift Happen provides a suite of powerful tools to transform the world. It features A-to-Z guidance on how to design a behavior change initiative—from choosing the right audience and uncovering what drives their behavior to designing, prototyping, testing, and implementation. Clear instructions and real-world examples empower you to apply hundreds of behavioral science solutions including: Using social norms to spread positive environmental behaviors Selecting and testing stories, metaphors, and values to frame information for each audience Catalyzing action by aligning your initiative with your audience’s personal and social motivators Breaking bad habits and building positive ones Capturing your audience’s attention and reducing barriers to action Connecting people with nature and building empathy for the environment and its inhabitants Making Shift Happen is a must-have guide for practitioners in non-profits, governments, and businesses looking to design successful campaigns and initiatives that shift behaviors and mindsets toward positive environmental outcomes and a better future for all. “Completely fascinating—we’ve learned a lot about the ways minds work in the last decades and that may help us figure out how to appeal to our better angels more effectively than in the past. Rest assured that people who want to sell us junk are paying attention to these insights—the rest of us better do so too!” —Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature

Designing for Sustainability

Author: Tim Frick
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1491935723
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 336

Book Description
Pixels use electricity, and a lot of it. If the Internet were a country, it would be the sixth largest in terms of electricity use. That’s because today’s average web page has surpassed two megabytes in size, leading to slow load times, frustrated users, and a lot of wasted energy. With this practical guide, your web design team will learn how to apply sustainability principles for creating speedy, user-friendly, and energy-efficient digital products and services. Author Tim Frick introduces a web design framework that focuses on four key areas where these principles can make a difference: content strategy, performance optimization, design and user experience, and green hosting. You’ll discover how to provide users with a streamlined experience, while reducing the environmental impact of your products and services. Learn why 90% of the data that ever existed was created in the last year Use sustainability principles to innovate, reduce waste, and function more efficiently Explore green hosting, sustainable business practices, and lean/agile workflows Put the right things in front of users at precisely the moment they need them—and nothing more Increase site search engine visibility, streamline user experience, and make streaming video more efficient Use Action Items to explore concepts outlined in each chapter