As a proud Chicagoan I’m thrilled with today’s announcement that we’re the U.S. contender for the 2016 Olympics (yes, summer). With Chicago’s new reputation as a green city, complete with its own Chicago Standard for green building, I’m very curious about what the environmental issues will be. It would be wonderful if Chicago used this platform to do everything as eco-friendly as possible, much like London is doing for 2012. The new building construction should practice recycling and reuse. Carbon offsets should be purchased for energy consumption. The city’s public transportation system is fairly comprehensive, but is lacking in one of the neighborhoods where a key stadium is to be built so they need to figure that out, etc. I know that an environmental impact study was part of the bid, and I’m sure the City is working on these details already. I’m looking forward to their being made public.  Go Chicago!

Hooray for Spain! Well, for Navarra, anyway. And definitely not for the Spanish nat’l football team. Them I don’t like. But, turbine building Spaniards, they’re alright by me.

The region of Navarra, in Northeastern Spain, better known in the U.S. for the “running of the bulls” in Pamplona. But in this region, approximately 70% of the electricity comes from the wind and the sun. With no coal, oil or gas of its own, this mountainous region deliberately went for renewable energy in the late 1980s. The first wind farm was built in full view of the regional capital Pamplona, so that people could get used to it. Now, with some 1,100 windmills dotted all over Navarra, this tiny region is capable of generating more electricity from renewable sources than big EU countries like France or Poland. Navarra plans to reach 100% renewable energy generation by 2010.

Originally from TreeHugger on March 22, 2007, 4:57pm

[tags]urbaneco, wind power, solar power, turbine[/tags]