Avangrid moves to cancel Park City offshore wind contracts on heels of SouthCoast termination
Not sure what to make of this announcement canceling off-shore wind projects on the same day that CT,MA and RI announce a MOU to collaborate on more off-shore wind projects. Something doesn't smell right. Mixed messages.
source
What Is Green Infrastructure? – Planetizen
Clear, accessible definitions for common urban planning terms.
What Is Green Infrastructure?
4 minute read
Green infrastructure harnesses nature to the benefit of the built environments as well as human and animal life.
Green infrastructure harnesses nature to the benefit of the built environments as well as human and animal life.
Nature can also be infrastructure, harnessed for its ability to provide a variety of beneficial services to communities, such as protections from floods, mitigation of heat, habitat for wildlife, and improved air and water quality.
As the world begins to reckon with the effects of climate change and the other negative outcomes of traditional 20th century infrastructure, like air pollution from cars and water pollution from industrial-scale business operations, the use of green infrastructure has become more common as a feature of sustainable and regenerative environments.
Historically, infrastructure planning and building has relied on engineering and man-made structures—such as gutters, pipes, tunnels, and dams—to attempt to remove or limit environmental effects. Stormwater is channeled into a storm drain and quickly pushed out to the ocean, for example. The shortcomings of such “gray infrastructure” systems have become more apparent with climate change and the birth of the environmental movement. As it tuns out, some gray infrastructure systems only exacerbate environmental risk. Green infrastructure acknowledges those shortcomings and implies, by comparison, a decision to live with and learn from nature.
Green infrastructure can be planned and implemented at multiple scales—from the hyperlocal scale of individual properties and neighborhoods to the regional scale of watersheds and public lands. At the hyperlocal level, green infrastructure can take the form of green roofs, rain barrels, bioswales (i.e., a form of drainage that uses plant life and organic matter to filter water as it seeps into the ground), and trees. At the regional level, wildlife corridors ensure biodiversity by providing animals with safe passage above or below man-made features like roads and highways and watershed planning can allow for space for rivers to overflow for flood protection and to encourage plants and animals to flourish.
Importantly, much of the driving force behind green infrastructure planning comes from federal policies like the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act. To help spur the adoption of green infrastructure systems, for example, Congress enacted the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act in 2019, which defines green infrastructure as “the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters.”
Examples of green infrastructure are numerous, including the following:
In planning documents, green infrastructure is also sometimes referred to as “low impact development,” “environmental site design,” or “low-carbon infrastructure.” Blue-green infrastructure is another fairly recent term that can be hard to distinguish from the term green infrastructure (but blue-green infrastructure usually refers to urban water systems without setting aside as many gray infrastructure systems).
According to numerous sources, green infrastructure is most commonly applied to the practices and processes of stormwater and water supply management. A study published in January 2022, for example, found that most plans focusing on green infrastructure in the United States are intended to address the regulations of the federal Clean Water Act.
The same study suggests a definition of green infrastructure than includes natural stormwater mitigation practices, but also expands to include the infrastructures of the larger landscape. While most of the planning and design world’s adoption of green infrastructure has focused on water, numerous other forms of green infrastructure are gaining in popularity too, such as the creation of networks of open spaces, such as farmland, public land, parks, urban forests, conservation development, urban growth boundaries, bike and pedestrian paths, and other greenways that preserve a place for the natural world alongside built environments, cleaning the air and maintaining biological balance.
To be clear, green infrastructure can also incorporate engineered systems into the natural environment, but the key is that even these engineered systems will, by definition, mimic or harness the powers of nature for the benefit of nature. Hydroelectric dams are not green infrastructure, for example, despite harnessing the power of nature for water storage and electricity generation because of their tremendous impact on species habitat and even the weather.
The term green infrastructure can be easily abused, like so many terms central to environmental causes. It is not enough, for example, to throw the word green in front of a common feature of gray infrastructure and say you’re doing your part of sustainability and environmental protection. While searching for examples of green infrastructure online, for example, you might find some examples of some questionable applications of the term, such as “green parking garages,” for example.
Green infrastructure can be defined both by its structures, the natural processes of plants, soil, and topography, as well as its output is how it creates resources and benefit where before there was pollution and It mimics natural hydrological processes and uses natural elements such as soil and plants to turn rainfall into a resource instead of a waste.
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NOLABA Awarded Grant for Green Infrastructure Workforce … – Biz New Orleans
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NEW ORLEANS — The Delta Regional Authority has awarded the New Orleans Business Alliance a two-year, $450,000 grant under its Delta Workforce Grant Program. The funds will support a green infrastructure workforce training collaborative started under JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s AdvancingCities Challenge.
“NOLABA and the DRA both recognize the significant future impact of the green infrastructure industry in New Orleans,” said Louis David, NOLABA’s interim president and CEO. “This grant will allow us to expand the work we’ve already started and increase green infrastructure job opportunities for our city’s residents and small businesses.”
NOLABA will use the Delta Workforce Grant Program to convene a network of training providers and employers in the green infrastructure industry to expand opportunities for entry-level positions, support skill-building and identify high-growth career pathways. Through collaboration between educators, practitioners, and employers, NOLABA aims to build visibility and clarity around the relevant skills needed for roles in the green infrastructure industry while training an equitable workforce.
“The City of New Orleans recognizes the importance of a wide range of agencies linking arms to create transformational change for our people, especially our workforce and small business community,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell. “This innovative collaboration will provide even stronger pipelines to meaningful, well-paying, in-demand employment opportunities within the blue-green infrastructure sector that our residents not only deserve but also desire. We truly value this partnership with the Delta Regional Authority and NOLABA and remain steadfast in working with all partners to further diversify our economy and increase our competitiveness in the global marketplace.”
DWP supports workforce training and education programs that create a more vibrant economic future for the Mississippi River Delta and Alabama Black Belt regions. Through AdvancingCities New Orleans, NOLABA has collaborated with agencies and community stakeholders to develop and oversee programs and strategies that invest in the city’s green infrastructure industry. Recently, NOLABA announced the AdvancingCities Greenhouse Program, which provides industry training and job placement assistance to unemployed and underemployed individuals.
“The Delta Workforce Grant Program makes targeted investments in initiatives and programs that support workforce employment and training needs in DRA’s region and helps create pathways to high-quality careers that allow residents to thrive and remain in their communities,” said Dr. Corey Wiggins, federal co-chairman, DRA. “As a result of our investment in the New Orleans Business Alliance’s collaborative, more than 450 individuals are projected to receive industry-driven skills training for high-demand jobs within clean infrastructure, helping to strengthen New Orleans’ workforce ecosystem and environmental sustainability.”
This Delta Workforce Grant is the DRA’s first grant opportunity awarded to NOLABA in the organization’s history. The DRA joins other federal government initiatives, including the Economic Development Authority, in supporting NOLABA’s work to increase economic opportunity. For more information about the New Orleans Business Alliance, visit nolaba.org.
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State proposes changes to New York City's Green Infrastructure … – Riverkeeper
by Mike Dulong, Interim Legal Program Director
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Full green infrastructure development will be delayed by at least a decade, but implementation of Riverkeeper recommendations will strengthen program moving forward
On Friday May 19, 2023, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection held a press conference to announce modifications to its Green Infrastructure Program, the product of a 2012 Consent Order agreed to between New York City and New York State to reduce citywide combined sewer overflows (known as “CSOs”) by 1.67 billion gallons annually by 2030. The 2023 Citywide Green Infrastructure Modification requires NYCDEP to expend an additional $2 billion on green infrastructure to reduce CSOs by 1.67 billion gallons per year by 2040 on a citywide basis, with the potential to request an additional five years to achieve the CSO reduction goal by 2045. While the modification will delay pollution reduction benefits by 10 years, the state and city have proposed implementation of many of the practical recommendations Riverkeeper and coalition partners laid out in our 2022 Building an Equitably Green New York City report.
Though the proposed modifications reflect the reality that the city was never on track to achieve its green infrastructure goals by 2030, it’s worth acknowledging that the city has made tremendous progress toward implementing the largest green infrastructure program in the country. Because the city’s own red tape has stymied its contracts with landscape engineers, and the complexity of construction in the city’s public spaces has slowed projects, the city and state have preliminarily agreed to extend the deadline for full implementation by a decade. The delay, if finalized, would allow for greater raw sewage and polluted stormwater pollution during the next 17 to 22 years, not to mention it will hamper the city’s ability to meet its new commitment set forth the City’s long-term strategic climate plan, PlaNYC: Getting Sustainability Done, “to [end] the discharge of untreated sewer overflows by 2060.”
That said, despite the delay, the state and city have proposed important new commitments that are crucial for CSO reduction. First, the city will formally commit to an additional $2 billion in planned water quality and resiliency projects. This commitment should be sufficient to meet the 1.67 billion gallon CSO reduction target and also provide additional capacity for projects, such as Bluebelts, which are natural drainage systems like those that surround Staten Island, and neighborhood-wide “cloudburst” plans that reduce local precipitation-related flooding while improving water quality around the city. Riverkeeper called for these types of projects in our green infrastructure report and strongly supports these new, more adaptive ways that the city is managing stormwater as climate change threatens to cause more frequent and more intense storms.
Moreover, while the current Green Infrastructure Program provides funds for green infrastructure development in only areas served by combined sewers (roughly 60% of the city), the proposed changes would also allow for the development of green infrastructure projects in the separately sewered areas (known as “MS4 areas”) (the other 40%). This will allow for equity in the construction of green infrastructure throughout all New York City neighborhoods. We, along with coalition partners, have long requested the program’s expansion to these communities, such as Coney Island and parts of the Southeastern Bronx.
The city has also formally committed to completing the Tibbetts Brook Daylighting project in the Bronx, the single most effective green infrastructure project for improving water quality, capturing stormwater and enhancing quality of life in New York City. Not only will reconstructing the former brook – which will move the flow of stormwater from underground pipes back to a restored surface stream – prevent hundreds of millions of gallons of CSOs from entering the Harlem River, it will also create a greenway in one of the most heavily traffic-congested and polluted areas of the city. By channeling waters away from overwhelmed infrastructure, it will also reduce local flooding. The daylighting of Tibbetts Brook is a very big win for our coalition group partners and DEP, and would not have been possible without persistent community advocacy from partner organizations, particularly Bronx Council for Environmental Quality, as well as collaborative DEP staff. There remain other opportunities for waters in New York City that should also be daylighted to improve water quality and reduce local flooding, such as Kissena Creek, Flushing Creek, and Alley Creek watersheds in Queens, and we urge DEP to pursue them.
While we appreciate these important improvements to the program, Riverkeeper will continue to advocate for innovation. One top concern is discord caused by conflicting city agency goals. To alleviate inefficiencies, green infrastructure development must be integrated throughout all construction projects and incorporated into the missions of all relevant agencies, especially the Department of Transportation, Parks, and Design and Construction, as well as the New York City Housing Authority. The city needs better standards and mechanisms to incentivize green infrastructure development through all of these entities. These agencies must be both supported and made accountable for incorporating the development of new green infrastructure assets into their capital projects and provided the budget to do so, including funds for operation and maintenance.
The city also needs clearer guidance on maintenance of constructed green infrastructure, such as rain gardens, green roofs, infiltration planters, trees, and rainwater harvesting systems. A 2019 City Comptroller report documented that poor maintenance is undermining the Green Infrastructure Program. Green infrastructure installations were left to wither—plants died, the areas became full of trash, and the sidewalk rails were broken. Unless the vegetation is healthy, it is ineffective at protecting water quality, and the day-to-day benefits for local neighborhoods cannot be felt. The proposed changes to the Green Infrastructure Program have no meaningful commitments for green infrastructure maintenance. Riverkeeper urges the city to agree to set funds aside in the capital infrastructure budget to guarantee sufficient, ongoing resources for maintenance.
Next Steps
Looking forward, Riverkeeper will submit detailed comments on the proposed Consent Order modifications in support of the improvements to the city’s Green Infrastructure Program and also raising questions about the delays. And we will continue to work with DEP staff and others to optimize the program for the benefits of community health and water quality.
Background
Each year, New York City discharges more than 20 billion gallons of raw sewage into local waterways. That’s enough to fill the Empire State Building 72 times! These “combined sewer overflow” discharges occur because roughly 60% of the city is served by a combined sewer system in which stormwater runoff from rainstorms that collect pollutants from industrial sites, sidewalks, and streets mixes with sewage from homes and businesses and causes the system to overflow, dumping untreated sewage into waterways surrounding the city.
Riverkeeper has been fighting for years for major upgrades to sewage infrastructure, including green infrastructure. The term “green infrastructure” can have many meanings, but it typically refers to the retrofitting of roofs, sidewalks, streets and other impervious surfaces with soil and vegetation that soak up and slow stormwater runoff, preventing it from running directly to the sewer system.
What can you do?
New York State is accepting public comments on the New York City Green Infrastructure Consent Order modifications until June 16, 2023. If you’d like to know more about the modifications to the Green Infrastructure Consent Order, the city is hosting a discussion on June 1 at 5:30. Click here to register and ask any questions you have about the changes.
New York State must insist on smarter investments that support life in our rivers and safeguard against the full range of flood risks we are facing – not just storm surges.
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This New Extraction Technique Could Help Avert a Lithium Shortage
This is the second Northeast Cleantech Open finalist that I’m covering, but before going further, let me make it clear that these posts are not intended to be an indorsement. All the finalists are early-stage enterprises and I haven’t vetted their offerings. Consequently, I can’t say with any confidence whether they will succeed or not. I certainly hope they are all successful. And I would be pleased if some of them did significantly alter the landscape. However, only time will tell.
With the EV market growing significantly, and demand for battery storage exploding, the need for lithium will continue to increase. As I have covered in numerous posts, currently, the major suppliers of lithium are not in the most stable countries. To make matters worse, the mining process consumes a great deal of water and isn’t particularly environmentally friendly.
If there is any segment of the market that is in need of a new approach it’s lithium extraction. And that is precisely what Virginia-based Ellexco – founded in 2021 – believes that they have developed.
I previously did a post on oil companies entering the lithium business. The reason was because lithium is present in oil brine, which is basically a waste byproduct of oil drilling.
The presence of lithium in brine is what Ellexco is all about. They have developed a chemical-free electricity-driven approach to directly extract lithium from brines to produce lithium hydroxide. Not only could their technology help increase the lithium supply, it could do it in a most environmentally friendly way. The company positions it as “green lithium.”
Ellexco participated in the U.S. Department of Energy’s program to identify innovations to source domestic lithium from geothermal brines. It is hoped that the technique known as direct lithium extraction or DLE will allow the U.S. to begin generating a domestic supply of lithium. That would be a very positive step forward on a number of levels.
Funded by the Geothermal Technologies Office (GTO) a total of $2 million was awarded to three companies. The winner was the team from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Team SelectPureLi for their redox membrane for lithium hydroxide extraction. However, as one of three winners, Ellexco was awarded a prize of $500,000.
I may not have vetted the company but there is no doubt that the folks at the DOE saw something of value. That’s no guarantee of success but it’s a great start.
Best of luck to Ellexco in the national finals.
The Rising Tide: Saltwater Intrusion and its Impact on Major Cities
Introduction:
Saltwater intrusion is a pressing environmental concern that is increasingly impacting major cities around the world. This phenomenon occurs when saltwater infiltrates freshwater aquifers, compromising the availability of fresh water and affecting the ecological balance of the area. Alpha Water & Power is at the forefront of addressing this issue, working diligently to mitigate the effects of saltwater intrusion in cities like Miami, New York City, and New Orleans. In this article, we will explore the impacts of saltwater intrusion on these cities and discuss the innovative solutions being implemented to combat this growing problem.
Saltwater Intrusion: A Closer Look
Saltwater intrusion is primarily driven by over-extraction of groundwater, sea level rise, and reduced freshwater supply due to climate change and human activities. When the balance between freshwater and saltwater is disrupted, saltwater can encroach into freshwater aquifers, rendering the water unsuitable for drinking and agricultural use.
Miami, FL: A City Under Siege
Miami, a vibrant city known for its beautiful beaches and diverse culture, is one of the cities most affected by saltwater intrusion. The city’s proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and its low-lying topography make it particularly vulnerable. The Biscayne Aquifer, which supplies fresh water to millions in South Florida, is under constant threat from encroaching saltwater.
To combat this, Miami is investing in advanced water management systems and infrastructure improvements. Alpha Water & Power is actively involved in these initiatives, providing cutting-edge solutions to monitor and manage water quality and supply.
New York City: The Urban Jungle Faces New Challenges
New York City, with its sprawling urban landscape, is not immune to the effects of saltwater intrusion. The city relies heavily on its intricate network of reservoirs and aqueducts to supply fresh water to its millions of inhabitants. However, rising sea levels and extreme weather events are posing significant risks to the city’s water supply.
In response, New York City is implementing robust water conservation measures and investing in resilient infrastructure to safeguard its water supply. Alpha Water & Power is collaborating with city officials and experts to develop and implement innovative technologies to monitor and mitigate the impacts of saltwater intrusion in the region.
New Orleans: Battling Nature’s Forces
New Orleans, a city below sea level, is no stranger to water-related challenges. The city’s unique geography and extensive network of levees and pumps make it highly susceptible to saltwater intrusion. The intrusion is affecting the city’s drinking water sources and causing widespread ecological degradation in the surrounding wetlands.
To address this, New Orleans is employing advanced water management strategies and restoring natural barriers like wetlands and marshes. Alpha Water & Power is at the forefront of these efforts, providing expertise and state-of-the-art solutions to help the city combat saltwater intrusion and protect its precious water resources.
Solutions and Innovations:
Addressing saltwater intrusion requires a multifaceted approach, combining technology, policy, and community engagement. Alpha Water & Power is pioneering solutions such as advanced monitoring systems, sustainable water management practices, and innovative water treatment technologies to combat saltwater intrusion in affected cities. By working closely with local governments, communities, and other stakeholders, we aim to create a sustainable and resilient water future for all.
Conclusion:
Saltwater intrusion is a critical issue that poses severe risks to the water security and ecological balance of major cities like Miami, New York City, and New Orleans. The collaborative efforts of Alpha Water & Power, along with city officials and communities, are crucial in developing and implementing innovative solutions to mitigate the impacts of this environmental challenge. By fostering resilience and sustainability, we can ensure the availability of fresh water for future generations and protect the vibrant ecosystems that make our cities unique.
Climate Risk by Address
Wondering what risks your home could experience from ongoing climate disruptions? Try the below tool:
https://riskfactor.com/
Water
Population Growth
On average, women in Uganda will have seven children each, and those rates can be dangerous when coupled with extreme water scarcity. This is much higher than the average across the world and other countries in Africa. The population of the entire country as a whole is expected to at least double by 2060, which would bring the total to around 90 million people living in a relatively small country. Considering the struggles Uganda already faces with providing clean water to its current number of citizens, they will have to be proactive to deal with exponential population growth in future years. The high birth rates can be attributed to a lack of family planning services and education for the people, especially in rural areas.
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