November 30, 2009
Dallas Creating a Carbon-Neutral Urban Block
Dallas aims to take a vacant inner-city block behind City Hall and transform it into a carbon-neutral, sustainable community.
Urban Re:Vision- Dallas and the Central Dallas Community Development Corp. have chosen a design for the community.
Dubbed “Forwarding Dallas,” the city block aims to run off the grid, reports PegasusNews.
Modeled after a hillside, the site is a series of valleys and hilltops.
The valleys will have planted trees and bushes that transition into more resistant plants as the roofline rises. Atop the roof peaks – or “hills” – will reside solar thermal, photovoltaic and wind energy resources.
The rooftop will also capture rainwater and store it underground for later use.
The project drew hundreds of design entries. The chosen design is a collaboration between Portuguese-based architectural firms Atelier Data and Moov.
The building is to be made of prefabricated materials, with groundbreaking scheduled for 2011.
In Florida, a whole city is planning to tap into renewable energy.
The 17,000-acre city of Babcock Ranch aims to consume less power than its on-site solar facilities will produce, allowing it to become the first city powered by zero-emission solar energy.
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Reader Comments
Cool! or may lack there of in appearance, but good for the environment. Some products offer the exact opposite- a cool label of environmentally friendly, but missing the actual environmentally friendly part.
http://www.newsy.com/videos/the_problem_of_greenwashing
Lauren | November 30th, 2009
For a little more on how “Forwarding Dallas” and Urban Re:Vision are coming together, we published a cover story a few weeks back, with an incredibly long URL, that’s worth checking out too:
http://www.dallasobserver.com/2009-10-01/news/are-the-plans-to-build-a-green-sustainable-building-of-tomorrow-smack-in-the-heart-of-downtown-dallas-some-pipedream-or-a-reality/
Patrick Michels | November 30th, 2009