News: New disaster housing from IKEA: Rebuilding after Sandy; NYC switching to LED's

> Flatpack solar-powered refugee housing is IKEA's latest design: "A team of IKEA designers have taken on a challenge a little different from their usual fun with flatpack philosophy. To aid the thousands of refugees who can live in tent camps for a dozen years, IKEA set out to design a more durable and permanent dwelling."

> 5 job search tips from a skydiving sustainability director . 

> The slow, uneven rebuilding after Superstorm Sandy: "After Hurricane Sandy, the south shore of Staten Island looked like it had been hit by a tsunami. The storm surge devastated whole neighborhoods suddenly, in a matter of hours. In the year since the storm, some families have been rebuilding their homes and their lives. Others are ready to sell their flood-damaged properties and move on."

> NPR asks "Is rebuilding storm-struck coastlines worth the cost?"

> Bright Lights, Big City: NYC swapping all 250,000 street lights to LED : "New York City will be seen in a whole new light over the next few years, as an effort to switch to LED street lights continues. Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced all of the city’s 250,000 street lights will be changed over to light-emitting diodes in a four-year initiative. 'LEDs are the wave of the future. They last forever and they use a lot less energy,' said Bloomberg. 'The plan is for all city streets to be lit up with LEDs by 2017 and doing that will save New York City taxpayers a net of some $14 million a year.'"

>  Making rubber from dandelion juice.

News: Hurricane Sandy; reuseable materials finds marketplace; 8 years after Katrina; the changing driving habits of Americans

> Hurricane Sandy task force releases report, urges more resilient construction in wake of Hurricane Sandy: "More than ever, it is critical that when we build for the future, we do so in a way that makes communities more resilient to emerging challenges such as rising sea levels, extreme heat, and more frequent and intense storms," the report said.

Image: Alice Waters 

 > NPR profiles food activist Alice Waters, pioneer of the locally grown, organic food movement: "We've been separated from this experience through a kind of fast-food indoctrination that's been going on for the last 50 years. So we need to really come back to our senses and really understand, like most every other country in the world, that food is something precious."

> Planet Reuse Marketplace connects homeowners with reuse centers; offers materials that would otherwise have been discarded for use in new construction, renovations, and DIY projects.

>  Beacon Food Forest, Seattle's first urban food forest will be open to foragers: "The idea is to give members of the working-class neighborhood of Beacon Hill the chance to pick plants scattered throughout the park... It will feature fruit-bearing perennials — apples, pears, plums, grapes, blueberries, raspberries and more."

> Eight Years After Katrina: New Orleans recovery still a work in progress.

> American driving levels drop as Millennials turn to public transit: “The idea that the car means freedom, I think, is over,” said travel behavior analyst Nancy McGuckin. "

 Image by Tim Fuller

> Germany breaks monthly solar power generation record, nets 5.1 terawatt hours of power. Inhabitat adds, “The accomplishment proves once again that a lack of sunshine is no obstacle to scaling up solar energy — and if the Teutons can produce record amounts of solar power under grey skies, then the potential for countries with sunnier weather and more land mass (like the United States) is limitless.”

News: Competition announced for Sandy recovery; Obama talks climate change; Empire State building sees returns; pollution management ideas

Image via Wikipedia

>HUD secretary Shaun Donovan announces competition for Sandy rebuilding: "On Thursday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) secretary Shaun Donovan launched Rebuild by Design, a multistage competition meant to generate designs that increase resiliency in vulnerable coastal communities."

>President Obama lays out broad plan to address climate change in address at Georgetown University.

>Empire State Building's energy savings beat forecast: "The upgrades, which included installing new lighting and windows, modernizing boilers, and insulating radiators, earned the building LEED Gold certification in 2011. Once the building is fully retrofitted, which will happen within four years, the upgrades are expected to save $4.4 million annually in energy costs, or about 38% of the building's current bill."

>Video: Green: Vegetation on Our Planet (Tour of Earth)

Image via the New York Times

>Solar-powered boat harnessed for climate research: "In some ways the boat is suited to research. Being completely powered by the sun — the high-efficiency solar cells charge the batteries that power electric motors connected to the craft’s twin propellers — it produces no emissions of carbon dioxide or other gases that could contaminate air samples. And the boat has no problem going slowly, if necessary, as it samples the water — average speed is a sluggish five knots."

>MIT creates ‘plug-and-play’ CO2 scrubber for existing power plants: "As with the conventional thermal-amine scrubber systems, this technology should be capable of removing 90 percent of CO2 from a plant’s emissions, the researchers say. But while the conventional CO2 capture process uses about 40 percent of a plant’s power output, the new system would consume only about 25 percent of the power."

>This climate fix might be decades ahead of its time: "If you looked at knowledge as a commodity, we had generated this enormous amount of knowledge and we hadn't even begun to think of the many ways we could apply it," Eisenberger says. He decided he'd settle on a problem he wanted to solve and then dive into the pool of knowledge for existing technologies that could help him."

>MillerCoors brewery now recycles all waste.

News: Hurricane Sandy recovery; Joplin unveils new recovery projects; Renewable energy myths explored

>New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg unveils plan to protect city from future hurricanes and storm surge: "'This plan is incredibly ambitious,' Bloomberg said in a speech at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, acknowledging that much of the work would extend beyond the end of his term this year. 'This is urgent work, and it must begin now.'"

>Joplin city manager unveils $130 million Community Development Block Grant plan including infrastructure improvements, EPA Complete Green Street Program development, tree planting, and a proposed Green Neighborhood development.

>New information released on Joplin tornado damage: "An investigative team of engineers sent to Joplin found that more than 83 percent of the damage on May 22, 2011, was caused by winds of 135 mph or less, which is equal to the maximum wind speed of an EF-2 tornado."

>West Liberty, Kentucky continues to embrace sustainable disaster recovery after 2012 tornado.

A tornado in Oklahoma, seven miles south of Anadarko, on May 3, 1999. Image credit: OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)

>Listen: Public radio program Science Friday speaks with David Prevatt, a structural engineer at the University of Florida, about how to best approach strengthening buildings located in tornado alley. 

 >Pictures: Colorado wildfire quickly destroys hundreds of homes; Black Forest fire 100% contained, additional wildfires force evacuations.

>Google X (the internet giant's innovation unit)  working on green energy project that could ""have an important part to play in the future of the world energy production".

 >Inspiration: 16-year-old develops a new way to turn algae into fuel, wins first place at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

>Greenpeace Africa debunks 6 myths about renewable energy.

>Why you should care about Solar Impulse and renewable energy’s long, long journey: "There’s more to the story than a funky solar-powered craft that looks like “an outsized balsa wood toy airplane”. Solar Impulse’s journey, in many ways, is a microcosm of our nation’s love/hate relationship with renewable energy. We love the promise of clean energy and celebrate the arrival of the latest green gizmos, but we have very little patience for renewable energy strategies that take years, if not decades, to pay off."

>Poll: Americans consider the environment in what they buy: "The survey of more than 1,000 adults found that 52% said they “very consistently,” “often,” or “occasionally” weigh the environmental impact of their purchases. More and more companies are paying attention and reacting to these kinds of considerations among consumers by establishing better environmental practices, said Anne Kelly, director of Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy, a project of the corporate sustainability coalition, Ceres."