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Does Chicago Want A Return To The Gaslight Era?

8:33 am in Business & Politics, chicago, coal. global warming, illinois, usa by TreeHugger

gaslight photo "Electrified gaslight chandelier, ormolu, bronze, and glass, c. 1858, by Cornelius and Baker, Executive Chamber, the Vermont State House, Montpelier, Vermont" Image credit:Wikipedia Before there was "natural gas" a more toxic, man-made version was openly burned to light homes in European and North American cities. Called coal- or town-gas, it was a common source of illumination up until the 1940's. I once rented a flat in Chicago's Lincoln Park which contained converted antique coal gas chandeliers every bit as lo...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Green Roof Covers Wind- and Solar-Powered Produce Warehouse

8:25 am in agriculture, alternative energy, Business & Politics, chicago, Design & Architecture, farming, food, renewable energy, solar, solar power, united states, wind power by TreeHugger

testa distribution green warehouse image Image credit: Epstein When I wrote about a solar-powered refrigeration warehouse in Baltimore, I noted that the warehouse's visibility made for a great billboard for the potential of clean energy. Now another major distributor is making big waves for renewables with the launch of a green-built distribution warehouse in Chicago that features not just solar panels, but a 750kW wind turbine, a huge green roof, LED lighting, 100% solar hot...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Giant Bass-O-Matic Power Plants Killing Millions Of Great Lakes Fish

9:05 am in chicago, nuclear power, water conservation by TreeHugger

dunkirk plant new york image Image Credit Seabamirum Power plants on rivers and lakes have usually been built with "once-through" cooling, where water is sucked in and dumped back into the lakes as much as 30 degrees hotter. Michael Hawthorne of the Chicago Tribune writes that the effects on the ecosystem are huge:
Staggering numbers of fish die when pulled into the screens of water intake systems so powerful that most could fill an Olympic swimming pool in less than a mi...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Greenpeace Activists Scale 450-ft Smokestack on 100 Year-Old Chicago Coal Plant [UPDATES]

11:08 am in Business & Politics, chicago, coal, united states by TreeHugger

coal-action-fisk-greenpeace.jpg Photo: Brian Merchant CC BY Greenpeace activists climbed one of the nation's oldest and dirtiest coal-fired power plants, the Fisk Generating Station, in the heart of Chicago, IL. As a part of the renowned green group's Quit Coal campaign, the action is intended to draw attention to the immense damage the plant inflicts upon the local community: According to the Clean Air Task Force, the Fisk plant is responsible for killing 15 Chicago residents a year, it afflicts ...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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While Washington Denies Climate Change, Chicago Moves to Adapt

3:12 pm in Business & Politics, chicago, global climate change, united states by TreeHugger

chicago-climate-change.jpg Photo credit: Monika Thorpe via Flickr/CC BY It's a perverse irony, really. While those holding the highest offices in the nation climb over one another to convince Americans they don't believe in climate change, public officials actually in charge of dealing with the impacts of the warming climate are already knee-deep in efforts to prepare for it. The New York Times ha...Read the full story on TreeHugger

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