The Handbuilt City - Page 2 of 35 - Dispatches from the Rust Belt

If Not Now, When? Detroit Flooding Raises Questions.

June 28, 2021June 28, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments climate adaptation, climate change, combined sewer, combined sewer overflow, detroit flooding, detroit water and sewerage department, drainage tax, duggan administration, dwsd, flood, flood insurance, floods, gary brown, gary brown is a cop, glwa, green infrastructure, green new deal, green stormwater infrastructure, infrastructure hardening, insurance, june 2021 storms, market solutions, rain tax, sewage, sewer, sewers, stormwater, stormwater infrastructure, stormwater management, stormwater retention

Widespread flooding across Metro Detroit has left basements filled with water, backed up sewage, and has left homeowners with questions about what the state and city have been doing, if not preparing our infrastructure for climate change.

Climate Energy

Bye, Coal-icia! Consumers Energy Advances Decarbonization Goals

June 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments campbell, clean coal, CMS, coal, coal power, coal power plant, coal retirement, Consumers Energy, decarbonization, demand response, DTE Energy, economic dispatch, essexville, fossil fuels, IRP, jackson, jackson michigan, karn, ludington, ludington pumped storage, merit order, mid-merit, noneconomic dispatch, retirement of fossil fuels, the war on coal, utility planning, west michigan

Jackson, Michigan-based Consumers Energy (NYSE: CMS) made a groundbreaking announcement in a press conference this morning that it is ditching

Urban Planning Transit infrastructure

Dreams of Better Transit Signage. How Legible Is Your City?

June 23, 2021June 23, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments advocacy, bus, bus routes, buses, calley wang, camillo sitte, citycraft, dan gilbert, dan gilbert industrial complex, DDOT, detroit department of transportation, jane jacobs, legibility, LRT, martha connell, motor city freedom riders, QLINE, richard sennett, ridership, robert moses, statecraft, transit, transit corridors, transit infrastructure, transit signage, transportation riders united, TRU, urban design, Urban planning

Transit advocacy should necessarily focus on making sure transit systems can be easily accessed. In many cases, that begins with signs to show people where to go.

Utilities Ecology

Consumers Energy: Bests DTE And Even Saves Endangered Turtles

June 18, 2021June 17, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments amphibians, animals, bees, carbon, carbon footprint, carbon sequestration, Consumers Energy, creatures, DTE, DTE Energy, ecological restoration, ecology, endangered species, friendly amphibians, friends, GHG, ghg mitigation, greenhouse gas emissions, herp gang, herp squad, herpetology, nature, pipeline, pipelines, pollinators, prairie, prairie grasses, saginaw pipeline, stranded assets, testudine, turtles, wetland restoration, wetlands

Endangered turtles return to restored wetlands along a new fossil gas pipeline that cuts through mid-Michigan.

Business & Economics Mobility Culture & Language

Sidebar: GM Says They’re Serious About Electrification? Prove It.

June 17, 2021June 17, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments belle isle, belle isle detroit, belle isle grand prix, bud denker, cadillac lyriq, car culture, cars, Electric cars, F-150 Super Duty State of Mind, find new roads, general motors, GM, grand prix, lear, lear corporation, mary barra, michigan accent, range anxiety, rick waggoner, roger penske, sunburn, sunscreen, triple zero, who killed the electric car

GM talks about its commitment to electrification, and then displays a spread of exclusively gas-powered cars at the Belle Isle Grand Prix.

Events

Detroit, The World’s Racetrack: My First Time At The Belle Isle Grand Prix

June 17, 2021June 17, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments beaubien, belle isle, belle isle grand prix, brooks patterson, bud denker, cars, chevrolet, collision course, dave gifford, daytona prototype international, department of natural resources, detroit tigers, DPI, economic development, fast cars, find new roads, grand prix, huski, huski chocolate, indy 500, indy cars, indycar, jay leno, leigh diffey, little caesars, mdot, michigan department of transportation, nascar, particulate emissions, pat morita, people mover, QLINE, race cars, racing, racism, really fast cars, renaissance center, roger penske, suburban racism, sweden, tragedy of the commons, vroom, vroom vroom, vroomvroom

At the Grand Prix, presented by [Car Company] on Belle Isle, we enjoyed pulled pork nachos, sunshine, and a haze of particulate emissions.

Business & Economics Finance Politics Finance Energy

You’ve Heard Of Socially Responsible Investing. Now Get Ready For… Socially Irresponsible Investing?!

June 14, 2021June 14, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments 2ndvote, candace owens, christianity, conservative christianity, doge, doge to the moon, dogecoin to the moon, ETF, evangelicalism, exchange-traded fund, jacki daily, jason isaac, jeanine pirro, judge jeanine, markets, stock market, stocks, stonk, stonks, texas, texas public policy foundation, tppf

A new conservative investment fund seeks to invest in “socially conservative” products, identifying a market of interested, “un-woke” investors. The only problem? Well, turns out the most profitable companies are all actually pretty socially liberal.

Energy Utilities

Time-Of-Use Pricing Is Coming. Here’s How To Make Sure You’re Ready.

June 11, 2021June 11, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments air conditioning, blackout, blackouts, brownout, climate change, energy, energy efficiency, energy waste reduction, ERCOT, extreme temperatures, heat pump, heat pumps, kilowatt-hours, kwh, peak, peak demand, peak demand surcharge, power grid, power grids, seals & crofts, summer, summer breeze, texas blackouts, time-of-use pricing, utilities

Time-of-use pricing is (most likely) coming to a utility near you, if it hasn’t arrived already. Here’s what you need to know.

Energy Efficiency Home Improvement & DIY Energy

Summer Breeze: Heat Pumps, Mini-Splits, and the Magic of Thermodynamics

June 10, 2021June 16, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments ac inverter, air conditioning, air source heat pump, alpine home air, amazon, ampacity, beneficial electrification, blueridge, blueridge mini-split, boiler replacement, bosch, bosch appliances, carnot cycle, cooling, DIY, electric vehicles, electrification, electrification of buildings, energy efficiency, heat pump, heat pumps, heating, home energy, home improvement, home rehab, home renovation, HSPF, HVAC, inverter, manual d, manual j, mini split, mini-split, mitsubishi, mr. slim, power grid, refrigeration, Renovation, residential energy, SEER, split system, split system heat pump, statistics, thermal comfort

Mini-splits are the coolest new thing. Literally. Here is a guide to how to figure out how to navigate the sea of product options based on a simple calculation.

Business & Economics Mobility Energy Automotive

EV Charging Networks: Drive Infrastructure, Not Just Cars

June 8, 2021June 7, 2021 Nat M. Zorach 0 Comments acquisition, ampacity, battery storage, chevrolet bolt, chevrolet volt, distributed energy resources, distributed generation, electric grid, electric panel, EV chargers at home, EV charging infrastructure, ev charging networks, general motors, GM, grid storage, insourcing, level 1 charger, level 2 charger, level 3 charger, li-ion, lithium-ion battery, load center, outsourcing, photovoltaics, power grid, public ev charger, public ev charging networks, rick waggoner, rooftop solar, utility-scale battery storage, utility-scale solar, v2g, vehicle-to-grid, vehicle-to-grid connectivity, who killed the electric car

A few weeks ago, I had a chat with some folks from A Major Automaker, one of the Big Two-And-A-Half,