Photo: Wayan Vota, Flickr
Via Malcolm Kenton, Greater Greater Washington - Within eight years, an organization aims to turn two square blocks surrounding the intersection of 14th and U Streets NW into a national model of environmental sustainability.
Living City Block (LCB), a Denver-based nonprofit, seeks eventually to develop block-wide energy and water systems to cut a 2-block area’s use of energy and water, and its output of solid waste, by 75%.
Half of this will come from conservation and the other half from clean energy generation using existing low-cost methods such as cogeneration, which uses the heat generated from producing electricity to also heat rooms or water.
The zone in question is the two square blocks bounded by 13th Street NW on the east, 15th Street on the west, U Street on the south and V Street on the north. This parcel contains a microcosm of the city: a large city government building (the Reeves Center), two public housing high-rises, a small park and playground, several townhomes, two luxury apartment buildings, and a thriving commercial corridor of bars, restaurants and shops.
LCB’s first step will be to compile a detailed statistical snapshot of the two square blocks as they exist. This will provide a baseline to which to compare future measurements after transformations begin. Read More
