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New road surfaces for the future – a long and winding (and green) road

Carla Diamanti

October 17, 2022 |

News48 |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Italy

Gipave is a new type of asphalt technology that combines plastic waste with bitumen, a material already used to pave roads, to make recyclable road surfaces with longer lifespans and reduce emissions from road work by 70%.

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How Japan Won its ‘Traffic War'

David Zipper

September 06, 2022 |

Bloomberg |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Japan, Tokyo

Fewer than 3,000 people died in Japanese car crashes in 2021, compared to almost 43,000 in the United States. This is due to introducing initiatives like the Shinkansen, the world’s first bullet train, which is safer, quicker, and oftentimes more accessible than traditional cars, thus eliminating the need for residents to drive themselves.

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Weber Basin study: Secondary water meters drive down consumption

Mark Shenefelt

August 15, 2022 |

Standard-Examiner |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Utah

Water meters at homes that get their supply from the Weber Basin Water Conservancy are used to help reduce water consumption by informing residents how much water they are using.

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This small city ditched its buses. Its public Uber-like service has been a big hit

Nick de la Canal

July 19, 2022 |

NPR |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Wilson, North Carolina

A small North Carolina city replaced its bus system with on-demand minivans to better serve residents. In a collaborative effort with the company Via, which provided software, vehicles, and drivers in exchange for city funding, the service runs about 3,700 trips a week and covers 100% of the city, increasing accessibility for residents.

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Climate change: 'Sand battery' could solve green energy's big problem

Matt McGrath

July 05, 2022 |

BBC |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Finland, Kankaanpää

A team of Finnish engineers havevinstalled the first commercial battery made of sand, which can store green energy in it for months. Solar panels or wind turbines generate electricity, which is then stored as heat in the sand battery. When needed, the battery can discharge hot air to heat up water which is then used to heat homes, offices, and a swimming pool. This solution may be difficult to scale, but it’s a low-cost storage idea that could be useful when it’s cold and energy is more expensive.

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These Americans Are Just Going Around in Circles. It Helps the Climate.

Cara Buckley

November 20, 2021 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Carmel, Indiana

America's capital of the traffic roundabout is Carmel, Indiana, a city of 102,000 people and 140 roundabouts. The city boasts exceptionally low rates of traffic deaths and injury crashes. Studies of roundabout use elsewhere show benefits as well in pedestrian and bicycle safety, and in cutting environmentally harmful emissions because traditional intersections cause much longer idling times. Not all drivers like them, but Carmel long ago overcame initial qualms when the longtime mayor put into practice the traffic idea he admired when he was a university student in England.

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How to reuse a demolished building

Charlotte Horn

March 23, 2021 |

BBC |

Podcast |

Over 15 Minutes

Response Location: Switzerland, Winterthur

A warehouse in Switzerland is being transformed into new creative workspaces. The catch: It’s being constructed out of reused building materials. About 70 percent of it is being made from old materials like wood floorboards, steel beams, and windows. A network of treasure hunters are on the lookout for used materials that can be used in constructing these buildings. The workspace is nearly complete and it already has tenants for all of the spaces. They were also able to cut the building’s carbon emissions in half.

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The Era of the Wood Skyscraper Is Arriving

Klaus Sieg

March 08, 2021 |

Reasons to be Cheerful |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Canada, Vancouver, British Columbia

The Brock Commons Tallwood House in Canada was the tallest building made of wood when it opened in 2017. Now, thanks to government policies, scientific research, and hundreds of examples of proof-of-concept, more developers around the world are looking to construct buildings out of timber. Using timber is cheaper than cement, concrete, and steel and can actually store carbon emissions in its supports instead of releasing the greenhouse gas into the atmosphere.

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In South Bend, Pete Buttigieg challenged a decades-old assumption that streets are for cars above all else

Ian Duncan

January 16, 2021 |

The Washington Post |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, South Bend, Indiana

Reconfiguring streets to slow automobile traffic through its downtown business district and encourage pedestrians and bicycling enlivened South Bend's street life and proved a boon to its restaurants and other businesses. Then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg pushed for the $25 million plan to make the streets safer and encourage people to spend more time and money in the area. Drivers complained about increased travel time, as they have about other cities’ “complete streets” programs. But Buttigieg and his supporters hope to push the concept when he runs the federal Transportation Department.

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Snowsheds are just one part of Rogers Pass' extensive avalanche program

Tom Hallberg Bradly J. Boner

October 14, 2020 |

Jackson Hole News & Guide |

Multi-Media |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Rogers Pass, British Columbia

Snowsheds are just one tool in Canada’s arsenal to combat the impacts avalanches can have on their complex road systems. Snowsheds are aboveground tunnels where snow can travel over it and into the river, thereby reducing the number of road closures to cleanup the aftermath and allowing thousands of drivers to continue on their journeys. This idea is being explored by state officials in Wyoming as a way to improve their avalanche-mitigation tactics.

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