NWTC employee Garth Johnson works in the hub of the new wind turbine rotor installed on the Controls Advanced Research Turbine (CART) at the National Wind Technology Center (NWTC).

Engineers are installing the two largest turbines ever tested at the laboratory, a 1.5 MW turbine manufactured by General Electric. The new turbine allows NREL to take a significant step forward in generating its own clean electricity and meeting the Laboratory’s aggressive sustainability goals and reduce greenhouse gas emissions for its expanding research campus and support facilities.

Blades being attached to the General Electric 1.5 MW wind turbine at NREL’s NWTC.

Photo of the 12.5 MW wind turbines at the Greensburg Wind Farm in Greensburg, Kansas.

1

INTRODUCTION:
WATERS OF THE JORDAN RIVER BASIN

The Jordan River Basin is the State of Utah’s most populous basin and comprises all but the northwest portion of Salt Lake County that lies in the Great Salt Lake. The Basin is bounded on the west by the Oquirrh Mountains, on the northeast and east by the Wasatch Range, and on the south by the Traverse Mountains (see Figure 1). The Basin receives runoff from these mountains and the entire Utah Lake Basin, which is tributary to the Jordan River. The Basin is one of Utah’s wettest, receiving an average of 23 inches of precipitation annually. Despite being the State’s most populous, as well as one of the State’s wettest basins, the Jordan River Basin has only one significant reservoir (i.e., larger than 5,000 acre-feet) to capture and store runoff - Little Dell Reservoir (20,500 acre-feet), which was built in 1993. As a result, much of the Jordan River Basin’s drinking water supply is imported from the upper basin (Utah Lake basin). But there is also water imported from the West Desert Basin, the Weber River Basin and as far away as the Uintah Basin (part of the Colorado River drainage).

The combination of relatively high precipitation, significant ground water withdrawals, and extensive importation has allowed the Jordan River Basin to support a large population and has enabled local water suppliers to satisfy the demands of growth. However, this does not imply that the basin is without problems or that continuing growth will come without challenges. Currently developed supplies are not sufficient to meet projected growth and not all streams and other water bodies in the Jordan River Basin meet Utah’s water quality standards. Additionally, environmental needs and recreational demands are on the increase. This will bring greater competition for existing water supplies and ultimately require more emphasis on wise management and efficient use of all the Basin’s water resources.

FUTURE VISION

In order to meet all the future water demands in the Jordan River Basin, cooperative efforts will be needed to more fully and efficiently use existing water supplies. State and local leaders must work closely with water
suppliers in the Basin to continue to promote aggressive water conservation measures and additional innovative water management technologies. While this effort may delay the need for costly new water developments, these measures alone will not satisfy all future needs. The proposed Bear River Development Project will ultimately be needed. Exactly when this project will be constructed depends upon actual population growth as well as the ability of water conservation and other strategies to reduce water demand and the agreements within the basin to share resources.

In addition to securing adequate water for the future, water planners and managers need to continue to expand their efforts to effectively address water quality, the environment, and other values. Water agencies and institutions must fully integrate strategies and policies into their operations that address these issues. An important aspect of this endeavor will be to carefully coordinate Federal, State and local water resources efforts. Coordination will allow solutions to be tailored to local conditions and help maintain a constructive and open dialog among all water resources stakeholders.

Keys to assuring a productive future for the water resources of the Jordan River Basin include the following:
-Strong cooperation among all water resources stakeholders;
-Concerted effort to implement water conservation measures and practices;
-Careful application of innovative water management strategies such as water reuse, conjunctive management of surface and ground water, and cooperative agreements;
-Continued investment in infrastructure and carefully planned water developments;
-Continued investment in water quality programs; and
-Conscious effort to address environmental, recreational, and other needs.

PURPOSE OF THIS PLAN

The purpose of this document is to describe the current status of the water resources in the Jordan River Basin and estimate future demands that will be placed upon them. This involves quantifying the available water supply, quantifying current and future uses, identifying ways to manage and enhance existing supplies and developing new supplies to satisfy future needs. This document is intended to help water managers, planners, and others formulate the management strategies and policies that will secure a bright future for the Basin. In addition to presenting basic water data, this document should also be a valuable resource for those who live in the Basin or who are otherwise interested in contributing to water-related decisions.

Download full version (PDF): Jordan River Basin

About Utah Division of Water Resources
www.water.utah.gov
The Division of Water Resources is one of seven agencies of the Utah Department of Natural Resources and is the water resources authority for the state of Utah. The Board is the policy-making body of the division.  Their mission is to “Plan, Conserve, Develop and Protect Utah’s Water Resources.”

www.streetfilms.org Right now, Seattle is making as serious a commitment to transit as any city in the nation. Recently, Streetfilms got to take a tour of the newest addition to the city’s network — the 13-station Link Light Rail, which opened in mid-2009.

Right now, Seattle is making as serious a commitment to transit as any city in the nation. Recently, Streetfilms got to take a tour of the newest addition to the city’s network — the 13-station Link Light Rail, which opened in mid-2009.

The route is beautiful, swift, and has great multi-modal connections. Service is frequent, with headways as short as 7 minutes during rush hour, and never longer than 15 minutes. And like many of the newest American light rail systems, the stations feature copious art.

-StreetfilmsVlog on YouTube

Petra Todorovich:

The need to focus on infra issues

Show me the infra funding!

High-speed rail.  People get it.

Infra investment, job creation, and taxes

A little infra education goes a long way

Download transcript (PDF): Petra Todorovich, Director, America 2050

CHICAGO, Ill. – Proposed 220-mph high speed rail to cut the Chicago-St. Louis trip to less than two hours would also provide a major boost to the economy and efforts to reduce harmful emissions, according to a study released today by the Midwest High Speed Rail Association (MHSRA).

The line examined in the MHSRA study would serve Downtown Chicago, O’Hare Airport, Kankakee, Champaign, Decatur, Springfield, Edwardsville and St. Louis. In his January 13 State of the State speech, Gov. Pat Quinn called for “super fast” trains between Chicago and Champaign.

“With our budget crisis and the loss of the Olympics, high speed rail is the project to secure our state’s economic future,” said Rick Harnish, executive director of MHSRA. “It’s time for America and Illinois to think big again. Illinois has the potential to become first in the nation with a bullet train high speed rail link thanks to Governor Quinn’s leadership.”

The study estimates the Chicago-St. Louis via Champaign line would create 26,000 jobs during the seven years of construction, plus another 16,000 new jobs once the service is in operation. The study, conducted by TranSystems and ESH Consult on behalf of the MHSRA, estimates the new line would grow local economies between Chicago and St. Louis by one to three percent annually.

“Few other projects could claim such far-reaching and long-lasting impacts on the economy,” said Bruce Horowitz, Principal of ESH Consult. “220-mph service not only makes business and personal travel by train much more attractive, it energizes the economy and helps the environment in ways unachievable with other technology.”

Each year, the 220-mph energy-efficient electric trains would avoid 3 million trips now taken by air, bus, car or conventional diesel trains, resulting in a net savings of 187 million pounds in CO2 emissions, the same environmental benefit as adding nearly 1 million fully mature trees along the route each year.

“Transportation is the largest source of domestic CO2 emissions, and 99 percent of the energy needed comes from burning fossil fuels,” said Horowitz. “Because nearly three quarters of Illinois’ electricity comes from nuclear plants, electric 220-mph trains would have an extremely small carbon footprint.”

The 220-mph line proposed by MHSRA would be the first leg of its proposed Midwest HSR 220 network, which by 2030 could link Chicago, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus and Pittsburgh, putting more than 25 million people within a three-hour train ride of Chicago.

Value of time saved by travelers thanks to the new 220-mph service would add up to $35 million annually, and train riders would save $40 million in actual travel costs every year. The study also estimated the reduction in car travel and elimination of selected grade crossings would produce $56 million annually in reduced accident-related costs. The full economic and environmental study is available at www.midwesthsr.org.

Download full version (PDF): Chicago - St. Louis 220-mph trains

About Midwest High-Speed Rail Association
www.midwesthsr.org
“We primarily advocate for world-class 220-mph high-speed trains linking major Midwestern cities. We support fast, frequent and dependable trains on other routes that connect with 220-mph corridors to form a true modern regional and national rail network We believe that a strong network of fast trains will make the Midwest a more attractive place to live and do business while slowing the growth of auto congestion and its related energy and pollution impacts. Visit us at www.midwesthsr.org.“

“Broadband can enable citizens to engage in their democracy – through a variety of broadband-enabled tools that will make our democracy more participatory and more representative.”

“Beyond communicating with individuals, broadband provides an opportunity to engage citizens in more direct collaboration with their government in ways that lead to greater innovation.”

“We believe that broadband has the potential to transform civic engagement. But this transformation will not occur on its own. It will take a commitment from all of us – our government, our elected leaders, and the American people – to renew our democracy in a broadband enabled twenty-first century.”

Read more: Keynote speech at MIT Broadband Symposium, Broadband and the Future of Civic Engagement

Introduction

IN THE LAST FIVE TO TEN YEARS, U.S. transportation planners have become much more aware of the effect parking has on congestion, air quality, economic development and the pedestrian environment. Historically the “parking problem” has been identified as the problem of too little supply; increasingly the problem is now seen as the poor management of the existing supply and, in cases where cities have instituted parking maximums, the problem is understood to be of too much supply. There is a growing realization that the dysfunction caused by poorly conceived parking policies is a major impediment to creating an effective and balanced urban transportation system, it is also a significant cause of traffic and air pollution. This changing perspective, combined with major technological changes, and budget pressures due to the severe recession, is propelling rapid changes in curbside parking practices in the downtown areas of some of America’s biggest and most influential cities. Off-street parking policy is in some ways more complex and more important, as it heavily influences urban land use, density, and the pedestrian environment. Indeed, one of the key issues to emerge from this report is the importance of merging these two domains of parking under one policy umbrella.

The relationships between parking infrastructure and transportation choices are as important as that between road infrastructure and transportation choices. Yet research on roads abounds while there is very little on parking.

This report describes how parking policies affect United States cities. Using research and case studies, it takes a historical, theoretical and an empirical approach to analyzing goals for parking management and regulatory policy designed to meet those goals. We include curbside (on-street) parking, which in most U.S. cities is managed and maintained by street and public works departments, and accessory off-street parking which is regulated by planning departments through zoning codes. Within curbside and off-street parking there are rules governing both commercial and residential parking. An additional category — private, for-profit parking garages typically found in dense downtowns — is treated only in the context of how parking supply affects other transportation behaviors.

Documenting examples of parking “best practices” used to manage demand and promote mobility and accessibility goals, while mitigating the negative effects of private automobile use and the over dependence on single occupant automobile trips is the focus of this report. Central cities where there is a perceived parking shortage will be at the forefront.

Part One explains historical and status quo practice in both off-street and curbside1 parking management. Part Two highlights the “business as usual parking policy” and features some recent innovations, including reducing cruising for parking, double and other examples of illegal parking, single occupant vehicle use and reducing the air pollution, traffic congestion and danger caused by unnecessary driving. Part Three systematically describes a host of parking strategies for both off- and on-street parking. Roughly, these strategies fall into the categories of: increasing supply; decreasing demand; and managing supply and / or demand. Locations where these strategies have been implemented are noted. Part Four sets out approaches to parking policy that have been taken by cities at the forefront of innovation.

This report documents parking studies, academic research, and includes comments from many planners, parking managers, parking industry executives and other experts. Not all of the interviewees were comfortable being identified. In those cases where the comments were important enough to include, they are without attribution.

…

Conclusion

Parking policy exerts great influence on mode choice and urban design. In turn these affect air and water quality; development density; the ratio of active, tax ratable land uses to accessory land uses; and the quality of street-life or pedestrian environment. Many cities take a passive approach to managing parking. They borrow strategies from neighboring jurisdictions and promote the objectives to avoid spillover effects and assist private automobile use. They fail to recognize parking policy’s wider potential to affect environmental objectives and to promote positive economic outcomes.

The unintended consequences include reinforced dependence on the automobile by concomitantly, though inadvertently, subsidizing auto use and undermining availability and effectiveness of other modes. Ironically, making auto use less costly has resulted in increased traffic and parking congestion, ultimately making auto use more costly. By undermining other modes, people are left without alternatives to the automobile. Classic parking policy also results in increasing the cost of development and discouraging development in some cases.

A few cities, including those highlighted here, are taking steps to align parking policy with the broader city goals of accessibility, economic development and better quality of life — such as clean air and water and increasing access and travel alternatives.

There are few examples and many of the experiments in alternative parking approaches are relatively new, so it is difficult to recommend a one-size-fits-all account of best practices. In spite of that concern, sufficient consistency has emerged in these practices to make the following observations:

Price Sensitivity

Even small price adjustments will induce changes in behavior. Coordinating off-street and curbside pricing is effective in eliminating excess demand at the curb while off-street parking space remains available.

Increasing prices of both off-street and curbside parking will induce mode shifts when alternatives are available.

Introduction of travel alternatives along with parking pricing can reduce demand without placing an onerous burden on travelers or diverting them to alternate destinations.

When employers offer a choice of free off-street parking or its cash equivalent, some of their workers choose the cash thus reducing demand for parking spots. Similarly, when the cost of parking is unbundled from housing and other developments, demand for off-street parking is reduced.

Time limits have been notoriously difficult to enforce, though some new technologies may make it easier. Alternatively, escalating prices with increasing duration of stay have proven effective at increasing turnover and yielding greater productivity from the same number of spaces.

Performance Standards

To the extent there are standards for curbside performance, full occupancy with high turnover is one that has been articulated. Full occupancy can only be achieved when there is a queue of vehicles waiting for curb space.

Vehicles waiting for curb space are typically cruising for parking or double parked. In both cases they are using street space that could be used for bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks, smoother transit operations and / or smoother vehicular traffic flow. Vehicles unable to find space at the curb are also frequently parked illegally blocking bus stops, loading zones or access to fire hydrants, thus, impeding transit and commerce and / or creating a dangerous hazard in the event of
a fire.

Better performance standards include the elimination of illegal parking — including double parking — and elimination of wasteful cruising for free curb space. Some people have advocated vacancy targets as another way to achieve these objectives.

Without well-defined, measurable standards policy objectives are impossible to achieve.

Supply

Minimum accessory parking requirements tend to flood the market. Minimums are based on the assumption that drive trips should be accommodated with easy parking at the destination. Excess parking developed based on minimum requirements drives the price of parking to zero. Minimums are generally set without respect to the development context or reference to the total transportation system. Excessive parking induces auto trips and contributes to greater congestion.

While some jurisdictions allow shared parking among uses that have different time-of-day use profiles, the most efficient sharing is found in commercial and / or municipal lots, i.e. non-accessory lots. These lots can be centralized; they can serve multiple users minimizing excess spaces; and they concentrate and reduce pedestrian vehicle conflict points, improving opportunities for good urban design.

Without accessory parking, commercially or publicly shared parking can be priced at market clearing rates since its cost is not easily shifted to another land use. When municipally owned, parking can be priced to accomplish transportation goals including reducing parking demand by reducing automobile trips and increasing parking turnover (potentially increasing automobile trips).

In lieu fees and transfer of parking rights both facilitate central, shared parking.

Parking maximums should be set according to constraints on the entire transportation system. Transit capacity is a factor in setting maximums in at least one city. Additional transit capacity can also counter perceived need for additional off-street parking space.

Epilogue

Dysfunction will continue as long as parking policy is viewed independent of transportation policy and as long curbside and off-street parking are treated independently. Frequently, this manifests in excess auto trips, spot shortages at curb-side, an excess of empty off-street parking spots and degradation of transit service and the pedestrian environment. Failure to develop coherent policy is a missed opportunity for achieving transportation and revenue objectives.

Cities like Chicago, New York City and San Francisco are experimenting with new policies in select locations. Boulder and Portland have much more comprehensive citywide transportation policies with parking policy a prime component. While there are lessons to be gained from all of these cities, it is Portland and Boulder who have truly had the most success in achieving their objectives.

Download Full Version (PDF): U.S. Parking Policies

About Institute for Transportation and Development Policy
www.itdp.org
“The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) was founded in 1985 to promote environmentally sustainable and socially equitable transportation worldwide. We work with city governments and local advocacy groups to implement projects that reduce poverty, pollution, and oil dependence.”

Anyone who is interested in finding more information or registering for this conference can visit the conference page at http://www.iona.edu/terex. You can also join the conference LinkedIn group at http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2796941&trk=hb_side_g

USA Today: Vermont bucks Obama’s nuclear call by voting to shut plant

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