Sustainability

This program profiles California collegiate teams competing in the US Dept. of Energy's 2013 Solar Decathlon and XPO.

The U.S. Dept of Energy's Solar Decathlon is a competition that challenges collegiate teams to design, build and operate net zero houses, which are energy efficient, affordable and attractive.

The four teams profiles include: Stanford Univerity, Santa Clara University, the Univerity of Southern California, and the Southern California Institute of Architecture, paired with the California Institute of Technology.

Panel Discussion with:

• Lois Wolk- State Senator.
• Jim Provenza- Yolo County Supervisor.
• Jay Ziegler- Nature Conservancy.
• David Guy- Northern California Water Association.
• Tim O'Halloran- Yolo County Flood Control and Water Conservation District.
• Jim Mayer- California Forward (moderator).

Recorded by Davis Media Access.  Monday, March 31, 2014. Mary L. Stephens Branch Library

Architect Brian MacKay-Lyons grew up on the shipyards of Nova Scotia and borrows from that lean, economical building tradition in his architecture. From the Barn Yard in his village to the Canadian Embassy in Bangladesh, this episode presents a lesson in local vernacular - why it works and how it might be the most sustainable form of architecture there is.

The series moves to China, whose soaring population and rapid industrialization have created a boom in urbanization that is unprecedented in human history. To try to tackle this global issue, "China: From Red to Green?" explores green design solutions in both theory and practice, including Steven Holl's Linked Hybrid project, which will have the largest residential geothermal heating/cooling and greywater recycling system in the world upon completion.

New York is a city that is leading the charge to green its industrial skyline with several groundbreaking projects. New York combats the urban myth of the bustling city as a "concrete jungle." "The Green Apple" explores some of Manhattan's most prominent and technologically advanced structures like One Bryant Park and The Solaire, as well as the innovative minds behind them. The episode illustrates how the ubiquitous skyscraper can surprisingly be a model of environmental responsibility.

Cairo, a city of 16 million, is one of the most densely populated in the world, with only one square foot of green space per person prior to 2005. His Highness the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, saw the need to relieve this congestion. The result is Al-Azhar Park: a 500-year-old dump-turned-"urban lung" that provides much-needed green space and a source of civic pride.

Buildings are responsible for almost half of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Can a collaborative effort - government leaders, architects, regulatory agencies and building suppliers - avert a climate crisis through policy change and education? Architect-turned-activist Ed Mazria may have the answer. His Architecture 2030 organization is galvanizing commitment to a carbon-neutral building sector by the year 2030.

Dutch planners tap into their innate design sensibility and the industrial landscape to create a sustainable development in Amsterdam's abandoned dockyards, Borneo Sporenburg. Offering an alternative to the trappings of suburban sprawl, the development maximizes space while maintaining privacy, and uses the vast waterways as core landscape design elements.

New York City is known for its diversity, but that quality isn't always reflected in its public housing developments, which often ignore the social and cultural characteristics of the communities who live in them. This episode follows third generation-developer Jonathan Rose through Irvington, Harlem and the Bronx - communities where Rose is putting sustainability within reach of public housing residents.

Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, transformed one of the world's most chaotic cities into a model of civic-minded and sustainable urban planning. He reformed public transportation, added greenways, built mega-libraries and created the longest stretch of bike-only lanes in the world. But along the way, he met tremendous opposition from the very people he was attempting to help.