-PDF Download- Housing The Environment And Our Changing Climate EBOOK

Housing, the Environment, and Our Changing Climate

Author: Christoph Sinn

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13:

The climate is changing, and this book aims to capture both ways in which this is true. First, the global warming which is taking place, as our atmosphere is forced to absorb ever more man-made carbon dioxide, is now an indisputable reality. It is not too late to prevent the worst effects of such climate change, but in any event it will have a profound impact on the way we live and the kinds of houses we need. Second, the climate is changing - albeit slowly - in terms of the response by the housing world to the challenge of global warming. Government has instigated a radical approach to environmental standards for new housing, but has arguably been slower to realise the urgency of action to tackle poor environmental standards in the existing housing stock. This completely new version of the earlier book Housing and the Environment - A new agenda concentrates on the linked issues of climate change, fuel shortages and fuel poverty.

Gray to Green Communities

Author: Dana Bourland

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2021-01-19

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 164283128X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

US cities are faced with the joint challenge of our climate crisis and the lack of housing that is affordable and healthy. Our housing stock contributes significantly to the changing climate, with residential buildings accounting for 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. US housing is not only unhealthy for the planet, it is putting the physical and financial health of residents at risk. Our housing system means that a renter working 40 hours a week and earning minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any US county. In Gray to Green Communities, green affordable housing expert Dana Bourland argues that we need to move away from a gray housing model to a green model, which considers the health and well-being of residents, their communities, and the planet. She demonstrates that we do not have to choose between protecting our planet and providing housing affordable to all. Bourland draws from her experience leading the Green Communities Program at Enterprise Community Partners, a national community development intermediary. Her work resulted in the first standard for green affordable housing which was designed to deliver measurable health, economic, and environmental benefits. The book opens with the potential of green affordable housing, followed by the problems that it is helping to solve, challenges in the approach that need to be overcome, and recommendations for the future of green affordable housing. Gray to Green Communities brings together the stories of those who benefit from living in green affordable housing and examples of Green Communities’ developments from across the country. Bourland posits that over the next decade we can deliver on the human right to housing while reaching a level of carbon emissions reductions agreed upon by scientists and demanded by youth. Gray to Green Communities will empower and inspire anyone interested in the future of housing and our planet.

Two Degrees: The Built Environment and Our Changing Climate

Author: Alisdair McGregor

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-05-02

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 1136182500

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

The Earth’s temperature has been rising. To limit catastrophic outcomes, the international scientific community has set a challenging goal of no more than two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) average temperature rise. Economists agree we will save trillions of dollars by acting early. But how do we act successfully? And what’s the backup plan if we fall short? Setting politics aside, Two Degrees reviews the current science and explains how we can set practical steps to reduce the extent of warming and to adapt to the inevitable changes, all while improving the bottom line, beautifying our communities, and increasing human health. The book is a practical guide intended for a broad audience of those who occupy and shape our built environment. The authors provide a clear framework for communities, policy makers, planners, designers, developers, builders, and operators to help manage the impacts and capture the opportunities of our changing climate. Two Degrees is divided into three sections—Fundamentals, Mitigation, and Adaptation—covering a diverse array of topics ranging from climate-positive communities and low-carbon buildings to the psychology of choice and the cost of a low-carbon economy. After a foreword by Amory Lovins, more than 10 contributing authors share knowledge based on direct experience in all aspects of built environment practice. This book clarifies the misconceptions, provides new and unique insights, and shows how a better approach to the built environment can increase resilience and positively shape our future.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster

Author: Bill Gates

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2021-02-16

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 0385546149

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical—and accessible—plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe. Bill Gates has spent a decade investigating the causes and effects of climate change. With the help of experts in the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, political science, and finance, he has focused on what must be done in order to stop the planet's slide to certain environmental disaster. In this book, he not only explains why we need to work toward net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases, but also details what we need to do to achieve this profoundly important goal. He gives us a clear-eyed description of the challenges we face. Drawing on his understanding of innovation and what it takes to get new ideas into the market, he describes the areas in which technology is already helping to reduce emissions, where and how the current technology can be made to function more effectively, where breakthrough technologies are needed, and who is working on these essential innovations. Finally, he lays out a concrete, practical plan for achieving the goal of zero emissions—suggesting not only policies that governments should adopt, but what we as individuals can do to keep our government, our employers, and ourselves accountable in this crucial enterprise. As Bill Gates makes clear, achieving zero emissions will not be simple or easy to do, but if we follow the plan he sets out here, it is a goal firmly within our reach.

Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing

Author: Global Green USA

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-06-22

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1597267465

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Blueprint for Green Affordable Housing is a guide for housing developers, advocates, public agency staff, and the financial community that offers specific guidance on incorporating green building strategies into the design, construction, and operation of affordable housing developments. A completely revised and expanded second edition of the groundbreaking 1999 publication, this new book focuses on topics of specific relevance to affordable housing including: how green building adds value to affordable housing the integrated design process best practices in green design for affordable housing green operations and maintenance innovative funding and finance emerging programs, partnerships, and policies Edited by national green affordable housing expert Walker Wells and featuring a foreword by Matt Petersen, president and chief executive officer of Global Green USA, the book presents 12 case studies of model developments and projects, including rental, home ownership, special needs, senior, self-help, and co-housing from around the United States. Each case study describes the unique green features of the development, discusses how they were successfully incorporated, considers the project's financing and savings associated with the green measures, and outlines lessons learned. Blueprint for Green Affordable Housing is the first book of its kind to present information regarding green building that is specifically tailored to the affordable housing development community.

The Climate Solutions Consensus

Author: National Council for Science and the Environment

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2012-06-22

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1610911288

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize (with former Vice President Al Gore) for its reporting on the human causes of climate change. In 2008, the National Council for Science and the Environment reported that the acceleration of climate change is already faster than the IPCC projected only a year earlier. How we deal with the rapid environmental changes, and the human forces that are driving these changes, will be among the defining issues of our generation. Climate Solutions Consensus presents an agenda for America. It is the first major consensus statement by the nation’s leading scientists, and it provides specific recommendations for federal policies, for state and local governments, for businesses, and for colleges and universities that are preparing future generations who will be dealing with a radically changed climate. The book draws upon the recommendations developed by more than 1200 scientists, educators and decision makers who participated in the National Council for Science and the Environment’s 8th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment. After presenting a lucid narrative of the science behind climate change and its solutions, Climate Solutions Consensus presents 35 practical, results-oriented approaches for minimizing climate change and its impacts. It clearly spells out options for technological, societal, and policy actions. And it deals head-on with controversial topics, including nuclear energy, ocean fertilization and atmospheric geo-engineering. One of the book’s key conclusions is that climate solutions are about much more than energy sources. They involve re-examining everything people do with an eye toward minimizing climate impacts. This includes our eating habits, consumption patterns, transportation, building and housing, forestry, land use, education, and more. According to these scientists, the time to act is now. With clarity and urgency, they tell us exactly what needs to be done to start reversing the driving factors behind climate change, minimizing their consequences, and adapting to what is beyond our power to stop.

Homes for a Changing Climate

Author: Will Anderson

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2009-10-14

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1907448446

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

An exploration into the history of our collective response to the challenges of extreme weather conditions and climate. At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world finally woke up to the reality of climate change and began the arduous task of freeing itself from dependence on fossil fuels. But the time lag in the Earth's ecosystem is such that our best efforts to cut carbon today will make little difference to the changing climate of the next 30 years. As we work towards a secure, low-carbon future, we must address the changes that are already taking place in the planet's climate. We must learn to live with higher temperatures, intense rainstorms, rising sea levels and prolonged drought. We must also confront the secondary impacts of climate change, especially on energy and food security. Britain has a mild, temperate climate where occasional weather extremes tend to have serious impacts because we are simply not prepared for them. Yet across the world, communities have been living with such extremes for millennia. If we have the imagination to learn from others and rethink the ways we build and live together, we can face this unsettling future with confidence. Homes for a Changing Climate celebrates this collective wisdom, exploring traditional and contemporary responses to the challenges of climate and illustrating the many ways in which houses can be designed, built and adapted to cope with these challenges. Examples are drawn from across Europe including the supervolcano of Thera, the 100mph winds of the Western Isles, and the cutting-edge eco-building projects in Britain. Based on the climate projections for the UK published by the Met Office in June 2009, Homes for a Changing Climate combines inspiring case studies, striking photography and practical advice to create a book of imagination and hope in uncertain times.

Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change

Author: David Crichton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-10-26

Total Pages: 399

ISBN-13: 1136444556

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

From the bestselling author of Ecohouse, this fully revised edition of Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change provides unique insights into how we can protect our buildings, cities, infra-structures and lifestyles against risks associated with extreme weather and related social, economic and energy events. Three new chapters present evidence of escalating rates of environmental change. The authors explore the growing urgency for mitigation and adaptation responses that deal with the resulting challenges. Theoretical information sits alongside practical design guidelines, so architects, designers and planners can not only see clearly what problems they face, but also find the solutions they need, in order to respond to power and water supply needs. Considers use of materials, structures, site issues and planning in order to provide design solutions. Examines recent climate events in the US and UK and looks at how architecture was successful or not in preventing building damage. Adapting Buildings and Cities for Climate Change is an essential source, not just for architects, engineers and planners facing the challenges of designing our building for a changing climate, but also for everyone involved in their production and use.

They Knew

Author: James Gustave Speth

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2021-08-24

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0262542986

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

A devastating, play-by-play account of the federal government's leading role in bringing about today's climate crisis. In 2015, a group of twenty-one young people sued the federal government for violating their constitutional rights by promoting the climate catastrophe, depriving them of life, liberty, and property without due process of law. They Knew offers evidence for their claims, presenting a devastating, play-by-play account of the federal government's role in bringing about today's climate crisis. James Speth, tapped by the plaintiffs as an expert on climate, documents how administrations from Carter to Trump--despite having information about climate change and the connection to fossil fuels--continued aggressive support of a fossil fuel based energy system. What did the federal government know and when did it know it? Speth asks, echoing another famous cover up. What did the federal government do and what did it not do? They Knew (an updated version of the Expert Report Speth prepared for the lawsuit) presents the most compelling indictment yet of the government's role in the climate crisis, showing a forty-year failure to take action. Since Juliana v. United States was filed, the federal government has repeatedly delayed the case. Yet even in legal limbo, it has helped inspire a generation of youthful climate activists. An Our Children’s Trust Book

Climate change and poverty

Author: Fitzpatrick, Tony

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2014-09-25

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1447300866

DOWNLOAD EBOOK →

Climate change is the main challenge facing developed countries in the 21st century. To what extent does this agenda converge with issues of poverty and social exclusion? Climate change and poverty offers a timely new perspective on the ÔecosocialÕ understanding of the causes and symptoms of, and solutions to, poverty and applies this to recent developments across a number of areas, including fuel poverty, food poverty, housing, transport and air pollution. Unlike any other publication, the book therefore establishes a new agenda for both environmental and social policies which has cross-national relevance. It will appeal to students in social policy, public policy, applied social studies and politics and will also be of interest to those studying international development, economics and geography