Monthly Archives: January 2007

Ad hoc group explores options for Northfield’s energy future

An ad hoc group exploring creative options for meeting the Northfield area’s future energy needs met yesterday (January 24th) in the city council chambers of City Hall. The group heard presentations from Steve Downer, associate executive director of the Minnesota Municipal Utilities Association, and Anders Rydaker, president of District Energy St. Paul.
The group included representatives [...]

Researcher outlines rationale for next-generation biofuels production

Jason Hill, research associate in the departments of Applied Economics and Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota, drew a standing-room-only crowd to the St. Olaf campus Thursday night. His lecture, entitled “Biofuels Basics: Energetics, Expectations, Environment and Economics,” outlined and expanded on the findings of research recently published in Science magazine.

What is a sustainable community?

Sustainability means different things to different people, and in different contexts. This is what it means to me (borrowing language heavily from the Wikipedia definition):
A sustainable community is one that provides opportunities for its citizens in ways that do not compromise opportunities for future generations.
Sustainability is a means of configuring civilization and human activity so [...]

Building sustainable communities

Welcome to the Sustainable Community Solutions website! I will be blogging here on issues related to sustainable community development.
As 2007 begins, humanity faces monumental challenges. From war in Iraq to the continuing global AIDS pandemic, the list of massive problems can seem overwhelming.
Of these daunting problems, global climate change has perhaps more potential than any [...]