Tag: technology

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Up To Speed

Is shopping online better for the environment than shopping in stores?

Is shopping online better for the environment than shopping in stores?.

Okay, so I’m a bit old fashioned when it comes to a lot of things. I still read newspapers (about five most days). I continue to read real books (ideally hard cover). And I also prefer to shop at local stores and avoid online shopping for the fear that it would hurt my local economy. Whether this is true or not is besides the point, but new research points out whether or not online shopping is more or less environmentally friendly than neighborhood shopping. More from Per Square Mile:

Researchers surveyed over 700 in-store shoppers at two locations and 40,000 online orders. They then stratified their results based on travel distances to the store and distances from the warehouse to customers’ homes. At short distances—less than 8.6 miles or 14 km one-way—in-store shoppers slightly edged out online customers per transaction, about 73.8 g CO2 vs 77.9 g CO2. But over that, online shoppers’ footprints remained relatively stable while store goers emissions skyrocketed to as high as 451.4 g CO2 per transaction if they had to travel over 62 miles or 100 km.

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Up To Speed

Mexico to invest $100B in its infrastructure over next five years

Mexico to invest $100B in its infrastructure over next five years.

It’s been no secret that America has fallen behind on its infrastructure investments. In fact, the American Society of Civil Engineers recently improved the nation’s infrastructure grade to a D+ from a D. Now that’s improvement! Meanwhile other countries are heavily investing in their infrastructure, like Mexico’s recent announcement to invest $100 billion in its rail, ports and roads over the next five years. More from Bloomberg Businessweek:

The Mexican government announced plans Monday to invest about $100 billion in rail, road, telecom and port projects over the next five years, including Mexico’s first high-speed rail links. Among the projects are the modernization or building of four airports, seven seaports and about 3,350 miles (5,410 kilometers) of highways. The government will strengthen fiber optic networks and expand broadband internet access, and speed up freight train service.

But in announcing the plan, President Enrique Pena Nieto emphasized the goal of reviving passenger trains in Mexico…Pena Nieto said Monday that about 360 miles (583 kms) of high-speed rail links will be built, including links between Mexico City and the nearby cities of Toluca and Queretaro. Another line will cross the Yucatan Peninsula.

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Business News Transportation

Industry Experts Believe a ‘Parking Revolution’ is Sweeping America

In April of this year, members of the International Parking Institute, the world’s largest association representing the parking industry, surveyed parking professionals to determine trends and gain input on parking and related topics.

The survey results found that a “parking revolution” is taking place in the United States, and that the industry is beginning to embrace a variety of new parking solutions.

“The industry is embracing a variety of new technologies that make it easier for people to find and pay for parking, and for parking authorities to better manage it,” the report stated.

Cities identified as leaders in the movement included San Francisco, Portland, New York City, Seattle, Miami, Houston, Boston, Denver, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., and Tampa.

Emerging Parking Trends

Cincinnati’s recently approved Parking Modernization & Lease Program appears to apply these top trends by moving toward technologies that improve access control, payment automation, and real-time communication of pricing and availability to user’s mobile devices.

These kinds of features are the new standard being implemented around the country, and are provided by Cincinnati’s lease agreement.

Parking professionals were also asked to identify the ten most progressive municipal parking programs in the United States, with San Francisco’s SFpark named most innovative.

“The SFpark pilot project provides real-time information on parking availability and cost; reduces double parking, circling, and congestion; and improves parking ease and convenience,” the report stated. “A high-caliber data management tool allows the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to make rate-change recommendations, supply real-time data, maintain optimum operational and contractual control, and rigorously evaluate the pilot’s various components.”

Respondents also said that SFpark was particularly bold in requiring city and government employees to pay for parking in order to bolster the program’s credibility before asking voters to consider sweeping changes in parking management.

Of particular interest is SFpark’s on-street rate adjustment policy.

Prior to the changes, rate adjustments were made during the budget-planning process. The goal with the pilot program is to take a demand-based approach in order to achieve parking availability targets in a consistent, simple and transparent manner.

Prior to the program, rates in downtown were $3.50/hour, $3.00/hour in the downtown periphery and $2.00/hour in neighborhood commercial districts, and were operational mostly from 7am to 6pm or 9am to 6pm Monday through Saturday. As part of the pilot program, demand responsive time-of-day pricing is split into three distinct rate periods: 9am to 12pm, 12pm to 3pm, and 3pm to 6pm for 9am to 6pm spaces.

These demand-responsive rate changes are made gradually, no more than once per month, and periodically near the first of the month based on occupancy in the previous month.

In order to maintain at least one parking space per block, 80% space occupancy is desired with rates increased when occupancy is greater than 80%, held constant at 60% to 80% and decreased with less than 60% occupancy on a per-block basis to more effectively redistribute parking demand.

In order to help users from having to cut trips short or risk parking tickets, time limits in the pilot areas were lengthened from 30 minutes/two hours to four hours/no limit.

Cincinnati’s program, meanwhile, will provide for public rate control and expanded hours of operation from 8am to 9pm in the Central Business District and 7am to 9pm in neighborhoods. The plan will also allow for limited $0.25 incremental rate increases, but there does not appear to be provisions for demand responsive time of day pricing, a target on-street block occupancy amount, or lengthened or eliminated time limits.

In addition to new technologies, the report indicates that parking is becoming more than just a place to store cars, and is instead moving towards more integrated forms of transportation planning – something that has also taken place locally through new bicycle parking provisions and parking requirement restructuring.

“Today, parking is about so much more than storing cars,” concluded Shawn Conrad, executive director for the International Parking Institute. “It’s central to the creation of livable, walkable communities. It’s about cars, bikes, mass transit, mobility, and connecting people to places.”

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Up To Speed

The Southeast continues to grow, but is it quality economic growth?

The Southeast continues to grow, but is it quality economic growth?.

The Southeast continues to attract a large number of jobs from states in the Northeast, Midwest and West Coast. But it turns out that these jobs tend to be lower paying and lower-skilled jobs than those that are remaining and growing in those other regions. More from the Seattle Times:

Needy states bid against each other for data centers, which can be the slag heaps of the technology business with serious issues about high energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and whether the few jobs created are worth the massive giveaways the companies receive.

Google is clustering its engineering and executive talent in or near attractive cities. For example, the company is adding space quickly in San Francisco, including near the Embarcadero. You get what you pay for, and quality urban centers are increasingly magnets for the most sought-after employees.

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Business News Politics

Cincinnati Expects New Semi-Automated Trash Collection System to Save Money, Prevent Injuries

The City of Cincinnati will phase in a new system of trash collection, over the next few months, that city officials believe will ultimately save taxpayer money, increase worker safety and improve its trash collection efficiency.

For most people trash collection is a matter of setting out a trash bin, either in front of a building or in an alley, and the next day city trash collectors come and haul the trash away. This will continue to the be standard practice as the city moves forward with its new system, but the way the trash collectors come and haul the trash away will change.

Instead of using manual labor, automated toters will be used to pick up trash from new larger trash bins. The new carts will be the same type of 65-gallon bins that are currently used for city recycling, which has been experienced better-than-expected success since being introduced in October 2010 in conjunction with RecycleBank.

Cincinnati Trash Carts
New trash carts have been received by the City of Cincinnati and will start being distributed today. Image provided.

“By implementing standardized trash carts, Cincinnati joins cities across America that have seen tangible benefits to modernizing their trash collection systems,” Cincinnati City Manager Milton Dohoney stated in a prepared statement.

Dohoney has been proposing ideas to modernize the city’s approach to collecting trash for several years in an attempt to reduce annual operating costs largely driven by worker injuries due to heavy lifting. City officials say that the new semi-automated system will eliminate the need for trash collectors to lift the trash cans, and thus improve overall safety.

Dohoney’s efforts over the past several years also included the proposal to levy a trash collection fee in order to help balance out the costs to operate the city’s large trash collection program. This proposal, however, went to the ballot box in November 2011 and voters banned the City of Cincinnati from being able to levy such a fee by a slight margin.

The new program enhancements will start rolling out today, and city officials say that more than 90,000 households are due to receive the new 65-gallon, black trash bins between now and August.

The trash bins will be delivered according to the day of trash pick-up with Mayor Mark Mallory (D) personally delivering the first one this morning to a homeowner in West Price Hill. Those with Monday trash pick-up should be receiving their new bins this month.

While city officials expect the new semi-automated system to save taxpayer money in the long-run, they also hope to experience even greater savings as they transition to one-person collection crews.

“Trash carts will help create a safer work environment, and that means we save taxpayers’ money by reducing costly injuries,” said Michael Robinson, Director of the Department Public Services. “They’re also going to help keep Cincinnati’s neighborhoods cleaner because of the attached lids and wind-resistance.”

Even though most residences will benefit from the new service, the City says that it will not be able to extend the new method to commercial and multi-family buildings with five or more units. In a response to a resident complaint, Larry Falkin, Director of the Office of Environmental Quality, explained that the change is due to multi-family buildings being run by either out-of-town property owners or by condominium associations that typically contract out for their own trash collection services.

“Many people want to receive services from government, and many people do not want to financially support government. Government can not increase services, or even maintain services, with declining revenues,” stated Falkin.

While the demands on manual labor will decrease as a result of the new system and transition to one-person crews, city officials note that those individuals will be transitioned to perform other city services.