Green upgrades for Empire State Building

A $20 million project to upgrade the Empire State Building was announced today. An article in Forbes reports that the upgrades will result in $4.4 million of annual savings due to increased efficiencies.

The upgrades will also reduce carbon emissions by 105,000 tons over the next 15 years (roughly equivalent to taking 17,500 cars off the road). New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg hopes that this will help move the city towards their goal to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.

The cost of the project is being supported by the Clinton Foundation. Bill Clinton said that the project would serve as an example to the world that established buildings can be made greener to great affect.

Specific plans include replacing each of the building's 6,500 windows with insulated glass that will prevent heat transfer in both hot and cold weather. There are also plans to install more insulation around radiators and upgrade water cooling systems, ventilation, heating and lights.

The future of the electric car (Pt. 3)

It was announced Monday that London mayor Boris Johnson is looking towards adopting "hire an electric car" idea from France.

London is already planning to implement a similar idea--but with bicycles--in 2010, which is also inspired by a French program, Vélib. Both programs work much like Zipcar; there are bicycles or electric cars available at set places around the city and users pay a fee to drive them around. They could be returned to any station.

Johnson has created a task-force called the London Electric Vehicle Partnership to encourage automakers to develop more efficient electric cars. They are also studying the charging infrastructure in the city and beginning tests.

In France, the program is set to begin at the end of 2009 with 700 pick-up points throughout Paris.