Transport provisions. Pressure on urban infrastructure and the need for space and reso. Planning for resident wellbeing. Demography: China’s Achilles heel. Developing World: Beyond the Frontiers of Science Fiction. The future will not be a monopoly of the current superpowers, but lies in the hands of tech-savvy youth from around the world, trying desperately to survive at all costs in an increasingly asymmetrical world.
Imagine a young African boy staring wide-eyed at the grainy images of an old television set tuned to a VHF channel; a child discovering for the first time the sights and sounds of a wonderfully weird world beyond city limits. This is one of my earliest memories; growing up during the mid-nineties in a tranquil compound house in Maamobi; an enclave of the Nima suburb, one of the most notorious slums in Accra. Besides the government-run Ghana Broadcasting Corporation, only two other television stations operated in the country at the time, and satellite television was way beyond my family’s means. Nevertheless, all kinds of interesting programming from around the world occasionally found its way onto those public broadcasts. Chris Huhne takes solar subsidy cuts ruling to the court of appeal.
The government has taken the solar subsidy cuts ruling to the court of appeal.
Photograph: Andrew Butterton/Alamy The government went to the court of appeal on Friday in an urgent attempt to overturn a high court ruling that has hit its plans to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes. The energy secretary, Chris Huhne, wants to reduce feed-in tariff (Fits) subsidies – payments made to households and communities that generate green electricity through solar panels – on any installations completed after 12 December last year.
Just before Christmas, a judge ruled that the minister was "proposing to make an unlawful decision". Mr Justice Mitting's decision was a victory for environmental campaigners Friends of the Earth (FoE) and two solar companies – Solarcentury and HomeSun – who said the plans to halve subsidies were creating "huge economic uncertainty". But changes made by reference to the earlier date of 12 December "are not in my judgment calculated to further that statutory purpose". 100 Mile House Competition Challenges Architects to Design a House Using Only Local Materials. Prior to the widespread use of polluting fossil fuels, most buildings were made from local materials, using techniques that made sense for the local climate and lifestyle.
Now the Architecture Foundation of BC has issued an open challenge to the world: design a house using only materials and systems from within 100 miles of Vancouver. This competition is open to designers, builders, students, thinkers and anyone else in the world who wants to accept the challenge. Vancouver is a city that is familiar with innovative residential design. However, this competition is set up to challenge how we think about materials, design, technology and building in similar ways to the another stringent building challenge from the Pacific Northwest – the Living Building Challenge.
Designing a beautiful, sustainable home on a ’100 mile diet’ will not be easy, but the hosts of the competition have stressed the importance of creative thinking and new ideas. . + 100 Mile House Via TreeHugger. Seattle woman “marries” building to protest its demolition. Komonews.com A Seattle woman recently exchanged one-sided wedding vows with an abandoned warehouse building that is set to be demolished to make way for a new apartment building.
In December, Babylonia Aivaz and 16 friends occupied the warehouse, located on 10th and Union streets, to protest the planned development of an apartment complex on the site. "Gentrification is happening," Aivaz said. "It's a serious issue that affects poor people and especially people of color and this is just the beginning of the fight. " Calling it a "gay marriage," Aivaz was asked by the attending minister if she would "love and cherish and protect this warehouse. " Every little helps – Tesco opens Ireland’s first “zero-carbon store” - 13 Jan 2012. IKEA expands solar initiative to 75 per cent of US locations - 09 Dec 2011. Simpler tax system for pensioners proposed.
6 March 2012Last updated at 16:26 About five million pensioners are in the income tax system The tax system should be made much simpler for pensioners, the government has been told.
The Office of Tax Simplification says the current system is far too complex for pensioners, about five million of whom currently pay income tax. Its interim report raises the possibility of ending the taxation of state pensions altogether. It also says age-related personal allowances for those over 65, and tax on savings income, need reform. Specific proposals for simplification will now be devised by the OTS and it will publish its final report later this year.
John Whiting, tax director for the OTS, said: "Our report floats a number of possible ways forward to mitigate the difficulties pensioners face. " "We are aiming to make final recommendations that will mean pensioners can have a better understanding of a simpler tax system, and can deal with their responsibilities more easily. " My Masterpiece Living - My Masterpiece Living.