Carbon Upfront!

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June 2025

The future of housing is building with biomass, and Toronto just blew it.
The single biggest factor in our cities' carbon footprint isn't the amount of insulation in our walls; it's the zoning.
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Lloyd Alter
6
Why we need frugal design and innovation
Frugal green living is hard, but there is no reason we can't have nice things that are robust, simple, repairable and essentially frugal.
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Lloyd Alter
4
Threatened Toronto bike lane gets more rush hour traffic than the car lane
Bike lanes are under threat in many cities, even when they work.
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Lloyd Alter
17
Happy Birthday, QWERTY typewriter
It was patented on this day in 1868, but it had to wait almost until its Bar Mitzvah before anyone wanted it.
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Lloyd Alter
3
Architects and planners: Stop it with the terrible AI images already.
I'm not sure about this one, so I'm sending it to paid subscribers only.
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Lloyd Alter
9
Asbestos, the Magic Mineral, Is Back!
From the archives, a look at Trump's last attempt to make asbestos great again.
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Lloyd Alter
9
Nice Shades: A UK design guide for exterior shading should be used everywhere
You should keep the heat out in the first place instead of relying entirely on AC.
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Lloyd Alter
20
Why we keep burning things: It drives the economy
There's a reason some politicians pour more fuel on the fire and even the most climate-aware ones can't give it up.
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Lloyd Alter
30
Urine for a surprise: a splashless urinal
A new angle to an old problem, solved by nothing more than science and good design.
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Lloyd Alter
7
Forget heat pumps, get a bike and go vegan!
Or maybe it's hard, comparing apples, oranges, and puppy dogs.
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Lloyd Alter
20
Fixing our buildings is going to be a long, hard, and expensive job.
The scope of the problem and the number of buildings is daunting, but at least there are people figuring out how to do it.
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Lloyd Alter
13
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