"Too Cheap to Meter": A History of the Phrase

Cities & Planning
Surplus Energy Response
The phrase "too cheap to meter" entered the energy discourse in the 20th century, referring to the potential of nuclear power. Though orig...
Communal Luxury: The Public Bathhouse
Throughout history, people have bathed in public rather than in private. Should we bring back the public bathhouse for the sake of sustainability?
Toyota HiAce - Wikipedia
The Toyota HiAce is a light commercial vehicle produced by the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. First launched in October 1967, the HiAce has since been available in a wide range of body configurations, including a minivan/MPV, minibus, panel van, crew van, pickup truck, taxi and an ambulance.
Germany unveils solar roof tile that powers heat pumps and homes
Paxos Solar's roof tile installation also taps into warmer air under the tiles and directs it to the heat pump to deliver energy savings.
BART (Dis)Connects the San Francisco Bay Area
This piece is an entry in our Eighth Annual Graduate Student Blogging Contest, “Connections.” by Andrew Allio The camera pans along the street, highlighting the abandoned buildings. Mid…
SDOT Starts Planning for Multimodal Access to West Seattle’s Link Stations - The Urbanist
# With construction on West Seattle Link's four stations set to start as early as 2027, the City of Seattle is starting to look at how people will access the stations via walking, biking, and transit on redesigned local streets.
Creating Cohousing - The Library of the Uncommons
A handbook for community builders interested in cohousing from some of the founders of the American cohousing movement.
Is Infill Microhousing the Solution to High Homelessness Rates?
One major consequence of the housing crisis is increased rates of homelessness. Real estate development and design experts in Tennessee are responding by designing multiunit housing prototypes that blend in with existing neighborhoods.
Cars Have Fucked Up This Country Bad
The car-centric age of development is one long mistake.
Zero-emission train opens to Inland Empire commuters | KCRW Features
A commuter train that emits only water vapor will start carrying SoCal passengers in early 2025. State officials have already ordered 10 more.
Australia is 'wasting' record amounts of green energy. Here's why experts say it's a good thing
As Australia's electricity system gets cleaner, it is encountering a strange problem. More renewable energy is having to be wasted.
Op-Ed: Regional Workforce Housing Initiative Can Create Affordable Homes Near Jobs - The Urbanist
# King County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay lays out the case for his $1 billion workforce housing bond proposal, saying workers deserve affordable housing near their jobs.
Join for The Urbanist’s RapidRide G Line Opening Celebration - The Urbanist
# The Urbanist is hosting an opening day celebration for the RapidRide G Line, which commences service early Saturday morning. Our event is from 5:00pm to 7:30pm at Stoup Capitol Hill.
Seattle’s Growth Plan Keeps Most of the City Unaffordable, County Committee Says - The Urbanist
# Seattle's 20-year growth plan doesn't do enough to ensure that lower income residents will be able to access the vast majority of the city's residential neighborhoods, according to King County's Affordable Housing Committee.
'Anything that can be built can be taken down': The largest dam removal in US history is complete – what happens next?
The Klamath River is free of four huge dams for the first time in generations. But for the Yurok tribe, the river's restoration is only just beginning – starting with 18 billion seeds.
If Wood Isn’t The Biomass Answer, What Is?
As we slowly wean ourselves away from our centuries-long love affair with fossil fuels in an attempt to reduce CO2 emissions and combat global warming, there has been a rapid expansion across a bro…
Hot Water Heater Hacked To Run On Solar Juice
It’s 2024, and there’s no getting around it. Grid energy is expensive. [Darrell] realized that a lot of his money was going on water heating, and he came up with a neat solution. What i…
Downtown Design Review Moratorium Gets Mixed Reception from Seattle Council - The Urbanist
# New developments downtown would get an exemption from design review for three years under a proposal from Mayor Harrell. But first he must win over the Seattle City Council.
The world's largest wind-powered cargo ship just made its first delivery across the Atlantic
A French startup is bringing sails back to the shipping industry.
The Midwest: Talent, Ambition and Culture
It's hard for a region's people and cities to be great, when being good enough is celebrated and striving for more is considered brash.
The Midwest: Solving The Networking Problem
A region that's long felt left behind has the assets to surge ahead. Others must realize it and get onboard.
Solar will get too cheap to connect to the power grid.
The cost of solar panels is plummeting, and this will flood the power grid with cheap electricity. But that’s just Act 1. We won’t stop building solar at the limits of the grid - we’ll build a lot more.
This post explains why we'll keep building more,
Giant 'living tractors' are bringing nature back to post-industrial wastelands
When water buffalo make a home for themselves in abandoned spaces, they can bring with them a rich array of frogs, bats and plant life.
Regenerative Leadership in practice: building the framework - Greenheart
There is no set of operating instructions for a regenerative business because so few companies are doing it
Swiss Researchers May Have Solved Hydrogen Storage
If you follow the world of clean energy, you will probably have read all about the so-called hydrogen future and the hydrogen economy. The gas can easily be made from water by electrolysis from gre…
3D Printed Homes Are All The Hype, But What Is Their Real Impact?
Additive manufacturing (AM) has been getting a lot of attention over the years, with its use in construction a recurring theme. Generally this brings to mind massive 3D printers that are carted to …
Northern Ireland: A Vision for Better Buses — Human Transit
We really enjoyed our work, in collaboration with Aecom, on the new bus planning document for Northern Ireland public transport operator Translink.* It aims to inform future policies, strategies and plans with respect to land use and transport planning. It’s called Bus Better Connected. The short and graphically rich report can be downloaded here. Our […]
The EV evolution is going to take longer than we thought
Things are likely to remain volatile and unpredictable. And that’s okay.
Auto/Transit Job Access Ratios: 50 Large Metro Areas | Newgeography.com