Author: cityinvincible

Spiegel reports, “A German architect is pursuing an ambitious project in the Middle East. He wants to build office towers in Riyadh, Dubai and Bahrain that produce all their own energy.”

The 68-story building cylindrical shape includes a “protective solar shield” that protects the inside from the sun’s glaring rays that can heat some buildings up to 140 degrees. The building will also use seawater to cool the air for its efficient air conditioning system that also uses “suspend hanging gardens inside the air ducts.”

Furthermore, the building will have an “island of solar panels” drifting in the nearby sea to create energy. Any surplus energy created by the 182,986 square foot solar island will be used to extract hydrogen from the seawater to power the building at night.

Lighting will be all-natural too. “In the daytime highly reflective mirrors on the roof direct the sunlight onto a cone of light that goes through the center of the building and provides its various floors with plenty of natural light.”

Source: New Tower Creates All Its Own Energy

“Eds and meds” are the two biggest sectors touted as urban revitalizers. It seems to make sense because both schools and hospitals provide well paying jobs. Yet while hospitals are providing decent jobs for some, they’re leaving most people with high bills and sub-standard care. What we truly need to revitalize our cities is universal healthcare.

We’ll have to wait in line, care will be worse, or it’ll cost too much are common arguments against universal healthcare. However, according to a recent Reuters article, “Americans get the poorest health care and yet pay the most compared to five other rich countries.”

For example, Americans spend twice what Germans do–$6,102 per capita vs. $3,005 per capita–and receive poorer service. Additionally, we leave 45 million Americans uninsured, which means they don’t receive preventative care thus raising long-term costs.

All the money we’re spending for healthcare isn’t going towards the latest technology to keep us safe. Our doctors are, “the least wired, with the lowest percentage using electronic medical records or receiving electronic updates on recommended treatments.”

Maryland governor, Martin O’Malley, signed a bill yesterday mandating a living wage for all workers of companies with government contracts valued over $100,000. The bill requires that workers in urban areas to be paid at least $11.30 and hour and workers in rural areas be paid at least $8.50 per hour. Both wage rates will be adjusted annually for inflation.

This is a boost for the living wage movement’s goal to create equitable communities. Let’s hope more states follow Maryland’s example.

Source: Relentlessly Progressive Economics