Austin, Texas, mandates commercial composting for apartments

The city is offering thousands of dollars in rebates to early adopters and requiring properties to educate tenants and employees about the program.

By Amanda Loudin • Oct. 30, 2023

White House advances office-to-residential conversions with new resources

The guidance, financing and technical assistance aim to address a 30-year high in office vacancies and ease the affordable housing crisis.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 30, 2023

Explore the Trendline➔

Top 5 stories from Smart Cities Dive

From worsening climate change to a shifting transportation landscape and the housing affordability crisis, cities have their work cut out for them.

By Smart Cities Dive staff

‘It has already begun’: Senate sounds off on climate disruption to supply chains

With droughts and heat waves affecting crops and shipping routes this year, the budget committee looked at the rising costs extreme weather will have on supply lines.

By Ben Unglesbee • Oct. 27, 2023

DOE issues draft plan to speed up, improve grid interconnections

The draft road map aims to transform grid interconnection processes, a major hurdle to the Biden administration’s goal of decarbonizing the power sector by 2035.

By Ethan Howland • Oct. 27, 2023

Debate swirls at NYC hearing on proposed delays to building emissions enforcement

Participants weighed in on whether “good-faith efforts” toward compliance should delay penalties and whether renewable energy credits provide a worrisome loophole.

By Joe Burns • Updated Oct. 30, 2023

Los Angeles region to accelerate clean energy efforts in run-up to 2028 Olympics

The road map sets new and more granular decarbonization targets, said a co-chair of the public-private partnership behind the plan.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 26, 2023

EPA pours $128M into environmental justice projects

The Environmental Protection Agency chose 186 projects led by community groups and local governments and counts several waste and recycling initiatives among its recipients.

By Megan Quinn • Oct. 25, 2023

70+ cities, groups report progress a year after committing to shared-mobility goals

The shared-use mobility “action agenda” seeks to reduce reliance on private vehicles while creating more sustainable and equitable transportation systems.

By Dan Zukowski • Oct. 24, 2023

Groups push for landfill methane action from local governments as ‘low-hanging fruit’

New EPA data shows the waste sector continues to dominate U.S. methane emissions. But groups believe new federal funding is aligning with a growing awareness of opportunities to make a dent in those numbers.

By Jacob Wallace • Oct. 24, 2023

Heat pumps are hot, but commercial retrofits face cold realities

Government decarbonization strategies call for widespread deployment of heat pumps for building heating and cooling, but experts warn of retrofit costs, disruption and other concerns.

By Nish Amarnath • Oct. 23, 2023

What isn’t in the White House’s climate resilience plan

Unveiled last month, the plan offers more to like than not, said the executive director of University of Miami’s Climate Resilience Academy. But he pointed to key shortcomings.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 23, 2023

High hopes for US high-speed rail

Only 50 miles of high-speed track currently exist in the U.S., but an expansion could create thousands of jobs and slash greenhouse gas emissions, says a Mineta Transportation Institute study.

By Dan Zukowski • Oct. 23, 2023

8 cities to install public art projects with Bloomberg Philanthropies grants

The winners include Houston, which aims to “disrupt perceptions of homelessness,” and Phoenix, which will commission artists to create shading and cooling installations.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 20, 2023

DOE announces ‘largest-ever investment in America’s grid,’ giving $3.5B across 44 states

The awards include smart grid grants of around $1 million to individual cities.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 20, 2023

Chicago aims to make composting accessible with food waste drop-off program

Residents will be able to drop off all kinds of food waste at 15 locations managed by the Department of Streets and Sanitation to help meet the city’s climate goals.

By Megan Quinn • Oct. 19, 2023

NYC plans greenway expansion amid concern about cycling deaths

Supporters of the expansion called it “historic," but other street safety decisions have left advocates feeling betrayed by the mayor, reports news organization Gothamist.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 18, 2023

How many chargers will the Northeast’s electric trucks need? National Grid aims to find out.

The U.S. Department of Energy-funded analysis will span some of the nation’s largest cities, targeting highways with heavy trucking traffic and commercial areas such as ports.

By Robert Walton • Oct. 17, 2023

DOE selects 7 hydrogen hubs for $7B funding opportunity

The selection of several hubs focused on hydrogen production from fossil fuels and carbon capture drew the ire of environmental groups.

By Emma Penrod • Oct. 16, 2023

NYC project looks to support climate law with building inspection tech

The AI-powered technology under development uses robots and drone scans to detect structural flaws that reduce energy efficiency.

By Nish Amarnath • Oct. 16, 2023

Why Los Angeles’ climate plan has ‘outlived its usefulness’: city controller

The new report says the plan has the same shortcoming as those in many other cities: a lack of meaningful metrics. What should the California city do now? 

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 16, 2023

Why efficient waste management matters: Lessons from Memphis, Tennessee

Picking up trash at 170,000 locations in the City of Memphis every single week is no small feat.

By Rubicon • Oct. 16, 2023

FEMA makes ‘key changes’ to $1.8B climate resilience grant programs

Amid concerns that some communities struggle to access federal climate resilience funding, the agency moved to lower the administrative and financial burden for certain applicants.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 13, 2023

Reworking the grid for offshore wind is a matter of ‘extreme urgency’: Clean energy company exec

The need to solve transmission and interconnection issues has become more acute as the Inflation Reduction Act pumps billions of dollars into renewable energy production.

By Diana DiGangi • Oct. 13, 2023

Seattle publishes guide to reducing transportation emissions

The city’s transportation department wants to speed up a mode shift away from fossil fuel-powered vehicles as Seattle faces the reality that it isn’t on track to meet its climate goals.

By Dan Zukowski • Oct. 13, 2023

NYC launches ‘smart city testbed’: Here are the first 3 pilot technologies

Initial projects aim to pull pollution out of the air and scan buildings for flaws that reduce energy efficiency.

By Ysabelle Kempe • Oct. 12, 2023