Imagine "green reconstruction" of New Orleans

[Kolesar]

I expect that many will not move back to the area after establishing themselves somewhere else, but the area will have significant redevelopment. These are the economic draws:

1. Historical and cultural reasons, plus related tourist attractions
2. Huge petroleum production in the area
3. New Orleans is a natural port city at the mouth of the huge navigable river.

So people and businesses will be moving back in. New development should be done correctly. Construction of new homes and businesses should be designed for efficiency. With billions of taxpayer money going to be spent on the city, the public should demand that the rebuilding serve the purposes of a sustainable society.

4. Bright white sun-reflecting roofs and well-specified south facing windows to minimize the load for air conditioning.
5. Lighting in new homes will be efficient and subdued to reduce heat
6. Specify high efficiency air conditioners
7. Design the city for mass transit, walking, and cycling
8. Some of these neighborhoods will be unsuitable for habitation due to heavy metal or petrochemical pollution. The lost neighborhoods that are quite far below sea level should be turned into wetlands. Areas that have moderate amounts of distasteful pollutants could be developed for commercial purposes (like they do with landfills). You don't want children growing up in those areas.
9. Commercial buildings should have photovoltaic implementations for the roof or sheathing of south-facing walls. This is akin to the California "zero net carbon emissions" buildings. A southern city should take advantage of its latitude and significant insolation.

Any more ideas? Please contribute!

[Roland99]

1. Rooftop gardens and more greenspace in the city.

Chicago started doing that some years ago but not sure how far that got.

[Kolesar]

2. They were discussing rooftop gardens on the CBC this morning

There were grass-like roofs and there were intensively-gardened roofs with tomatoes and peppers.
That gives me an idea: how about farm markets featuring local produce ?

[Roland99]

3. Is there much farming down there? (bonus article on Chicago below)

http://www.cityfarmer.org/greenroofs.html

[CottonBear]

4. Bio-remediation using Trees, plants and bacteria + massive tree planting

for shade, pollution sequestration, oxygen production and urban heat island effect reduction, wildlife habitat and aesthetics.

See UGA research for bio-remediation of oil spills by bacteria and polluted soils by trees.

Utilize the people of NOLA and LA (architects, landscape architects, urban planners, engineers, hydrologists, geographers and other scientists, urban foresters, cultural historians, artists of all sorts, business owners, home owners and renters to help plan the GREEN rebuilding of the city and surrounding areas.

Use green building, site design and engineering.

Use alternative energy (solar, wind and water) for homes, businesses and factories.

Use vernacular architectural models adapted to green techniques.

Rebuild parks and expand them where possible.

Rebuild and regenerate the coastal wetlands.

Utilize the great universities of NO and LA to help plan: use the expertise in NO and LA.

Use local people (companies and employees) to rebuild.

Make it beautiful again!

edit: Add urban farming and gardening to the list: plants (both permaculture (fruit and nut trees, grape vines, fruiting shrubs aas well as annual and perennial farming and small animal husbandry (ducks, chickens & rabbits.)

[Village Idiot]

5. Don't fret - Whitey's gonna do it all up just FINE!!!

There are going to be more stealth-gentrification projects masquerading as federal aid than flies on a bloated, two-week old corpse.

[Burma Jones]

7. No shit...n/t

[Burma Jones]

6. A lot of it would have to be passively green

In a city famous for its laid back attitude, maintenance is not one of the citizenry's strong points - nor should it be. A green infrastructure that requires nothing of the citizens would work best -as your suggestions support. I believe that a lot of the citizens there have enough of a hard time just making ends meet in the best of times. Contrary to what many GOPers believe, it is not easy being poor, it takes a lot of work to survive without the built in advantages enjoyed (increasingly) by well born folks - regardless of race. Affluence brings with it the ability to give a shit about anything apart from whether you're going to eat and where you're sleeping. It seems as though the only work the Affluent are willing to do is to donate some small part of their wealth to assuage their guilt.

[LiberalEsto]

8. Plant trees strategically for shade

as they do in the Los Angeles Water and Power District.

Create "rain gardens" to control water runoff.

Install actively regenerated desiccant dehumidification systems in schools, hospitals and other major buildings to control humidity and prevent mold growth and sick building syndrome. NO is one heck of a humid area.

Encourage use of distributed generation / onsite power generation to avoid grid-wide power outages.

Use domes and hurricane-resistant materials to construct safer housing.

[skids]

9. parish-wide geothermal or aquathermal air (cooling/heating)

I mean, they have to remove all the contaminated topsoil anyway, so...

[Kolesar]

10. Solar domestic hot water supplies would take advantage of the Southern sun

[suziedemocrat]

11. Build with Hyssil. Oil did them in, the rebuild should reduce oil demand

IMO - Oil helped do them in through Global Warming.

Hyssil is a promising new concrete wall alternative from Austrialia.

http://www.hyssil.com

Some of it's advantages -
- Lightweight, HySSIL has half the weight of existing precast concrete, making it far easier to maneuver, support and install;

- Strong enough to be a load bearing wall - HySSIL delivers up to 25Mpa compressive strength, making it suitable for use in both load-bearing walls and non load-bearing walls;

- thermal insulation rating three to six times that of existing concrete;

- smooth, non-porous surface does not need protection from the weather before, during or after construction. The surface finish is so smooth it can be painted on directly, so no rendering is required;

- 2-hour fire rating.


Also - the white reflective roofs are a great idea. I've read that if a neighborhood uses these roofs, the "heat island" effect is reduced and the outside temperature is actually lower in the immediate area.

Other ideas:

- Casement windows,
- Wind (wing) walls to increase air flow into the home,
- Thermal chimneys designed into buildings.

Also - Sweden is finding that pre-fab housing is actually much more cost effective, and they don't have to be the hideous pre-fab houses from the 1950's.

I dream of pre-fab, net-zero homes that you order online and have the panels delivered to the site. Then you and a few friends can put the frame of the house together in a few days. We need to figure out a better way to build low-cost, energy efficient homes. This might be a good place to really be innovative.