It’s official: DC is a melting pot. We’ve got the 3rd highest increase in foreign-born residents

Anyone else skeptical with the estimate that more than half the world’s population will live by “middle class” standards by 2050? Seems like the trend is already spirally in the other direction.

“The human population is headed to 9.3 billion by 2050, with the middle class expanding from 1.8 billion to 4.9 billion consumers, according to estimates by the UN and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.” — Bloomberg

“Although recent rains have put a dent in the Texas drought, a day of reckoning looms for the state’s long-grain rice growers, who pump millions into the economy in Southeast Texas each year and account for about 5 percent of America’s rice production. Come March 1, if there is less than 850,000 acre-feet of water in reservoirs along the Lower Colorado River, water managers will be forced to take the unprecedented step of withholding water from agricultural users, which will mean severe cuts to Texas rice production this year.” READ THE STORY: Texas Drought: Rice crop expected to suffer

“TIME has learned that between 2007 and 2010 the Sierra Club accepted over $25 million in donations from the gas industry, mostly from Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy—one of the biggest gas drilling companies in the U.S. and a firm heavily involved in fracking—to help fund the Club’s Beyond Coal campaign. Though the group ended its relationship with Chesapeake in 2010—and the Club says it turned its back on an additional $30 million in promised donations—the news raises concerns about influence industry may have had on the Sierra Club’s independence and its support of natural gas in the past.”

FULL STORY: Sierra Club took millions in natural gas cash but later cut the ties

Stefano Paltera/U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon, creative commons license

In this year’s Solar Decathlon  wrapped up earlier this month with 19 homes – more than half of which cost less than $300,000 to build. Affordability was one of the 10 categories on which the homes are judged this year in the biannual competition pitting universities from around the United States and a few foreign countries. The new cost/affordability bar, which replaced the lighting contest, inspired the student designers to drive down the cost considerably. According to the event’s sponsor, U.S. Department of Energy, this year’s houses were about 33 percent cheaper this year than those that competed two years ago.  “Solar for less” was just one of the industry trends reflected in this year’s entries.

Read my story in Architecture Week.

Over the weekend, the Washington Post published my story on a new neighborhood of energy self-sufficient homes at prices affordable to middle class buyers. The North Pointe duplexes and townhouses going up in Frederick, Md. will use much less electricity than most homes and the 20 or so rooftop solar panels should be enough to cover what’s needed to provide heating, air conditioning and keep the lights.

In the article I also reference other green homes in the Washington area, including the region’s first Passive House super-energy efficient home I wrote about in Bethesda Magazine last year. That house also runs on impressively little energy — using the body heat of residents to provide much of the heat. As incredible as that sounds, it’s true. Last year, I went to Germany with a group of environmental journalists to visit several “passive houses” including an apartment cooperative and a school built using this super-insulated, passive-solar approach.  (The building method originating in Germany. In German, it’s called Passivhaus with “haus” refers to all kinds of structures.)

Tens of thousands of these homes have been built in Europe in the last few decades but they were virtually unknown in American green building circles until last than a decade ago.

The only draw back to the Bethesda Passive House is it’s price tag in the $1.4 million range. The great irony of the green building world is that “green” homes tend to be McMansions. They are often so big their size has undercut friendly environmental aims. Could the advent of Fredrick’s  “net zero” neighborhood mean deep green homes may soon be within reach for the rest of us?

I was on Wisconsin Public Radio this morning discussing my new E Magazine cover story on what happens after little, trusted and/or organic companies get bought out by big corporations. Can they be trusted?

You can download the segment here.  Or click here to listen.