links for 2009-04-10

"Vast quantities of energy are required to heat or cool buildings to provide what are now regarded as acceptable standards of thermal comfort. Paradoxically, likely responses to global warming, such as greater reliance on air-conditioning, threaten to increase energy demand and emissions of CO2 and exacerbate rather than mitigate climate change. This project examines the link between global warming and the technologies and conventions of indoor environmental management. Starting from the proposition that concepts of comfort are socially and technically constructed, it examines the ambitions and approaches of practitioners and policy makers currently involved in specifying the indoor climates of the future. What assumptions of human 'need' are constructed and embedded in the built environment and with what consequences for conventions of 'normality' and associated patterns of resource intensity?"

"Green the Grounds was created to bring attention to the other changes that need to be made on these highly prominent landscapes - starting with the White House but including governor's mansions and official residences of mayors, in ciites that have them. "