By: Johnny Hartsfield

The Tacoma Housing Authority (THA), located just south of Seattle, is pursuing its first modular housing project in the hopes of bringing affordable and sustainable homes to an economically diverse community.  THA will be constructing Hillsdale Heights, a 110-unit housing community, on the former Hillsdale Lumber sawmill site.  The community will include 60 low-income rental units, 50 affordable for-sale townhomes, a small community center, trails and green space.

Designed by GGLO of Seattle and manufactured by Guerdon Enterprises of Idaho, the project aims to combine modular technology with sustainable design systems to achieve LEED Silver certification and the new Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard.

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By: Johnny Hartsfield

So, after a few weeks off, I have returned from the land of Fire and Ice to share with you just a bit more on what makes Iceland a truly inspiring country.  Aside from the obvious natural beauty, Iceland is making great strides to becoming the world’s leader in clean energy technology and production.  While walking down the streets of Reykjavik, I ran into a couple of city workers that are paving the way for a new electric car charging station.

According to the New York Times, at a Reykjavik conference this week, Driving Sustainability ‘08, Iceland announced plans to team up with Mitsubishi Motors to supply the country with a fleet of tiny i-MiEV electric cars (which have a range per charge of about 100 miles with lithium-ion batteries). Scheduled to go on sale in Japan in the summer of 2009, Iceland is likely to be the first European country to have i-MiEVs.

This decision is in the wake of a hydrogen-based fuel conversation that has been loosing momentum since it began.  According to Iceland’s foreign minister, Ingibjörg Sólrún Gisladóttir, “We see Iceland as the world’s laboratory for a decarbonized future,”  She was talking about the country’s plan, announced in 1998, to become to the world’s first hydrogen-based energy economy.

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