LED lighting trial begins at UNC Charlotte

25 Jul 08 at 9:54 am
By Justin Ritchie | Posted in Architecture, Environment, Infrastructure, UNCC, University |

Starting on Wednesday, July 30th, UNC Charlotte’s energy efficiency upgrades will shine brighter than ever as the first LED lights on campus are installed in the West Deck(between Belk Gym and the Track and Field Complex). Intended as a trial of the technology, the LED lighting will be tested for possible further expansion.

LED lights are the ideal solution to reducing energy consumption in a cost efficient manner. As much as 22% percent of the energy in the US is used for lighting, while 90% of the energy used in a lightbulb is wasted as heat.  CFLs contain trace amounts of mercury that can harm humans and the environment, but LEDs can last twice as long as CFLs with no harmful side effects. A downside, however, is that LED technology has only been applicable to large-scale lighting since 2006, so the receptacles are currently expensive and hard to find.

Installations like these are the first step in a long-needed overhaul of US energy infrastructure. It is oustanding to see that UNC Charlotte is leading the way.

House of Om Tour comes to Höm 1

23 Jul 08 at 2:54 pm
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in Entertainment, Events, Music, Nightlife, Performance, Uptown |

Good music comes and goes in Charlotte. The next couple weeks will bring us some excellent hip-hop: Dwele, Talib Kweli, and Snoop Dogg — so we must be doing something right.

Good electronic music, however, is harder to come by in the Queen City. Enter Höm, one of uptown’s newer nightclubs, evangelizing some excellent house music this Friday as part of its ongoing collaboration with mega-house-label Om Records.

day: Friday, July 25
time: dinner @ 9pm, show a little later

Read More »

Thursday given code-orange ozone forecast

17 Jul 08 at 10:53 am
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in City, Environment, Quick Links |

“The N.C. Division of Air Quality on Wednesday issued a Code Orange ozone forecast for Thursday in Burke County and the Hickory and Charlotte metropolitan areas.

Code Orange conditions mean air quality is likely to be unhealthy for sensitive groups, including children and the elderly who are active outside; for people who work or exercise outdoors; and for those with asthma, bronchitis, emphysema and other respiratory ailments.”

Read more, including advice on improving air quality, at Morganton’s The News Herald.

Toy LYNX

17 Jul 08 at 10:48 am
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in Photography, Transportation |

I have to share this picture, grabbed from the ever-popular Urban Planet forum. I hope the original poster of this, one tozmervo, doesn’t mind. Dang forum rules won’t let me message people until I have enough posts myself. :/

This isn’t actually a toy model of course, it’s just a photo modified using a fake tilt-shift effect in Photoshop.

CATS ridership and growth higher than ever

17 Jul 08 at 1:02 am
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in City, Quick Links, Transportation |

“Charlotte Area Transit System reported today that it shattered ridership records during the fiscal year which ended June 30.

CATs officials said ridership increased 17.4 percent during the year, which ran from July 1, 2007, until the end of last month. Officials said the opening of the light rail line in south Charlotte had a big impact on the spike in ridership.

‘Commuters made over 23 million trips on our services, resulting in an average weekday ridership of 88,502,” said Keith Parker, CATS’ chief executive officer. ‘Public transportation in Charlotte hasn’t experienced this type of growth since the 1940s.’”

Read more by Steve Lyttle at the Observer.

All the reasons you’ve ever needed to visit Charlotte 3

16 Jul 08 at 1:53 pm
By Justin Ritchie | Posted in City, Humor |

Contemplating a visit to the Queen City? You can check out the official travel website or talk to locals via Twitter. But why not hear from Charlotte’s own mitOsis Productions on the reasons why Charlotte’s the place to spend a weekend?

Investigate Charlotte’s EveryBlock 1

15 Jul 08 at 6:41 pm
By Ben Ullman | Posted in City, Technology |

A ton of location-based data is now at your fingertips with EveryBlock, which has recently expanded its coverage to Charlotte. We are thrilled to see Charlotte added as EveryBlock’s 5th city, joining the ranks of such great cities as Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. The site allows you to access a variety of local news, including images, articles, police reports, restaurant and building permits, new library items, and more. The information can be filtered and displayed in a number of ways, including interactive map views.

According to their FAQ page:

EveryBlock is a new experiment in journalism, offering a Web “newspaper” for every city block in Charlotte, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco — with more cities to come. Enter any address, neighborhood or ZIP code in those cities, and the site shows you recent public records, news articles and other Web content that’s geographically relevant to you. To our knowledge, it’s the most granular approach to local news ever attempted.

The site is pretty easy to figure out, and some helpful sample searches are offered to get you started, such as Restaurant inspections in University Park, Police calls in Barclay Downs, or Everything near 100 N. Tryon.

Go to the top-level page to change cities (they also cover, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, and Philadelphia) or learn more about the project from the About EveryBlock page, FAQs, or their blog.

Charlotte rises to 19th largest US city

12 Jul 08 at 9:28 am
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in City, Quick Links |

“Charlotte and Raleigh rank among the top 10 U.S. cities in population growth, and Charlotte has risen from the nation’s 20th-largest city to its 19th, according to U.S. Census estimates released Wednesday.”

Read more by Greg Lacour at the Observer.

You can also view the latest U.S. Census population estimates. Interesting to note: from July 2006 to 2007, Charlotte’s population rose 17,414 from 654,117 to 671,588.

UNC Charlotte’s energy research plans are EPIC

11 Jul 08 at 6:48 pm
By Justin Ritchie | Posted in Government, Infrastructure, UNCC |

credit: Charlotte Research Institute

Long before oil neared $150 a barrel and gas was $4.00+ a gallon, UNC Charlotte saw that the strategic placement of many top energy infrastructure firms like Duke Energy, The Shaw Group, and Areva in the Charlotte region made North Carolina’s urban center a prime location for America’s energy future. The $57.2 million allocated by the NC budget passed through the Senate earlier this week demonstrates that legislators have bought into the vision developed by leaders at Charlotte’s research campus. Now fully funded, the Energy Production and Infrastructure Center (EPIC) is certain to place UNC Charlotte at the forefront of national infrastructure improvements. With 7 to 10 percent of the nation’s generated energy lost to inefficiencies in transmission, a meager improvement could lead to billions in savings and the prevention of megatons of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere.

With a strong research university leading the way, Charlotte can establish itself as the energy innovation center of America and the world. Already home to the top sustainability knowledge base in the nation, an influx of solidly educated energy graduates will accelerate local growth in an increasingly booming industry.

2006 SustainLane Sustainability City Rankings for Charlotte

EPIC will likely begin construction in the next 16 months with an estimated completion date of 2011, establishing itself as the the new home for UNC Charlotte’s Electrical and Civil Engineering departments.

But perhaps the biggest news for Charlotte’s energy future is the addition of a fourth light rail stop on the Northeast Lynx extension between North Tryon and 485. With one stop on North Tryon before entering UNC Charlotte’s campus, the Lynx will have a station near the campus’ new student union. Now an additional stop will be made by the Lynx at the future north side of UNC Charlotte’s campus (perhaps the home-to-be of a new football stadium and located across Mallard Creek Church Road from central campus) before heading out to the 485 station at the end of the line. The additional stop will allow efficent land use and encourage smart improvements to infrastructure, one of the biggest problems currently plaguing University City.

In summary, it has been a big week for UNC Charlotte and the future of our city!

Major train/semi accident near University

11 Jul 08 at 12:00 pm
By Justin Ruckman | Posted in Quick Links, Transportation, UNCC |

“The crash happened around 8:20 a.m. on U.S. 49 near Cabarrus Farm Road. Pastor Randy Davis of University City Seventh-Day Adventist Church said he heard an explosion, went outside and saw a huge ball of smoke and fire rise from the wreckage.

Paramedics said one person was transported to Carolinas Medical Center-University but his or her injuries are not life-threatening.

The ramps connecting Interstate 485 and U.S. 49 are currently blocked. Officials said they will likely reopen at 11:30 a.m. U.S. 49 is also closed to traffic in both directions.”

Read more and see video at WSOCTV.com.