Plus: Carbon removal deals; Australian batteries; Massive solar in Saudi Arabia; VW in trouble; $22B for clean steel; Sulphur-Lithium Breakthrough?
Hi everyone,
I saved this week’s feature on eliminating parking minimums for an issue with a lighter set of signposts, and for a slot where I’ve been rather busy. If I have missed some important signposts, please be sure to point them out to me so I can share them in the next issue.
Please continue to share this around with others you know and encourage them to subscribe.
Thanks,
Peter
Peter’s take: Removing parking minimums
Ever wonder why some parking lots have so many spots? The reason: mandated parking minimums are often prescribed using a flawed formula based on the square footage of the associated building(s).
In recent years, a growing number of Canadian and US cities have been reevaluating and abolishing parking minimums. This shift marks a significant change in urban planning and reflects broader trends towards sustainability, affordability, and smarter land use.
My own city of Calgary is proposing to eliminate parking minimums, and instead letting developers determine the amount of parking needed, described as “open option”. The change in Calgary has already been made for businesses but is now being proposed for all land use types in its work to completely re-write the bylaw.
I did some research on this to learn why this is important from a climate angle.
Parking minimums were originally established in the mid-20th century, a time when car ownership was on the rise and cities were experiencing rapid suburbanization. These regulations were intended to ensure that new buildings provided sufficient parking to accommodate the anticipated number of vehicles, thereby preventing parking shortages and congestion on city streets.
However, this well-intentioned policy has had numerous unintended consequences. By requiring a fixed number of parking spaces, often irrespective of actual demand, parking minimums have contributed to urban sprawl, increased construction costs, and reduced the availability of affordable housing. They have also led to the overabundance of parking lots and garages, consuming valuable land that could be used for more productive purposes.
The move to abolish parking minimums is driven by a growing recognition of their detrimental impacts and a desire to create more livable, sustainable cities. Many cities have already made significant strides in this direction, setting an example for others to follow. The Parking Reform Network’s (see below) shows 89 places across North America where all parking minimums have been eliminated.
US cities that have eliminated parking minimums:
- Buffalo, New York
- Minneapolis, Minnesota
- San Francisco, California
- Seattle, Washington
- Portland, Oregon
- Austin, Texas
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Santa Monica, California
- Berkeley, California
- Montgomery County, Maryland
Canadian cities that have eliminated parking minimums:
- Edmonton, Alberta
- Toronto, Ontario
- Vancouver, British Columbia
- Regina, Saskatchewan
- Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Cities in the US and Canada considering the removal of parking minimums:
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Los Angeles, California
- Chicago, Illinois
- Denver, Colorado
- Houston, Texas
- Montreal, Quebec
- Victoria, British Columbia
- Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Calgary, Alberta
As you can see, this is hardly “new”.
To make the removal of parking minimums a positive experience, a critical pairing is the investment in alternative modes of transportation: public transit (light rail, dedicated bus lanes, good bus service) and building out protected bike lanes and multi-use paths for walking, scooters and biking. People need accessible and affordable options that are Always Available for All Ages and Abilities (the five A’s in Calgary’s “5A network”). An important point: it is not good enough for cities to build out this infrastructure. Just like roads, pathways need to be cleared of snow and ice and maintained in good condition. Some cities even prioritize clearing snow from bike paths over roads. Mode shifting away from car use, even EVs, translates to reduced CO2 emissions and improved air quality.
Removing parking minimums can also contribute to more affordable housing as parking requirements can significantly increase the cost of new developments. Constructing parking spaces—especially underground or multi-story garages—can be extremely expensive. Where people don’t need a vehicle, this just adds extra cost unnecessarily.
Next time you engage with someone on the topic of parking minimums, I hope you feel better equipped to side with removing them. After all, removing them doesn’t mean there won’t be enough parking, it just means that the amount of parking is not prescribed.
Source: PRN. Made possible through the hard work of volunteers from Parking Reform Network and Strong Towns, the Parking Mandates Map showcases over 3,000 cities across the globe that have taken steps towards reducing parking mandates or eliminating them entirely.
Finance & Sentiment
EU Invests €4.8 Billion in Decarbonization Projects Funded Through Carbon Pricing System
A feature of a well-designed carbon tax is reinvesting in decarbonization. Alberta has done so for years, taking funds collected from industrial pricing systems and reinvesting in emissions reduction. So, when I read that the EU ETS is expected to generate revenues of approximately €40 billion from 2020-2030, that is an impressive sum available to be put to work reducing emissions.
Exxon shifts focus from carbon tax to intensity limits
[Excerpt] The head of the largest US oil company says the world is measuring carbon all wrong. Instead of focusing on corporate-level emissions, which can lead to double-counting, the world needs to develop a carbon-intensity system that allows for product-level limits — an approach Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods says will better incentivize and spread the costs of decarbonization.
Technology
Hydrogen
Sales of FCEVs in China topped 5,000 in first 9 months of 2024
Korean steelmaker Posco plans to invest $22bn in clean steel and blue hydrogen by 2030
UK to fund 11 green hydrogen projects
[Excerpt] The UK government said it is funding 11 new green hydrogen projects across England, Scotland, and Wales, which it claims will be among the first commercial-scale projects in the world. Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the funding plan during in a fall 2024 budget speech, allocating GBP 3.9 billion ($5 billion) for green hydrogen producers and carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) projects in the 2025-26 period.
Carbon Removal
Morgan Stanley Signs Multi-Year Carbon Removal Deal with Climeworks
I want to be careful not to be too dismissive here, but at “40,000 tons of CO2 through 2037”, this seems trivial to me. Yet tentativeness can be understood with Climeworks still working on Direct Air Capture (DAC) technology scale-up in the US. Climeworks first started with DAC in Iceland, where it can source cheap geothermal power. Making it work economically elsewhere could be harder.
Microsoft Signs Ocean-Based Carbon Removal Deal with Ebb Carbon
I’m no expert on the technology, but Ebb Carbon seems to have found a very interesting way of removing CO2: by making ocean water more alkaline and, in turn, locking away CO2 in bicarbonate, which also further enhances the ocean’s ability to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.
The Grid
Massachusetts ratepayers to pay extra $512M for transmission line for Canadian hydropower
Urban Design & Buildings
Record year for UK heat pump installations as installer numbers surge
Small Modular Reactors
Major Microreactor Developer Enters Bankruptcy Amid Nuclear Industry Surge
Energy Storage
Australia has 7.8 GW of utility-scale batteries under construction
Solar and Wind
Saudi Arabia’s 3.7 GW solar tender attracts lowest bid of $0.0129/kWh
Trina Solar supplies more than 1 GW of panels for project in China
Brookfield buys $2.3B stake in four of Ørsted’s UK offshore wind farms
Danish wind giant Vestas unveils plans for 2.5 GW wind and 4 GWh battery project in NSW, Australia
Transportation
China’s GNE develops lithium-sulfur battery with energy density of 700Wh/kg
VW seeks unprecedented plant closings as auto crisis deepens
Canada’s Federal government going ahead with high-speed rail between Quebec City and Toronto