Category: sustainability

  • Why should we improve public transit?

    Why should we improve public transit?

    Photo: Luxembourg Station. Recently a reported asked me: “How do you make a case that we should spend money on public transportation?” What a great question. It gives me an opportunity to systematically list all the arguments for that. I would put those into three buckets: (1) Economic benefit. There has been much research on…

  • Why do we need to fix the T?

    Why do we need to fix the T?

    Photo: Longwood Station, Brookline, 2023. Recently I was asked if I have any opinions on the announcement that MBTA was shutting down the Green Line in order to fix the “slow zones”. I can think of at least three benefit, and a big negative. Let me state the negative first. If the shutdown is too…

  • How has the work-from-home world affected the environment?

    How has the work-from-home world affected the environment?

    Photo: Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden, summer 2022. The net impact of work-from-home on the environment is actually quite complex, and depends on a number of factors such as commuting patterns and energy consumption at home and at workplace, both before and after the switch.  But let’s first discuss where the potential positive and…