Link to CSM (Feb. 10, 2025) | Weeks after fires destroyed more than 16,000 structures in Greater Los Angeles, thousands of people are living where they can: in hotel rooms, in long-term rentals, with family or friends.
…But rebuilding quickly and with objectives like resilience and efficiency doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive, says Amy Bodek, Los Angeles County’s director of regional planning.
A few days after fire devoured the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, Mayor Karen Bass issued a sweeping emergency executive order to speed rebuilding. Included was a waiver to bypass a city requirement that all new construction be electric-only, a rule Los Angeles had put in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from natural gas.
…The move frustrated Ben Stapleton, an expert in sustainable building. The message was that “building all-electric was going to slow things down and be more expensive, when we know that’s not the truth,” says Mr. Stapleton, executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council California. (Read full article)
Photo: Ethan Swope / AP
