Georgetown, Texas is to be powered by 100% renewable energy as the state moves toward clean energy infrastructure despite prominent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz protecting the interests of the oil industry. “I was called an Al Gore clone, a tree-hugger,” says Jim Briggs, interim city manager of Georgetown, a community of about 50,000 people some 25 miles north of Austin.

Briggs, who was a key player in Georgetown’s decision to become the first city in the Lone Star State to be powered by 100% renewable energy, has worked for the city for 30 years. He wears a belt with shiny silver decorations and a gold ring with a lone star motif, and is keen to point out that he is not some kind of California-style eco-warrior with a liberal agenda. In fact, he is a staunchly Texan pragmatist.” [The Guardian]

Mexico is set to cut its output of greenhouse gases and make 2026 its peak emissions year, in the run-up to the global climate conference in Paris in December.”Mexico said it would reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases by 22 percent and its emissions of black carbon or soot by 51 percent by the year 2030.

Hitting that target will mean sharply raising vehicle fuel efficiency to bring standards in line with those in the United States and adopting appliance standards. Mexico also set goals for increasing the share of renewable and nuclear energy in its electric power sector.” [The Washington Post]

Less than a decade after a building design philosophy from Germany called “passive house” was implemented in a Brooklyn building, the design system may be poised for large scale construction . “Large projects delivering hundreds of new passive units to market are in the works, and city officials are watching closely.

Passive buildings maintain a comfortable interior climate without active heating and cooling systems — that means no more radiators or air-conditioning units for people who live in environments more temperate than New York’s.” [The NY Times]