From Old to New, the Green Shift

In fishing through the multiple Google alerts that I have compiled, I came across an interesting article about how Indianapolis is having most of its old buildings renovated or largely retrofitted with green friendly technology. The mayor of Indianapolis Greg Ballard, member of the democratic party, hopes that this will provide an economic savings by cutting costs used to maintain these buildings (upwards of 1.7 million dollars in annual savings). While the initial cost will be 18 million to begin with, the overall savings will accumulate quicker than one would think. The fruits of this idea are already being recognized with the nearly complete City-County building, which has been able to cut steam consumption down 93% and electrical consumption by 35%. The democratic party has always been a beacon of hope for environmentalists hoping to see change in our society today. I mean, lets face it, no one from the Green Party or the other miscellaneous environmental parties will ever be able to win a significant election of power, Ralph Nader was our best, last hope. Our political system allows for multiple parties, but in reality, who is ever going to vote for anyone who doesn't have a chance, it's essentially throwing your vote away, which is why no one tends to do it (elections are rare enough as it is). That is why if we want to put any faith into a political party that may actually help us, I believe we should back the democratic party (sorry for the random political tangent, but this is a blog, I've got myself some free space, I'm definitely going to post on it). To sum up, Indianapolis's green shift sets a goal for many other cities to follow, cities like Dallas, Fort Worth, notorious for high levels of waste and bad air quality(this is from a personal perspective of having lived in/near the city). For more, here's the link to the article <http://www.indystar.com/article/20110919/LOCAL18/109190369/City-says-upgrades-City-County-Building-finished?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Communities)>

Sikich, Chris. "City says upgrades to City-County Building finished." Indy Star. 19 Sep 2011: n. page.
     Web. 22 Sep. 2011. <http://www.indystar.com/article/20110919/LOCAL18/109190369/City-
     says-upgrades-City-County-Building-finished?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Communities>.