Despite the building boom in the United Arab Emirates, cement companies there are facing lean times and closing their factories, leaving builders to source their projects on the black market. While the price of cement has been capped, the price of inputs - notably natural gas - have not. The higher prices of imported or black market concrete force building costs ever-higher.

Higher gas prices push up transportation costs, which means higher costs for most goods. In the Richmond, Virginia area, the results are being felt everywhere, from the pizza joints to the school buses.

With high energy prices, distance really makes a difference. Remote Gordo, California is seeing what may be the highest gas prices in the country; but it's not just gas that's expensive. Their distance from larger cities makes everything cost more - a difference that will just be amplified as energy prices soar.

A new report by Warren Karlenzig, author of How Green Is Your City?: The SustainLane City Rankings, ranks the largest 50 US cities by their readiness for $4+ a gallon gas and $100+ barrel oil prices. This unique study considers a variety of factors, including city resident public transit use, city carpooling rates, metro public transit ridership, metro area sprawl, telecommuting, biking and walking-to-work rates, and use of heating oil.

This study by Warren Karlenzig, author of How Green Is Your City?: The SustainLane City Rankings, ranks the largest 50 US cities by their readiness for $4+ a gallon gas and $100+ barrel oil prices. It considers a variety of factors, including city resident public transit use, city carpooling rates, metro public transit ridership, metro area sprawl, telecommuting, biking and walking-to-work rates, and use of heating oil.

South Africa has been experiencing energy crises for the past few weeks due to insufficient generator capacity and other problems. Among the problems in urban Johannesburg is traffic confusion, which causes pollution and economic losses. The national Central Energy Fund has determined that the economic impact merits an immediate investment in retrofitting traffic lights ("robots") in Johannesburg with solar panels.

How willl police budgets deal with rising fuel costs? This Tennessee county is discussing how their sheriff's department might cope with a budget shortfall for fuel and vehicle maintenance, without pulling from the county's general fund. Reducing patrols, reducing fleet sizes, eliminating vehicle take-home policies, and pulling money from other places are all mentioned.

The Kenai Peninsula Borough's Resolution 2007-069, adopted in January of 2008, is the first climate change resolution we have heard of that includes adaptation and impact mitigation planning as well as emissions reduction. The assembly requests the mayor to develop a Climate Change Impact Plan that assesses the borough's vulnerabilities and opportunities.

1000 Friends of Maryland have documented one hidden cost of Maryland's recent development patterns -- the rapidly increasing school bus budget. Their report, Yellow School Bus Blues, focuses on two issues local governments can control. Local governments' decisions affect the number of students in the county and where these students live. Land use decisions also determine if schools are located so that students can walk or bike to school.

Post Carbon Cities: Planning for Energy and Climate Uncertainty is a guidebook on peak oil and global warming for people who work with and for local governments in the United States and Canada. It provides a sober look at how these phenomena are quickly creating new uncertainties and vulnerabilities for cities of all sizes, and explains what local decision-makers can do to address these challenges.