Is the Chicago Mall zero emissions? Have you seen the net zero emissions factory in Freiburg Germany that produces solar panels? Check it out at www.thesolarvillage.com .
John

I wonder if the mall will be located somewhere that won't require shoppers to all drive to it. That's a major impediment to any mall being green, not to mention the trash that retailers create. I was shocked to learn while working at Ann Taylor LOFT in college that every single piece of clothing came in its own separate plastic bag - as if one shirt were going to contaminate the identicle shirt next it if there weren't separated by plastsic...? Is this the case at other stores, like Target, where they sell orders of magnitude more clothes every day than Anny Taylor? What about other products? It seems like a lot of waste must be involved before products are even out on the shelves or racks. Changing this would be a good action step towards a really green mall.

im pretty sure this is going to be in the logan square area? i think i read that before, in which case theres a blue line (cta train) stop right in the area. chicago all around has excellent public transportation, an impressive train system and busses running on almost every major street, there are commuter trains from metra running out into the surrounding suburbs along with pace bus service. i live an hour outside of the city by car and i only have to drive 15 minutes to spot the closest pace stop to my apartment, 20 minutes to reach the nearest metra station. the city is super bike friendly and there are places along the lakefront to rent bikes too. if the winters werent so heinously cold here it would be the perfect city. im really excited for the eco-mall, i hope it lives up to the hype.

Jessilikewhoa is correct; the green mall is in Logan Square -- in fact, less than a mile from my home. Chicago is a very bike-friendly city and the Logan Square area in particular has a high concentration of cyclists; in fact, the Blue Line stop Jess mentioned is one of a handful of train stops in the city that has a sizeable bike rack inside of it. I haven't been by the Green Mall yet -- it still is very much in the initial stages of conversion -- but I can't imagine building any large entity, let alone an ecology-minded one, in that area without catering to the bicycle population. That said, if you're going to stop by, say, to buy a couch from the sustainable furniture store, your CTA and you bicycle and your Toyota Prius all put together aren't going to help you much.

Whenever I hear 'green' in Chicago, I always pause & wonder...how green in a city that does not recycle? Does the city have anything to do with this because they do a great job of creating a facade of what 'might' be a green city. Being a native of California and after a little digging, I've learned that Chicago has a long way to go to be green. But, if in fact a true green mall is constructed it will be a step in the right direction!