BETTER LAND USE TO REDUCE
GLOBAL WARMING
Between 1982 and 1997, the amount of land consumed
for urban development increased by 47 percent while the nation’s
population grew by only 17 percent (Fulton 2001). Inefficient land
use development practices have increased infrastructure costs as
well as the amount of energy needed for transportation, community
services, and buildings. All these factors can contribute to global
warming.
Better land use to reduce climate change
A growing number of citizens and government officials
have begun advocating a smarter approach to land use planning. These
“smart” growth practices include compact community development,
multiple transportation choices, mixed land uses, and practices
to conserve green space. These programs offer environmental, economic,
and quality-of-life benefits; and they also serve to reduce energy
usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
Smarter growth land use policies have both a direct
and indirect effect on energy consuming behavior. For example, transportation
energy usage, the number one user of petroleum fuels, could be significantly
reduced through more compact and mixed use land development patterns,
which in turn could be served by a greater variety of non-automotive
based transportation choices.
Approaches such as New Urbanism and Transit-oriented
development seek to reduce distances traveled, especially by private
vehicles, encourage public transit and make walking and cycling
more attractive options. This is achieved through medium-density,
mixed-use planning and the concentration of housing within walking
distance of town centers and transport nodes.
Better house design to reduce climate change
As well as designing buildings which are more
energy efficient also suggested for hotter climates is the possibility
of using lighter-colored, more reflective materials in the development
of urban areas (e.g. by painting roofs white) and planting trees.
This saves energy because it cools buildings and reduces the urban
heat island effect thus reducing the use of air conditioning. In
cold climates where air conditioning accounts for only a small proportion
of energy consumption, the opposite of this approach may be preferable:
An increase in average city temperatures by painting roofs black
decreases demand for heating fuel.
Click here to go to the
home page www.climatechange.110mb.com
This information is licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation. It is derivative of articles on Climate
Change, Global Warming and related environmental issues at http://en.wikipedia.org |
