Saturday, March 5, 2011

Location Efficiency is More Important than Home Efficiency for Energy Savings


An EPA-supported study shows that if you’re concerned about energy use from urban development (in this case, residential buildings), you should look at location efficiency first, rather than building efficiency.  The study describes location efficiency this way:
Housing that is located in a walkable neighborhood near public transit, employment centers, schools, and other amenities allows residents to drive less and thereby reduces transportation costs.  Development in such locations is deemed to be “location efficient,” given a more compact design, higher-density construction, and/ or inclusion of a diverse mix of uses.
As the graph above shows, locating housing in location-efficient neighborhoods has a greater impact on the combined housing-transportation energy use than improving the performance of buildings and automobiles. 


more about housing:

Low Carbon Housing for `Young Cities`: Experiences from Hashtgerd New Town, Iran

Accessibility effect on urban land values

Affordable Housing - theoretical utopia or achievable reality

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