Local Sustainability Efforts Can Battle
Climate Change in the West
By Brendan L. Smith
Climate change often is viewed as a remote global problem,
but local planning officials in the West can help reduce carbon footprints not
only for their communities but also for entire regions, according to a new
report published by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
Local land use and infrastructure planning activities can
account for up to 20% of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) reduction
objectives in the West, according to Planning for Climate Change in the West, a
60-page report by Western Lands and Communities, a joint venture of the Lincoln Institute and the Sonoran Institute.
Planners can sidestep political resistance to climate change
by focusing on cost savings and other benefits of sustainability efforts. “Western
planners are emphasizing sustainability or economic efficiency, rather than
climate change, in their decisions to manage water supplies, reduce energy
consumption, increase transportation efficiency, and protect open space,” says report
co-author Susan Culp.
Local planning and transportation decisions can reap large
rewards in GHG emission reductions. “An array of familiar smart growth
strategies for creating healthier communities now double as climate solutions: building
codes and standards, compact mixed-use development, transportation alternatives,
distributed and renewable energy, water resource consumption and planning, preservation
of open space and agriculture, and mitigation of wildfire impacts,” the report
states.
Other findings discussed in the report:
Households built in compact areas use 20% less energy for
heating and cooling and also can reduce commute-related transportation impacts
up to 40%.
Transportation now accounts for one third of GHG emissions
in the United States.
Shifting 60% of new growth to more compact developments
would save an estimated 85 million metric tons of GHG emissions per year at the
national level by 2030.
Retrofit technologies on existing buildings can provide
energy savings of up to 20%, including external shading, increased insulation, energy-efficient
cooling, and light-colored roofs.
Green building codes can promote “the integration of solar,
micro-wind, combined heat and power, and other renewable, distributed, and/or
efficient energy systems into the building design.”
Planners should coordinate state and local efforts to
address climate change and use public education programs about the negative
impacts of climate change to foster community support, the report recommends.
“State and federal initiatives are important, but mitigation
and adaptation will only happen if implemented on the ground locally,” says
Armando Carbonell, chairman of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the
Lincoln Institute.