Communities Can Foster Energy Conservation

Energy conservation is important for neighborhoods, communities, individuals, and countries. A grid pattern of "complete streets" that includes facilities for transit, walking, and cycling helps reduce gasoline usage. And an energy conservation building code can be enacted to cover new construction. The advantages of such a program are:

• Reduced cost for individuals and communities

• Reduced or steady demand postpones the need for extremely costly investment in new energy generation facilities

• Much energy still is generated using non-renewable or slow-renewing resources such as coal

• The energy used and pollution consumed during energy generation are formidable

• Emissions from the energy generation process contribute to global warming

• As recent events in the Middle East demonstrate, it would healthy if all nations could generate their own power rather than relying on the good will or whimsy of others.

How Is Energy Consumption Divided Now?

Energy consumption in the U.S. by sectors divides roughly into:

Residential 21%

Commercial 18%

Industrial 32%

Transportation 29%

These numbers serve as a reference point for the fact that while we can pester the poor householder about energy conservation, almost 80% of our energy use is expended elsewhere. We should be more concerned about our automobile use, plane travel, and consumption of stuff that's delivered by big trucks.

So both from a household and a community design perspective, transportation packs a big wallop, and energy conservation in that sector would pay big dividends.

The U.S. is the world's largest energy consumer, producer, and net importer. You could read energy profiles of other countries on a Department of Energy web page.

Energy Conservation for Communities

At the homeowner level, the largest energy expenditures on a national average basis are heating and cooling (about 40%), water heating (about 13%), and lighting (about 10%). Last I saw computers were edging up to about 1%, so I plan to keep using mine.

In the commercial and office sector, heating and cooling represents only about 30% of usage, but lighting is a whopping 25%.

So if we want to make our city government offices, our non-profit offices, and our homes more energy efficient, the lines of attack to me seem to be transportation, heating and cooling, and office and retail lighting.

For City Hall, other city buildings, and neighborhood offices, let's ask for:

• Programmable thermostats (programmed appropriately)

• A policy of turning off computers and their peripherals at night (especially the printers and monitors), and turning them to any available low-power or standby mode when not in use

• Reduction of leaking energy by unplugging the computer-related power strip at night

• Energy conservation through turning off the lights when leaving the room and at night, except for any code-required safety light

• Reducing the water heater thermostat

If you ever watch your city hall being cleaned in the early evening, you may find, as I did, that for as long as four hours, every light in the building is turned on. At my office too, the first order of business for the cleaning company is to turn on every light in the place. Then if they find me still working, they take off and don't reappear for another three hours, but they don't turn off any lights!

At home, say to your constituents or members:

• Find air leaks from the outside and plug them. If you've done the obvious and still think your heating or air conditioning is too expensive, ask your power company or a private contractor you trust for an energy audit. (Of course, if you have a newer house, you can overdo this, so do seek professional advice if you think you need it.)

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents. Experiment till you find a brand that works.

• Unplug rarely used appliances; unplug the computer power strip at night.

• Be disciplined about closing blinds and draperies in the face of sunlight that makes your air conditioner turn on, and vice versa when you need the heat. Remember that heating and cooling can provide the largest energy conservation benefits.

• Turn down the hot water heater thermostat for vacations.

• Be conscientious about lighting usage.

• Learn to take shorter showers or use less hot water in the tub.

• Replace furnace and air conditioning filters regularly. The first day of the month works for me.

• Train everyone to turn off unused lights, televisions, radios, and computers.

• Use drive-through lanes less, especially at popular times of day.

• Use less stuff! This is major, folks. If you emphasize local food, you cut down on the transportation cost of getting that food to you. If you don't throw away plastic forks you used once, that's energy conservation. And if your family can avoid the latest gee-whiz consumer item, not only do you save money immediately, you also save the energy cost of producing and transporting the item, as well as its disposal cost to society.

• Take a day to think about how much stuff you use.

• Frequent the thrift store or eBay for items you must have. That's an energy conservation measure, because the energy required to produce and transport that item will not have to be duplicated when you buy a new item.

• Generally explore and do what works for you. And try not to be too judgmental when your next door neighbor chooses a different path.

Being Serious about Transportation

You might think there's very little reason for someone to own a gas-guzzler car. However important the difference between the old junker and your efficient new hybrid, I think each community will be more successful by increasing the efficiency of their own road network.

Here are the policies that a community should be considering to facilitate energy conservation in both the construction and use of transportation systems:

• Promote better driving. Seriously. When police talk in the neighborhood, they could add a little riff on the fact that speeding, rapid acceleration, and hard braking and sudden stops are big energy wasters. While they're teaching people who had to parent themselves not to leave their car idling with their toddler in it, they also could add that idling wastes gasoline.

• Promote a grid-based street system, and only approve developments that conform to the policy. A grid provides the shortest driving distance. It's great for energy conservation (except remove extra traffic signals that cause unnecessary idling). Cul de sacs guarantee a nice long drive from Point A to Point B. The grid provides alternatives, should an accident, altercation, or water line break occur.

After you get new development under control, plan how to get rid of the cul de sacs and the need to travel on the interstate highway to get around your city. In fact maybe you should be like Portland and get rid of the interstate downtown altogether. Then downtown actually would have the traffic it needs.

• Make every street walkable and bikeable. It shouldn't even be a discussion any more. When you make the street a way to move as much traffic as possible as fast as possible, you certainly discourage other forms of transportation. How about making every street a "complete street," as it's now called in federal transportation jargon. If your streets don’t have sidewalks, install them. If the sidewalks don't have ramps at the end for strollers and wheelchairs, there’s no time like the present.

• Plan and build skinnier streets. If you combine this with complete streets and an emphasis on a versatile grid, instead of one-way-in, one-way-out systems, you'll have a street perfectly adequate to handle traffic. But the energy cost of building and maintaining the street will be decreased considerably.

• Make off-street trails. Multi-use paths and trails are a retrofit that many communities can afford. Their unused stream buffers, utility corridors, abandoned rail lines, and various other slivers of leftover land can become ways for cyclists and pedestrians to travel safely while getting some much-needed exercise and fresh air.

• Make transit use sexy. OK, neighborhood organization, this is your new assignment, if you choose to accept. While I do think the 100th monkey effect is probably an urban legend, I do see there's some tipping point, as explained by Malcolm Gladwell.

At some not-so-magic number of adoptions, an idea will begin to take off. So maybe your city employees or neighborhood association officers can all commit to using transit. All week. Then on Friday you can have a party and share your experiences. Transit not only is a good idea, but also can be a source of new stress-free living and pleasure, if you get creative.

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