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Vermont Sustainable Design - Aid for a more sustainable world

What can Bring development to Fairlee?

By Jon at 8:40 pm on Wednesday, February 13, 2008

This was the question posed to the local State Rep. Sarah Copeland. This article highlights a recent Selectboard meeting in Fairlee, VT.

The article discusses fundamental discussion of development and what infrastructure is required for it, but also, the basic premise - what type of development is desired?

“… the lack of a sewer has turned several potential tenants away from Bradford’s industrial park and curtailed the development of a bigger grocery story, pointing out that more acreage is needed for a business to install the required septic system and backup.”

“Short of a sewer, the next best draw would be high-speed Internet,”

The creation of a sewer system makes sense - as well as allowing dense development rather than very spread out rural development necessary for proper septic design.

See the rest of the article here.

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President’s do Planning

By Jon at 11:11 pm on Sunday, December 9, 2007

- post from the Planetizen Blog -

Considering the Smart Growth President

 

Housing patterns for the Younger Crowd

By Jon at 9:22 pm on Sunday, October 28, 2007

The ULI does it again in this piece from their annual meeting held in the urban sprawling metropolis of Las Vegas…

http://thegroundfloor.typepad.com/the_ground_floor/2007/10/gen-y-and-housi.html

The first observations are interesting to note. I don’t know where they obtained these data and how valid they are, but I can relate to what these data indicate. The vast majority of my colleagues and friends desire similar such areas to find a home.

Some takeaways from this session:

What Gen Y members don’t want: big houses on big lots, isolated from everything.

What they do want:
housing that fulfills their need for instant access and convenience.

With the oldest members of Generation Y (those in their mid-20s)
starting to enter the housing market, the characteristics of this
demanding, strong-willed generation provide many clues to their
preferences in living arrangements.
For instance, they:

    Favor the quirky, unique and different.
    Seek diversity in all aspects of their lives.
    Prefer urban over suburban environments.
    Multi-task (One observation: “Most don’t wear watches because watches only do one thing.”

The second interesting observation is the change in demographics - changing households from couples, young males being replaced by single-women households.

One key signal of a housing shakeup resulting from Gen Y: changes in
household formation and more single Gen Y women entering the housing
market. In the years ahead, look for the decades-long prevalence of
married couples with children to be increasingly replaced with
single-women households. With more women than men now graduating from
college, women in many markets will soon be making more than men,
placing women in a position of affluence and authority that will affect
housing decisions. Because they will likely delay marriage to pursue
careers, their housing choices will be far different than those made by
their baby boomer mothers. The likely favorite: close-in multifamily
rental or for-sale units in mixed-use communities that emphasize
communal space and social interaction. “This bodes well for urban
communities,” one panelist said.


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Filed under: Climate Change, Transportation, building, demographics, sustainable development, urban design — Comments Off

UNEP releases findings on improving buildings

By Jon at 9:39 pm on Monday, September 24, 2007

article from Env. News Network
Regulation key to greener buildings

UNEP releases new assessment and database of policy tools for climate change solutions in the building sector

Prague/Nairobi, 24 September 2007 -Regulation is the most effective means to achieve greenhouse gas emission reductions from buildings, a sector which accounts for some 30-40 % of global energy use.

Regulatory and control instruments such as building codes and appliance standards are the most effective way to increase energy efficiency, and so mitigate the industry’s impact on global warming.

The key precondition for their success is that sufficient resources and efforts are invested in their implementation and enforcement, as well as a regular updating of the relevant specifications.

The findings are contained in a new study entitled, “Assessment of policy instruments for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from buildings,” which is being released today at the “Sustainable Buildings 07″ conference in Prague, Hungary.

Produced by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Sustainable Buildings and Construction Initiative (SBCI), the study analysed 20 different types of policy tools in the areas of legislation, information, economic incentives and fiscal measures that were targeting energy efficiency in buildings.

It looked at some 80 case studies from 52 countries and evaluated the different policy tools based on their effectiveness in terms of reduction of CO2 emissions, their cost effectiveness and associated success factors.

“According to the latest assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, around 30 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions could be reduced by 2020 by measures such as improved energy efficiency in residential and commercial buildings. Importantly, this could lead to gains in global GDP-not costs,” said Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director

“The new UNEP SBCI study demonstrates the critical roles that governments need to take in establishing, implementing, and enforcing regulatory policies so as to realize these emission reductions and these environmental, social and economics gains,” he said

Produced in partnership with the Central European University in Budapest, the new study is supported by a database that showcases the lessons learned from the 80 case studies. Copies can be downloaded from http://www.unepsbci.org

Note to Editors

The SBCI is an international partnership to “green” the multi-billion dollar building and construction sector. Launched one year ago with UNEP, it now has over thirty members including some of the biggest names in the business such as Lafarge, Skanska and Arcelor. The SBCI secretariat is hosted by the UNEP Division of Technology, Industry and Economics in Paris.

For more information please contact Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson on Tel: +254 207 623084; Mobile: +254 733 632 755, E-mail:nick.nuttall@unep.org, or Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson for Europe on Mobile: 33 6 22725842, E-mail: robert.bisset@unep.fr

UNEP News Release

Filed under: Climate Change, building, sustainable development, urban design — Comments Off