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Energy & Smart Growth


Planning Our Way to a New Energy Future

The American Planning Association (APA) and the Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) are embarking on a three-year research and education project Planning Our Way to a New Energy Future to promote clean and efficient energy strategies for communities. The goal is to encourage improved energy efficiency and increased use of alternative energy technologies in communities, helping to address the serious challenges of climate change and to save taxpayer money and boost local economies.

Please visit our project website at http://www.planning.org/energy/

ENERGY SMART SMART GROWTH CASE STUDIES

Burlington, Vermont - December 29, 2006

Seattle, Washington - December 29, 2006

FACT SHEETS
  Buildings and Health - September 11, 2006
 Energy and Buildings - September 11, 2006

BRIEFINGS

Solar Decathlon Showcases Green Homes for Today: How Energy Bill Provisions Can Support High-Performance Homes October 17, 2007

High-Performance Green Buildings: A Look at Their Benefits and the Role of Federal Policy
May 21, 2007

Healthy Communities for Young and Old - Congressional Briefing Summary - September 20, 2006  

High-Performance Green Buildings: A Look at Their Benefits and the Role of Federal Policy - July 20, 2006

PRESENTATIONS
EESI Presentation: It’s About How and Where We Build: Connecting Energy and Smart Growth - 2006 ACEEE Summer Study

EESI Presentation:  The Role of Planning in the New Energy Era - 2006 APA National Conference, April 25, 2006 

LATEST NEWS
EESI/APA Survey Finds Planners an Untapped Resource for Addressing Energy Problems

PUBLICATIONS
  "It’s About How and Where We Build: Connecting Energy and Smart Growth," for the 2006 ACEEE Summer Study on Energy Efficiency in Buildings. (This updates our previous paper "Energy Smart Growth: It's about How and Where We Build," published by the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.)

EESI's "Energy Smart Growth: It's about How and Where We Build," commissioned and published by the Funders' Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities.

"The attacks of September 11 have filled us with fear…with respect to our energy supplies, we need to become more self sufficient, create a more reliable and secure infrastructure, and diversify our sources, in ways that entail acceptable costs.”… Because of the link between national security and energy, it is important for the United States to “increase the robustness of our energy system, encourage distributed generation, increase the number and diversity of sources and move closer to the source of our power in order to decrease disruptions.” 

                  -- Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), Senate Armed Services Committee, National Energy Security Briefing,
                     October 2001.

The ways in which we design our communities, develop our transportation networks, and construct our buildings determines the amount of energy we need and the type of energy systems we can use. Communities can lessen the amount of energy needed for transportation, and to heat and cool urban areas, through improved land-uses, including compact neighborhoods, infill development, transit-oriented growth and the use of trees and green space.

High density, mixed use and other "smart" community designs diversify peak power hours and increase opportunities to meet local energy needs through on-site renewable energy and other high efficiency systems -- such as small-scale solar units, micro turbines, co-generation, and fuel-cell power generation.  Energy smart buildings that take advantage of the natural climate, orientation, and thermal mass further assist communities to trim expanding energy appetites.

By including energy considerations into local land-use and community planning, our nation can reduce the use of imported oil, lessen air emissions associated with burning fossil fuels (including greenhouse gases), and pave the way for the integration of cleaner energy choices.  

Energy/Smart Growth Project

Out of necessity, the smart growth movement is evolving to include greater attention on energy and other resource conservation issues.  EESI has embarked on a new project to assist the development of energy-smart growth and to facilitate greater collaboration between smart growth professionals and those involved with energy efficiency and green building design.  To help guide the project, EESI has established an Energy/Smart Growth Working Group, composed of energy, land-use, building, and smart growth experts.

For more information, please contact, Jan Lars Mueller , Policy Associate

Energy/Smart Growth Links

 

 
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