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JOHN BROWN is the editor of theslowhome.com and the founder of the Slow Home Movement. He is a registered architect, real estate broker and Professor of Architecture at the University of Calgary.
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Which U.S. Cities Contribute Most to Global Warming?
Jun 07, 2008
By David Biello From Scientific American
If you care about reducing your emissions of greenhouse gases, then you might want to move to Honolulu, Los Angeles or Portland, Ore., according to a new study from The Brookings Institution. These three metropolises boast, respectively, the lowest three per capita levels of world warming pollution (read: carbon dioxide) in the nation's top 100 metro areas.
"Large metropolitan areas give their inhabitants smaller carbon footprints," says energy policy expert Marilyn Brown of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta (ranked 67th), lead author of the study. "Footprints are the smallest in areas with high density and good rail transit."
"Shrinking the Carbon Footprint of Metropolitan America" examined fuel use in transportation and energy use in homes, landing, from fourth to 10th ranking, New York City; Boise, Idaho; Seattle; San Jose, Calif.; San Francisco; El Paso, Tex.; and San Diego.
But the survey did not take into account key municipal contributors such as commercial buildings and industry—or transportation other than that on highways, thereby neglecting the carbon output of the air freight resupply on which Honolulu relies. The researchers also used the U.S. Census Bureau's metropolitan boundaries, allowing cities like Los Angeles to avoid having the carbon emitted by its legions of suburban commuters count against its total. Weather played a role as well. Cities in moderate climes fared better than those whose residents must expend more energy to cool and heat their homes.
The report, the first of its kind, reveals that southern and eastern cities contribute most to climate change. The reason: residents there rely more on coal and cars than denizens in other parts of the country. "The nation's carbon footprint has a very distinct geography," Brown says. "Those who live in an area relying on coal and gasoline are likely to see a large increase in energy costs. There is a business and economic vulnerability that these metropolitan areas have." Read the rest of the article. View the Brookings Institution report.
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We believe that our homes and neighborhoods should be healthy, vibrant places that uplift the spirit and gracefully fit our needs. We call for an end to poor construction, bad design, misleading marketing, unfair lending practices and environmental neglect in the housing industry. We acknowledge our collective responsibility to create CLOSE, SIMPLE, LIGHT places to live that leave a positive legacy for future generations.
provides design focused information that homeowners can use to improve the quality of how and where they live. It takes its name from the slow food movement which arose as a reaction to the processed food industry. The sprawl of cookie cutter housing that surrounds us is like fast food - standardized, homogenous, and wasteful. It contributes to a too fast life that is bad for us, our cities, and the environment. In the same way that slow food raises awareness of the food we eat and how these choices affect our lives, Slow Home empowers you to take more control of your home and improve the quality of how you live while reducing your environmental impact and futureproofing the long term investment value of your home.
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