British Town Reduces Carbon Footprint Through Small Changes

"'When people talk about an eco-house they picture a sleek house in the countryside with solar panels and wind turbines. Well, good for them. But that’s not how the average person lives,' said Mischa Hewitt, of Britain’s Low Carbon Trust, a nonprofit group.

The trust helped organize a series of open houses on weekends to let residents of neighboring Brighton show what they had done.

'What’s more important, what we’re encouraging, is to take old properties that were not built for energy efficiency and turn them around to save carbon, save energy and save money,' Ms. Hewitt said.

Brighton was voted the most sustainable city in the country last year by the British research group Forum for the Future, and its politicians recently made reducing carbon emissions a high-profile priority."