A new research study out of Switzerland quantifies the disproportionate contribution to greenhouse gas emissions made by large homes and relatively long commutes. In one Swiss town, twenty-one percent of households create 50 percent of the emissions.
"You probably don't need a sophisticated climate model to tell you that a compact, car-free apartment in the city has a smaller carbon footprint than a 3,000 square-foot single-family house in the suburbs," writes Emily Badger. "But add all of those big, far-flung homes together, and their cumulative impact starts to look really disproportionate. In many metropolitan areas, this means that a narrow slice of households are responsible for a vastly larger share of the region's greenhouse gas emissions."
"Just how much larger are we talking? An interesting new study out of Switzerland, published in the American Chemical Society's journal Environmental Science & Technology, looked at this question in a single town there." By examining 3,238 households in the town of Wattwil, researchers calculated that twenty-one percent of the households produced 50 percent of the area's housing and mobility-related emissions, says Badger.
"The main culprits? Large homes requiring a lot of energy to heat and cool, and relatively long commutes."
Read the full story: A Small Number of People Are Causing a Huge Share of Our Greenhouse Emissions
EPA Guts Emissions Regulations
The agency is eliminating the endangerment finding that underpins the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
FTA Kills ‘Social Cost of Carbon’ in Transit Grant Criteria
The Capital Investments Grant program will no longer factor in the future impacts of carbon emissions.
EPA Plans “Largest Deregulatory Action” in History
The agency plans to repeal a key 2009 rule that underpins the government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax survives legal challenge
A panel of judges found that the plaintiffs failed to demonstrate injury as a result of New York City's implementation of the tax.
Eastern Nebraska is running out of electricity
Data centers and electrification are straining eastern Nebraska’s grid, throttling economic development.
Seattle passes record-breaking transit services expansion
Proposition 1 will double the city’s transit tax to add 95,000 more bus trips and preserve 180,000 bus trips annually.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority