Levittown was America's original suburb--made possible by low-interest home loans, affordable cars and ever-so-cheap gasoline. People fled dense cities for a little greenery and a back-yard barbecue. The unfortunate upshot of Levittown and the hundreds of similar suburbs it spawned was soaring energy use and the emissions from daily commutes to the city.
Today Levittown is going green--at least, pale green. "Time's" Bryan Walsh reports that county officials along with environmentalists and business leaders have launched the Green Levittown program ("Time" article not online yet). The program offers a cheap energy audit ($300) and reduced interest loans to pay for upgrades such as solar thermal power, energy-efficient water heaters and the like.
Greening house by house is catching on in cities around the country. The U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit group, has seen its business spike, thanks to an environmental rating system for residences. Unfortunately, these steps don't address the single greatest source of carbon: the automobile. So the USBC recently launched a rating system that evaluates how the layout of a development affects the environment.
Read another approach across the world after the jump.
Meanwhile, the government of Abu Dhabi is developing a car-free city from the ground up. Located adjacent to the Abu Dhabi airport, it is a 2.3-square mile planned city that will eventually grow to 50,000 people. Masdar, as the city is called, is intended as a home for academic and corporate research for nonpolluting energy technologies. Cars will be banned. The city will be set behind walls to divert hot desert winds. Water will flow from a solar-powered desalination plant. Food will be raised in nearby greenhouses. And all waste will be recycled or composted.
Sources: Time, New York Times, Planetizen
