Transcript Energy-Efficient Measures

Building a Sustainable
Community
Bruce Snead
Engineering Extension at
Kansas State University
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Building a Sustainable
Community
Building a sustainable community through
local leadership means effecting change
in the best long-term interests of your
community. Learn about the opportunities
and techniques (policies, programs,
planning and participation) which you can
use to build a strong future-oriented
community.
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Topics
Borrowing from the Future
What is Sustainability?
Sustainable Development
Opportunities and Resources
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Are You an Optimist
or Pessimist?
How many of you
What will it take to
believe your children sustain that quality
will have a better
of life and preserve
“quality of life” than
those special
you have?
things for your
What is it that makes children?
where you live a
special place?
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Borrowing from the
Future
“We’ve gotta do it for the kids.” - Sam
Brownback on the budget and debt.
I think there are a lot of similarities in the
economics of natural systems.
A baby born today will by age 75 have
produced 52 tons of garbage
consumed 43 million gallons of water
used 3375 barrels of oil -Philadelphia Inquirer
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Bringing Up Baby
A US born baby will, over a lifetime, cost the world:
Water - 41,289,000 gals
Wood - 5,777 CF
Eggs - 18,046
Vegetables - 13,652
Coffee - 688 lbs
Coal - 290 tons
Potatoes - 3,728
Fish - 1,123 lbs
Pesticides - 280 lbs
Petroleum - 80,598 gals
Data from US Census and World Resources Institute
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Borrowing from the
Future?
Our 4.5% of world population
consumes 30% of planet’s natural
resources, burns 25% of the fossil
fuels.
The US is the 3rd most populous
country with the highest birthrate
among developed countries.
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Warning Signs?
Shrinking forests
Eroding soils
Falling water tables
Collapsing fisheries
Rising temperatures
Dying coral reefs
Melting glaciers
Disappearing plant and animal species
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Different Attitudes
about the Future
“Our resources “I’m spending
are not passed to my kid’s
us by our
inheritance.”
Bumper Sticker
ancestors but
loaned to us by
our children.”
Kenyan Proverb
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Quotes about the
Future
“we are treating the Earth as if it were
a business in liquidation.” Herman Daly
““Man will occasionally stumble over
the truth, but most of the time he will
pick himself up and continue on.”
Winston Churchill
The future belongs to those who give
the next generation reason to hope.”
Teilhard de Chardin
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What is
Sustainability?
“Then I say the earth belongs to
each.... generation during its course,
fully and in its own right, no
generation can contract debts
greater than may be paid during the
course of its own existence.”
Thomas Jefferson -6/9/1789
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What is
Sustainability?
“development
which meets the
needs of the
present without
compromising the
ability of future
generations to
meet their own
needs.”
UN
Brundtland Commission
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What is
Sustainability?
...living on the Earth's
income rather than eroding
its capital.
British Government White Paper,
Common Inheritance', 1990
'This
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Sustainability?
Sustainability requires managing all
households -- individual,
community,national, and global -- in
ways that ensure that our economy
and society can continue to exist
without crippling or destroying the
natural environment on which
we all depend.
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Sustainability?
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Sustainable
Development
That level of human activity that
can be continued indefinitely
without diminishing the
capacity of the biosphere to
support life or assimilate waste
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Growth?
Sustainable development is not a
“no-growth” movement.
Rather, it asks the question what
should grow and how should it grow.
Perhaps the question should be “Is
this sustainable?”
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Sustainable
Development
"Sustainable development involves
the simultaneous pursuit of
economic prosperity, environmental
quality and social equity. Companies
aiming for sustainability need to
perform not against a single,
financial bottom line but against the
triple bottom line.”
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Transitions
From short-term to long-term thinking
From a linear flow of resources to a cyclic
flow of resources
From an economy outside of nature to an
economy integrated into nature
From keeping score with gross cash flow
to keeping score with a whole-system
balance sheet (many indicators)
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Transitions
From seeing environmental, social and
economic issues as separate and
competing, to seeing them as an
interconnected whole
From hoping growth will eliminate poverty
to addressing poverty and its causes
directly
From fossil fuels to renewable energy
From a focus on growth (size) to a focus
on development (quality)
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The Real Challenge Quality of Life
Quality of life is improved by
a shift in public planning from
simply accommodating
growth to planning for
sustainable human activity.
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Our Choice
The longer we wait, the greater the
risk of having to impose rigid
regulations in time of crisis.
The sooner we change, the more
options we will have to create
mechanisms of adjustment that are
socially acceptable and economically
feasible.
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Questioning Myths
and Assumptions
Growth is
everything
No energy
problem
Design cities to
move cars
Better costs
more
We know how to
measure
progress
Density =
Congestion
Economy vs.
environment
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Who’s
Doing It
PCSD
Seattle
Milwaukee
San Jose
Austin
Santa Monica
Racine
Chattanooga
Routt County,CO
Boise/Ada County
Valmeyer,IL
New Jersey
Manhattan
Springfield
NACO, USCM
DOE, EPA
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How Do Communities
Start?
Crisis and Reaction
Citizen Initiatives
Mayoral Initiatives
City Council Initiatives
Legislative Initiatives
Gubernatorial Initiatives
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Current Trends
Sustainability applied to:
Building and Real Estate Dev’t
Economic Development
Land-Use Planning
Industrial Development
Transportation Systems
Disaster Recovery
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Technology
GIS
New Tools for Decision Making
Software
Indicators Projects
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Sustainable Economic
Development Strategies
Use resources efficiently
Meet local needs using local resources
Invest in an efficient sustainable
infrastructure.
Protect and enhance community quality of
life.
Create new businesses that provide
services or products that protect or
restore the environment.
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Sustainable Economic
Development
Pollution Prevention/Waste
Minimization
Recycling Based Manufacturing
Energy Efficiency
Renewable Energy
Green Business and Environmental
Technologies
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Implementing
Sustainability
Personal choices
Local decision making and policy
implemented by tools and process
Examples and Education
Scope of Services
Planning/Development Guidelines
Capital Budgets
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Web Resources
www.usmayors.org/USCM/sustainable
www.sustainable.org
www.iclei.org/la21/onestop
www.sustainable.doe.gov
solstice.crest.org
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Web Resources
http://odin.bi.no/sbc
http://www.iccwbo.org/home/environm
ent/charter.asp
http://sbn.envirolink.org/
http://www.naturalstep.org/
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Web Resources
http://iisd.ca/
www.sustainabledevelopment.org/
www.sustainablebusiness.com
www.naturalcapitalism.org/
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