by David Kooris, Connecticut Director, RPA
As my wedding approaches on October 5, everyone keeps asking me how stressed out I am. The truth is not really that much. Both my fiancée and I are trained planners and all but the smallest details were worked out long ago.
There was however one very stressful time for me during this process: populating the gift registry. No one has ever characterized me as an avid consumer and the idea of getting so many new things at once was overwhelming, particularly when combined with a concept that has become increasingly intertwined in my personal and professional lives: Sustainability.
With the big "S" in mind, it becomes more and more difficult to escape the implications of everyday decisions, no matter how minute. I can't look at a new toaster oven without my mind swelling with images of the entire life cycle costs of that product. I picture everything from the mining and industrial processes that led to its creation, to the packaging that will be instantly discarded, to the energy that the small digital clock will consume every single second of each day until it rests for years buried in the earth.
It is with such a perspective that I find myself standing in the aisle at Bed, Bath & Beyond - for far longer than seems normal to my fiancée - trying to determine whether a wooden, bamboo, metal or ceramic cooking spoon has a more benevolent life cycle. While this may seem silly to some, it would be nice if consumers did have the necessary information to make decisions in the marketplace in line with concerns that they may have about global warming, environmental degradation, health implications or even human rights.
Consumer Reports has begun a program called Greener Choices, which is in fact a very helpful tool to determine the meaning of product labels and the implications of different materials. But I suspect few people will do such research before hitting the supermarket or department store.
Shopping is not the only activity where those who care about sustainability operate with little information to go on. Where do we live and in what kind of building? Where do we work and in what type of facility? And how do we get around from place to place? Real-estate agents rarely open with the proven energy performance of a home before they show off the granite counter tops, and certainly do not go into whether they are or are not better for the environment than concrete, butcher block or soapstone.
The European Union has developed a metric for public buildings that they hope to expand to all commercial buildings in the next few years, called EP Label. It calculates and labels a structure's energy performance and operating environmental impact, and is to be used throughout the EU under their Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Imagine the impact that a comparable system could have on development in the United States if it covered all buildings and transportation energy demands in addition to energy performance. Acknowledging that two subsequent home owners can have very different travel patterns, a home's distance from daily amenities and job centers coupled with available transportation options are good predictors of the amount of energy a household will spend on transportation in a given year.
As the dynamics of household budgets adjust to the possibly volatile and increasing energy costs of this century, there will be growing demand for information at the time of purchase or lease agreement regarding the projected energy demands related to locational decisions. Individual buildings, neighborhoods, towns and regions can be rated on their long-term energy demand, injecting into the marketplace the information so necessary for decision-making by those interested in fiscal solvency and environmental protection. Maybe then the tool will exist for me to pick the cooking spoon with the smallest carbon footprint.
As my wedding approaches on October 5, everyone keeps asking me how stressed out I am. The truth is not really that much. Both my fiancée and I are trained planners and all but the smallest details were worked out long ago.
There was however one very stressful time for me during this process: populating the gift registry. No one has ever characterized me as an avid consumer and the idea of getting so many new things at once was overwhelming, particularly when combined with a concept that has become increasingly intertwined in my personal and professional lives: Sustainability.
With the big "S" in mind, it becomes more and more difficult to escape the implications of everyday decisions, no matter how minute. I can't look at a new toaster oven without my mind swelling with images of the entire life cycle costs of that product. I picture everything from the mining and industrial processes that led to its creation, to the packaging that will be instantly discarded, to the energy that the small digital clock will consume every single second of each day until it rests for years buried in the earth.
It is with such a perspective that I find myself standing in the aisle at Bed, Bath & Beyond - for far longer than seems normal to my fiancée - trying to determine whether a wooden, bamboo, metal or ceramic cooking spoon has a more benevolent life cycle. While this may seem silly to some, it would be nice if consumers did have the necessary information to make decisions in the marketplace in line with concerns that they may have about global warming, environmental degradation, health implications or even human rights.
Consumer Reports has begun a program called Greener Choices, which is in fact a very helpful tool to determine the meaning of product labels and the implications of different materials. But I suspect few people will do such research before hitting the supermarket or department store.
Shopping is not the only activity where those who care about sustainability operate with little information to go on. Where do we live and in what kind of building? Where do we work and in what type of facility? And how do we get around from place to place? Real-estate agents rarely open with the proven energy performance of a home before they show off the granite counter tops, and certainly do not go into whether they are or are not better for the environment than concrete, butcher block or soapstone.
The European Union has developed a metric for public buildings that they hope to expand to all commercial buildings in the next few years, called EP Label. It calculates and labels a structure's energy performance and operating environmental impact, and is to be used throughout the EU under their Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. Imagine the impact that a comparable system could have on development in the United States if it covered all buildings and transportation energy demands in addition to energy performance. Acknowledging that two subsequent home owners can have very different travel patterns, a home's distance from daily amenities and job centers coupled with available transportation options are good predictors of the amount of energy a household will spend on transportation in a given year.
As the dynamics of household budgets adjust to the possibly volatile and increasing energy costs of this century, there will be growing demand for information at the time of purchase or lease agreement regarding the projected energy demands related to locational decisions. Individual buildings, neighborhoods, towns and regions can be rated on their long-term energy demand, injecting into the marketplace the information so necessary for decision-making by those interested in fiscal solvency and environmental protection. Maybe then the tool will exist for me to pick the cooking spoon with the smallest carbon footprint.
@RegionalPlan