BPA Open Community

Having driven across the United States five times since October, 2020, I'm absolutely appalled by the degree of sprawl that defines the American landscape. Auto-dependent suburbs, monocultural cheap houses, vinyl clad duplexes, big box stores, chain restaurants, etc. Has anyone done any kind of measurement of sprawl? Carbon footprint analyses? Environmental impact? Resource depletion?

It's all fine and good that places like Denver, CO have some LEED certified buildings, but what about the the 99% of all new construction that's anything but green? 

Developing some kind of basic "sprawl environmental impact tool" would be most helpful.

------------------------------
Dan Antonioli
Owner
Going Green
ITHACA NY
510-499-2342
------------------------------

Interesting topic, Dan. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD - put out this report on urban sprawl: Rethinking Urban Sprawl: Moving Towards Sustainable Cities.

It's important to address this as more and more people move to cities. Their report says by 2050, 70% will live in cities.

------------------------------
Diane Chojnowski
BPA Connections Community Manager
Building Performance Association
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-11-2022 07:08
From: Dan Antonioli
Subject: Metrics For American Sprawl

Having driven across the United States five times since October, 2020, I'm absolutely appalled by the degree of sprawl that defines the American landscape. Auto-dependent suburbs, monocultural cheap houses, vinyl clad duplexes, big box stores, chain restaurants, etc. Has anyone done any kind of measurement of sprawl? Carbon footprint analyses? Environmental impact? Resource depletion?

It's all fine and good that places like Denver, CO have some LEED certified buildings, but what about the the 99% of all new construction that's anything but green? 

Developing some kind of basic "sprawl environmental impact tool" would be most helpful.

------------------------------
Dan Antonioli
Owner
Going Green
ITHACA NY
510-499-2342
------------------------------

Excellent article. I'm going to print a hard copy and read through it carefully. 

At this juncture of my green building career, and my trips across the country, I've concluded that unless we get rampant growth, sprawl, and monoculture under control our work in sustainability isn't going to do much.

------------------------------
Dan Antonioli
Owner
Going Green
ITHACA NY
510-499-2342
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: 05-11-2022 11:11
From: Diane Chojnowski
Subject: Metrics For American Sprawl

Interesting topic, Dan. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD - put out this report on urban sprawl: Rethinking Urban Sprawl: Moving Towards Sustainable Cities.

It's important to address this as more and more people move to cities. Their report says by 2050 70% will live in cities.

------------------------------
Diane Chojnowski
BPA Connections Community Manager
Building Performance Association

Original Message:
Sent: 05-11-2022 07:08
From: Dan Antonioli
Subject: Metrics For American Sprawl

Having driven across the United States five times since October, 2020, I'm absolutely appalled by the degree of sprawl that defines the American landscape. Auto-dependent suburbs, monocultural cheap houses, vinyl clad duplexes, big box stores, chain restaurants, etc. Has anyone done any kind of measurement of sprawl? Carbon footprint analyses? Environmental impact? Resource depletion?

It's all fine and good that places like Denver, CO have some LEED certified buildings, but what about the the 99% of all new construction that's anything but green? 

Developing some kind of basic "sprawl environmental impact tool" would be most helpful.

------------------------------
Dan Antonioli
Owner
Going Green
ITHACA NY
510-499-2342
------------------------------