Urban Sprawl and Sustainability in So Cal

KPCC/NPR has just run a 3 part series on sustainability and Los Angeles. In part 1, about smart growth for LA, Abdres Duany, a Miami based urban planner is interviewed:

"Southern California is a laboratory for everything that can go wrong in urban design, says Andres Duany. Also: he likes that. "You can find probably California has pioneered suburban sprawl and every aspect of it," he says. "But at the same time California has all the best examples of things as well. There are wonderful downtowns. Wonderful urban agricultural areas. And I think California is probably a good example of as good as things can get and as bad as things can get."

Part 2 address issues of mega cities, those with over 10 million population (wow! - I don;t think the entire country of Austrailia has that many people) and brings up the point that "people can’t make sustainable homes unless they think about problems across an entire region. But he adds that it’s impossible to improve the environment on a mega-city scale without starting in just one house."

In part 3 of the series, Architect Michael Maltzan, a sustainable architect, is interviewed. There are some neat things happenning in LA including sustainable housing for the homeless. As an EcoBrokerTM, I often write about residential sustainable housing as it relates to your home and maybe to those in your neighborhood. This feature story brings out a good point about your home in relation to the overall urban design:

"Passive heating and cooling, reduced energy consumption, and filtered
indoor air are common in Maltzan's work. But he says that sustainability is
bigger and more complicated than ultra-efficient internal systems and
eco-friendly building materials. For example, architects and urban designers
will have to commit to the efficient use of public space - and the zealous
protection of privacy - to help cities thrive. 'As our lives become more
interconnected I think one of the complexities of the contemporary life is
increasingly that blurry line between public and private and what that
means.' In a city like Los Angeles, Maltzan says, where public plazas are in
short supply, the blurry line is often the street and the sidewalk
themselves."

So, as we head to urbanization throughout the country including Southern California, we do need to think about our little piece of heaven in it's surroundings.

Read more about it at: http://www.scpr.org/news/2009/12/30/sustainable-home-3/

Fallen Fruit vs Forbidden Fruit

I just found this on NAR's website:
Groups are popping up that promote the gleaning of fruit from neglected or overlooked urban fruit trees. One such group is Fallen Fruit in Los Angeles, which offers online maps showing the locations of publicly accessible fruit trees. Fallen Fruit urges others to post maps of their neighborhoods to the website.
The organization is also encouraging homeowners to throw “Public Fruit Jams,” essentially canning parties to share the taste, savings, and sweaty work inherent in preserving peaches, plums, blackberries, apricots, and other fruits. Fruit gathered from public spots like parks is free, and enough canning supplies to get you started will run about $60.
Let's go pickin!

Will Energy Audits be Mandatory?

The National Association of Realtor's website reports: To help advance an economically prosperous and environmentally sustainable future, NAR is committed to supporting all commercially reasonable strategies with voluntary, performance-based incentives to reduce greenhouse gases and use energy more efficiently. Market-based, cost effective solutions energize the nation’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive innovation in cutting emissions and growing domestic supplies of carbon-based and renewable forms of energy. http://www.realtor.org/government_affairs/gapublic/american_clean_energy_security_act?lid=ronav0019

The recent Climate Bill passed by the Congress original called for mandatory energy audits for any property involved in a sales transaction. It does leave the decision up to the states, however, wanna guess what California will do? After all we are the land of "fruits and nuts"
The National Association of Realtors wants to assure it is a voluntary decision weather or not to have an energy audit as part of a sales transaction (like a termite inspection is now.) An energy audit would add $300-500 to the expenses of purchasing or selling a home (depending on who ends up having to pay for it.)

I say if you can, get the audit, the few hundred dollars will save you thousands over your typical home ownership total time period. I do also agree that it should not be mandatory. I believe it will end up that way, as consumers will insist on it, like termite inspections.

A great thing about the bill is that there are a lot of "significant financial incentive, matching grants and tools to make property improvements and reduce their energy bill." For more information on this bill, go to: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2454/show

Even though NAR does not want to make it mandatory, they voluntarily built their office building in Washington DC. It's the first privately-owned commercial building in the nation’s capitol to be LEED Silver certified. And, NAR's Smart Growth program provides grants and technical assistance for sustainable, environmentally-sound development initiatives in communities nationwide. Way to go NAR!