How Green is this Green Community?
‘2009 Solar Decathlon’
courtesy of ‘Dept of Energy Solar Decathlon’
Today the Washington Post tells the story of the revitalization of St. Charles in southern Maryland as a “green community”, with housing that features low-flow toilets, better insulation, and Energy Star certified appliances, among other things. Developers call this a test for the commercial viability of green homes in a generally conservative area.
While I’m all for more green features in new homes, this doesn’t sound like the most green way to revitalize a community. St. Charles is 22 miles from DC with no direct transit access to the city, so any new residents would be driving to jobs, schools, and shopping centers. A more green alternative would be to focus this new development where the infrastructure already exists, so that residents can live without cars.
Also, this is a revitalization effort that aims to start fresh with new housing in the area– 11,000 new homes on 4,000 undeveloped acres. Personally, I’d think that retrofitting existing homes with energy-efficient features, building more housing where housing already exists, and preserving that 4,000 acres of open space would be the way to go. But good for St. Charles in taking this first step towards greening the community.
Like
Comments
4 Responses to “How Green is this Green Community?”
November 30th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Well, this is “green” in comparison to the rest of the concrete expanse known as Waldorf. I was down this weekend and saw they put in yet another mall where five years ago there was forest.
November 30th, 2009 at 12:30 pm
But then you would run into the ludicrous opposition to gentrification, “mcmansions”, and historical preservation of buildings that weren’t built to last 50 years.
November 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by BuildYourPower: How Green is this Green Community?: By shannon, 10:32 am November 30th, 2009 Today the Washington Post tells the st… http://bit.ly/6r0JgK...
December 3rd, 2009 at 1:51 pm
This is a very intriguing idea… the WP’s article is quite vague in its generalizations about the “greening” of this community. It seems as if it were written by someone who has no concept of building/real estate or sustainable design. I’ll be interested to see the outcome for this community. It seems like all of the communal living areas which boast eco-friendly developments are sort of flailing around out there not getting the word that they deserve. Maybe this article will inspire interest?
Leave a Reply