--- 1. INTRODUCTION --- 2. MAP OF GROWTH --- 3. WATER SUPPLIES ---
--- 4. WASTEWATER --- 5. TRANSPORTATION --- 6. GLOBAL WARMING --- 7. HOUSING ---
--- 8. ECONOMY --- 9. OPEN SPACE --- 10. MIX LAND USE --- 11. TOD --- 12. PEDESTRIAN ---

6-1. INTRODUCTION
Reducing fossil based energy use and thereby tempering global warming is an unavoidable challenge. It is being addressed by numerous public and private sector entities including Connecticut's municipalities.

This section of the Regional Plan recommends anti-global warming actions for the municipal sector that is the primary audience for this document: local planning and zoning commissions.

Other bodies within municipal government also play key roles in fighting global warming.The municipal climate change task force comes to mind. But advice on such townwide strategies is available elsewhere. This Plan's contribution is to focus on the subarea of planning and zoning policies.

Virtually all climate experts now agree that the burning of fossil fuels to generate electricity and power vehicles has led to increased atmospheric levels of heat trapping gases, primarily carbon dioxide, that induce global warming.

In overview, the United States represents only 5 percent of the world’s population but consumes about 35 percent of its energy. Not surprisingly, our country also generates about 24 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.

In addition, the United States has the highest per capita carbon dioxide emissions in the world. No wonder the term "reducing your carbon footprint" has entered popular usage.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency the USA's industrial sector uses 39 percent of total energy, followed by the transportation sector at 27 percent. The residential sector uses 19 percent, and the commercial sector at 15 percent, for a total of 100 percent.

As the land use mix of the Housatonic Valley Region is somewhat of a microcosm of the USA as a whole, in that it has urban, suburban and rural areas with significant industry, housing and an interstate roadway, the national percentages above for total energy use can serve as estimates for energy expenditure by sector in our area.

The United States also uses more energy per capita for transportation than citizens of any other industrialized country. Connecticut’s Housatonic Valley Region, with its relatively prosperous households and minimal public transit, is certainly a prime contributor to that sobering statistic.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists “the characteristic climate of the Northeast has begun to change dramatically. Between 1970 and 2000 alone, summer temperatures rose about one degree Fahrenheit and winter temperatures rose nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit. Spring is arriving sooner, summers are growing hotter, and winters are becoming warmer and less snowy.”

Again according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, carbon dioxide concentrations have risen to their highest levels in more than 650,000 years. The This group predicts that in a higher-emission scenario, as shown below, far less of the Northeast will experience a typical snow season toward the end of the century:

The red line in the map shows the area of the Northeast that historically
had at least a dusting of snow on the ground for at least 30 days
in the average year. The white area shows the projected
retreat of this snow cover by the 21st century’s end.

Although the task of reducing fossil fuel emissions is daunting, the nation achieved a similarly rapid energy transformation a century ago as it shifted from steam power, gaslights and horse carriages to electricity and gasoline engines over a few short decades. So energy source retooling can be done.

Given the century long lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the longer each town waits to take action, the larger and more concentrated in time our emissions reductions will need to be to limit the severity of climate damage. Local planning and zoning commissions can help.

Presented below are some conceptual measures that land use commissions should consider in developing a targeted planning program that addresses climate change and control of global greenhouse gas emissions.

6-2. REGULATIONS AND PLANNING
FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION
6-2:1. AMEND THE PLAN OF CONSERVATION AND DEVELOPMENT. Municipalities should amend their plan of conservation and development to add a policy statement on climate change. Sample language for a broad statement of local commitment could be:

The town of Danfield recognizes that the future of conservation and development in our municipality can make a difference in combating global warming. Therefore, the town of Danfield commits to guide future growth in a manner that will reduce greenhouse gases from residential, commercial, industrial and institutional land uses.

6-2:2. ENCOURAGE LEED BUILDING STANDARDS (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). Again according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, “cities and towns can use zoning laws to encourage energy efficient and ‘green’ development.

Zoning laws can require or offer incentives to building owners and developers to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification and/or the EPA’s Energy Star standards."

First home in New York State to receive a LEED-H
designation at the gold level from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The first step is to develop site energy performance standards. Various web sites and documents can be used to obtain checklists of features that will minimize the carbon footprints of new developments.

However, the LEED standards by the U.S. Green Buildings Council are the most internationally accepted source for the design and construction of sustainable “green” buildings. These should be used as the primary reference in new municipal regulations.

The City of Boston’s recently adopted zoning regulation that mandates new developments greater than 50,000 square feet achieve the LEED certification is a good example.

6-2:3. ENCOURAGE LEED NEIGHBORHOOD STANDARDS. Neighborhood design standards, patterned after the LEED system, are also being developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

These new standards will be used to certify “smart” developments - similar to the way in which LEED certification is currently available for individual buildings. As of 2008 there are two projects in nearby Stamford, CT that have applied for pilot LEED neighborhood development certification.

A leading candidate in our Region is the redevelopment of part of the Georgetown neighborhood in Redding by the Georgetown Land Development Company.

Site design strategies encourage new development to take better advantage of solar orientation, wind direction, topography, established vegetation, and other factors that can lower energy usage.

Municipal code and ordinance revisions that take into account energy efficiency standards will become increasingly important to communities and should be developed now.

6-2:4. ENCOURAGE SOLAR POWER AND OTHER ALTERNATIVES. Solar photovoltaic installations, which convert sunlight directly into electricity, are the fastest growing energy technology in the world.

While still expensive relative to other generation technologies, including other renewable energy technology, costs continue to decline.

Importantly, solar power is abundant during Connecticut’s peak electricity demand period, which is driven by air conditioning on hot and sunny summer days.

Use of solar power on buildings also eliminates the cost of transmission and distribution, an important additional factor in assessing cost effectiveness.

Further dimensions for consideration in building design in the planning process include use of wind turbine energy, biofuels, geothermal energy, electrical cogeneration and fuel cells.

Wind turbines are usually installed on top of a residential structure. They collect kinetic energy from the wind and convert it into electricity. Such turbines are considered similar to mechanical units and must meet required setback, coverage and height regulations, and are tied to a zoning permit. See the map of Connecticut wind power potential.

As for home building practices, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists:

The construction of homes that generate energy from renewable sources, and on an annual net basis produce as much energy as they draw from the grid, known as Zero Net Energy Homes, is now feasible in the Northeast....

Though the task is challenging in a region with significant home heating requirements, highly efficient designs that incorporate ground source heat pumps and solar photovoltaic systems can require only one-fifth the energy of homes built to meet existing codes....

.... Owners of such homes can also purchase whatever supplemental energy they require from their utility in the form of zero-emissions electricity generated from renewable resources rather than fossil fuels.

See also the Northwest CT Conservation District's ConnVERT Program.

6-2:5. BROADEN PERMISSION FOR HOME OCCUPATIONS. To incorporate growing transportation related energy concerns, we may need to modify some municipal plans of conservation and development from their focus on exclusive employment districts to a somewhat broader geographic dispersal of small scale employment. More "home occupations" can reduce commuting and save energy.

Efficient work at home arrangement in Greater Danbury

Percentage of workforce
working at home in 2000:
2.8% Danbury
2.8% Bethel
3.1% CT
3.3% USA
3.3% New Milford

4.4% Brookfield
5.5% Newtown
5.5% Sherman
5.6% New Fairfield

8.1% Ridgefield
8.5% Bridgewater
11.8% Redding

This Regional Plan advises increasing the above percentages by encouraging more home occupations. While telecommuting with the Internet is increasing, even more work at home will contribute to reducing the energy price of some town’s more remote geography.

Pundits predict a future where new single family homes will increasingly have the needed extra room critical for work at home, with the advantages of flexible hours and less commute time. This can also be a significant plus for suburban child rearing.

6-2:6. REVISE WATER SUPPLY PLANNING PROJECTIONS. As noted in fuller detail in the water supply chapter, municipalities in the Housatonic Valley should now plan for the fact that upcoming global warming may reduce the expected safe yield of surface reservoir and groundwater aquifer water supplies.

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists water supply engineers throughout New England need to evaluate the adequacy of their surface water supplies and storage facilities in light of the projected increase in droughts due to global warming.

Near empty water supply reservoir

6-2:7. REQUIRE A CARBON FOOTPRINT ANALYSIS. To develop a site performance standard for this variable, applicants could be required to provide an estimate of the greenhouse gas emission estimate for various site plan configurations as part of an alternatives analysis.

Alternative analyses are already employed to evaluate different options for developing a property. The carbon footprint analysis has been recently mandated in Massachusetts through state EPA regulations.

6-2:8. PROMOTE ON SITE FORESTATION. As part of this technique site plans could require a certain percentage of forest cover or other vegetative buffers that would be deed restricted.

Forestation plans would be evaluated to determine the optimal carbon reduction potential for alternative development layouts, due to avoidance of lawn maintenance and additional shading.

6-2:9. BETTER CONTROL ON OUTDOOR LIGHTING. Communities can gain significant energy savings through more efficient outdoor lighting. One key feature is the requirement that new municipal street lighting use cutoff fixtures, preventing light from being emitted above the 90 degree plane.

Shining shielded light straight down onto the target that needs lighting can often reduce the wattage of lamp by 30 to 40 percent.

Avoid energy waste by concentrating light.

6-2:10. MIX SOME LAND USES. The book “Energy Planning and Urban Form” by geographer Susan Owens found that the single most important factor affecting the relationship of urban form and energy requirements for transportation is the physical separation of activities. This is determined by both density and the degree to which mixing of land uses is permitted.

In other words the density allowed by local land use regulations, coupled with the degree to which the intermixing of selected land uses is permitted, are prime determinants of how much energy their community uses.

Thus this Plan's energy conservation policy is closely linked to the Plan's policy to promote more mixing of land uses.

6-2:11. LINK SPRAWL AND HOUSING POLICY. The municipal land use configuration endorsed by the town or city plan and reflected in zoning has a big impact on transportation patterns and resulting energy use. According to a discussion of planning in Connecticut’s 2005 Climate Change Action Plan:

Residential and commercial development in suburban and exurban areas increases total vehicle miles of travel as distances between homes and jobs increase.

Low density development cannot support public transportation, so single occupancy vehicles are often the only practical travel option. This scattering of development in growing areas is often called “sprawl."

The Connecticut Action Plan indirectly documents the existence of sprawl with the evidence that, “since 1970 Connecticut’s population has increased by a modest 12 percent, but vehicle miles to travel has increased by 78 percent. The National Governors Association reports that nationwide, the increase in vehicle miles of travel is attributable to more miles driven by existing drivers, rather than to new drivers.”

Another indicator of sprawl is available from an analysis of Census Bureau journey to work commuter patterns, where the destination of morning commuters from Housatonic Valley towns changing thru time is well documented:

Taking the City of Danbury as an example, employers in the City in 1970 could expect 68% of their workers to reside right within Danbury itself. Business was fortunate to have its labor supply so close by. But by 2000, only 43% of employees resided within Danbury City limits.

The same dispersal of the labor pool holds for Danbury’s suburbs. Many persons working in Brookfield also lived there, 45% in 1970. But this nice near proximity for commuting dwindled down to 24% by 2000.

For the same thirty year period, the rate in Newtown went from 53% down to 35%, and in Ridgefield from 59% to 28%. New Milford, second only to Danbury as a regional center, fell from 69% to 54% of local residents commuting to local jobs.

Clearly, manufacturers and businesses can count less and less on their newly recruited employees finding homes in the same community as their new job.

This is not surprising, in that local property tax laws seek to pull businesses inside the town boundary and push new housing for those businesses' employees across the municipal boundary.

This two sided phenomenon fuels a “sprawl” development pattern, the result of which is to increase distance and energy use between jobs and dwellings.

6-2:12. FAVOR CENTRAL AREAS FOR GROWTH. A growing world energy crisis would make it less likely to see growth in the Housatonic Valley Region’s many relatively remote and low density areas.

But the Region’s central locations would have an additional advantage in attracting growth in an energy scare future. These favored central locations are clearly identified on this Plan's Future Growth Map.

6-2:13. BUS AND RAIL TRANSIT. Make available alternatives to the automobile that allow travel with less energy use per person. Expand the Region's HART bus and Metro North passenger rail systems.

6-2:14. EXPRESSWAY TOLLS. It is possible that the addition of tolls to I-84 might reduce energy usage? The 2005 CT Climate Change Action Plan reported in the affirmative:

A recent Connecticut report, SWRPA’s 2002 Vision 2020 Plan, completed an analysis of travel demand mode shifts that would result from a value pricing toll of $0.20 per mile in the southwest Connecticut corridor.

Conn DOT’s travel demand model predicted that this pricing measure alone would create a 6 percent reduction in drive alone trips, an increase in new rail trips of 72 percent, and an increase in bus use of 25 percent.

These results are consistent with the results of the 1994 COMSIS Transportation Control Measures study, which indicated that a highway value toll of $0.10 per mile was expected to reduce vehicle miles of travel by 3.5%.

We need to determine if such a relationship would be true for the upcoming I-84 widening thru Newtown, Bethel and Danbury and if energy savings would outweigh the obvious public pressure against instituting a toll.

6-2:15. CT CLIMATE CHANGE IDEA EXCHANGE. Other climate change action plan ideas, beyond those for municipal planning and zoning, are available at the CT Climate Change site.

6-3. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CURBING GLOBAL WARMING
GOAL: Update town plans and land use regulations to curb energy use and moderate global warming.

1. Consider the strategies recommended above.

2. The Housatonic Valley Region leads Connecticut in the production of “green” hydropower. It is also a leader in fuel cell technology. The Region can build upon this distinction to become a leader in other alternative energy strategies.

--- 1. INTRODUCTION --- 2. MAP OF GROWTH --- 3. WATER SUPPLIES ---
--- 4. WASTEWATER --- 5. TRANSPORTATION --- 6. GLOBAL WARMING --- 7. HOUSING ---
--- 8. ECONOMY --- 9. OPEN SPACE --- 10. MIX LAND USE --- 11. TOD --- 12. PEDESTRIAN ---