Energy consumption and smart growth in Massachusetts : does smart growth make a difference?

With the environmental crisis involving climate change fast approaching, all potential mitigation techniques must be explored and implemented. A key approach comes from the power towns and cities have to influence land use and building standards in their jurisdiction. This thesis uses a scenario planning approach to explore the energy implications of four potential futures for the town of Littleton, MA. Four scenario storylines (Business as Usual (BAU), Baby Steps (high residential density, no mixing), Mixed Use Village (higher residential density, mixed uses), and Thoroughly Green (similar to Mixed Use Village with added green building requirements)) were used to frame the potential outcomes. Typical development typologies from nearby Massachusetts towns served as proxies for the scenarios. Using an elasticity method based on the density, diversity and design of the typologies, the reduction in Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) for each alternative scenario as compared to the BAU scenario was calculated and used to determine the reduction in gasoline usage and CO2 emissions. Local and regional average electricity and heating values were used to calculate the home energy consumption for each scenario.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Van Tassel, Katherine

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Michael Flaxman.

• Urban Studies and Planning.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40100

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40100