ENERGY-SENSITIVE LAND USE PLANNING: ADAPTING TRADITIONAL MUNICIPAL LAND USE POLICY TOOLS TO ACHIEVE ENERGY CONSERVATION IN AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITIE

This dissertation examines current applications and future prospects for using traditional municipal land use policy tools to conserve energy in American residential communities. Specific research goals included documentation of the energy-conserving potentials of traditional policy tools; investigation into patterns of municipal adoption of energy-sensitive land development policies (and the identification of factors that support and impede such adoption); assessment of the impacts of these "energy-policies" on subsequent residential development; and speculation as to likely results of curtailing the federal role in energy-sensitive land use regulation.;The study examined local governmental activities in the more than 350 communities that responded to an "Energy/Land Use Survey" questionnaire mailed to local officials in the New York and Seattle/Tacoma metropolitan regions. Evaluation of the survey data included the development of several potentially-useful methodological tools: scaled estimating indexes of municipal energy awareness, local "energy-policies" adoption, and energy-conserving characteristics of new residential development. Respondent communities were stratified according to a number of "community characteristics" in an effort to discern patterns of involvement with energy-sensitive land use planning.;The research yielded the following findings: first, that general concern for energy conservation by local government officials is limited; second, that formal adoption of energy-sensitive land use policies has occurred primarily at a very small--building design--scale (larger-than-building scale policies are still uncommon); third, that local adoption of "energy-policies" does positively influence energy characteristics of new housing; and fourth, that administrative functions are more strongly related to municipal energy conservation efforts than are other community characteristics.;A major conclusion of the research is that the funding and leadership roles of the federal government (often supported by effective state-level administration) have been extremely influential in stimulating energy-sensitive land use policies in American communities. Consequently, current efforts to transfer "energy policy" initiatives to local governments seem likely to result in a marked slowdown in municipal adoption of energy-sensitive land use policies, and a resultant significant negative impact on aggregate national energy conservation.