Which is Greener? EV or Walkable Location?
In 2022 there is an explosion of electric vehicle (EV) options coming out from the major car manufacturers. GM’s forthcoming electric Silverado pickup truck or their Cadillac Lyriq sedan or Ford’s electric Mustang Mach-E crossover or F-150 Lightning pickup truck or Subaru’s Solterra or Kia’s EV6, or … you get the idea.
So what is better for saving the planet? It’s crystal clear that we are at the tipping point on climate change, with wildfires and flood events and catastrophic tornadoes all on the rise and occurring in more months than ever before.
How does driving an EV compare to living in a walkable location? It turns out, it’s not even close.
Energy Impact of Different House Locations
“The most green home (with Prius) in sprawl still loses out to the least green home in a walkable neighborhood.”
The EPA published a study comparing the total energy use of several types of households, comparing suburban versus walkable locations, efficient versus conventional house construction, regular gas-powered car versus green cars, etc.
It turns out that just by having a house in a walkable location versus a suburban location saves almost 40% of a household’s energy use. What makes up the difference? It’s not using the car as often or for as long. It’s also not having a large lawn to mow or consumption patterns to fill a large suburban house.
If you look at two extremes, “The average New Yorker consumes roughly one-third the electricity of the average Dallas resident, and ultimately generates less than one-third the greenhouse gases of the average American,” says urban planner and author Jeff Speck in his book, Walkable City.
The good news is that we don’t all need to be Manhattan. The biggest gains come from switching from an exurban or suburban model to a pre-World War II density found in most cities in the United States.
“The most effective way to reduce energy consumption is to locate homes of all types in areas where households could replace some automobile use with transit use, leading to reductions of 39 to 50 percent in household energy use.”
