ENERGY AND THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Adrienne O’NeillFall 2008Energy Technology and Policy

Austin Population Growth

1940 1970 2008 20380

1,000,000

2,000,000

3,000,000

4,000,000

5,000,000

Austin Population Growth

Growth in Austin City LimitsGrowth in the Five County Area: Bastrop, Caldwell, Hays, Travis and Williamson

Source: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/demographics/

Austin Student Demographics•UT enrollment• 1960: 20,396• 1975: 42,589• 2008: 50,006

•2005 Campus Area Housing • UT campus: 7K• West Campus: 12K• North Campus:  5K• Total= 35K

•West Campus zoning• Many years of latent

demand

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/demographics/

Current West Campus development

http://austinzoning.typepad.com/austincontrarian/2008/01/west-campus.html

South area of West Campus

North area of West Campus

The US has a lot of land

http://www.radicalcartography.net/density-values.png

By 2050, US estimated population will be 420 million, (www.census.gov)

100 million more people must be added to urban areas

Density Issues Lower Urban Density (sprawl)

Imperative for car usage, higher daily vehicle miles traveled per capita

Decreased car gas mileage due to congestion Public transportation is inefficient Higher Infrastructure costs

Roads (asphalt) Water conveyance (pumping and materials)

Single Family homes have poor energy efficiency compared to multi-family Surface area, materials use , capital energy cost

Sprawl displaces farming, higher food transportation costs to the urban area

Road Transportation and Density

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1730

Density and Walking/Public Transportation

http://austinzoning.typepad.com/austincontrarian/2008/09/the-association-between-density-and-mode-of-commuting.html

Barcelona vs. Atlanta

Source: Bertaud

Examples

Development principles New Urbanism Smart Growth

Cities that have changed development patterns Curitiba Portland

Questions?

References

Austin Contrarian (austinzoning.typepad.com/) City of Austin Demographer (

www.ci.austin.tx.us/demographics) WorldWatch Institute (www.worldwatch.org) Burchell, Robert. “The Costs of Sprawl-

Revisited” Alain Bertaud. “The Spatial Organization of

Cities: Deliberate Outcome or Unforeseen Consequence?”