Land Use Primer:
How Does Land Use/Land Cover Affect Global Climate?
Every new building constructed consumes energy both in its construction and use. Single family homes use more energy per person than multifamily homes. Larger homes use more energy than smaller homes. The farther new homes are from existing population centers, from work and shopping, the greater the additional energy use in transportation per home and per person. Because of the strong links between energy use, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change, rates of new construction are strongly related to rates of climate change, especially when this new construction is relatively distant from existing population centers.
Moreover, the consequences of new construction for climate change go beyond their effects on Green House Gases (GHG) emission rates. Areas under forest, wetland, even agricultural fields serve as Carbon ‘sinks’. That is, they absorb and retain Carbon from the atmosphere. New construction then not only increases rates of GHG emission, it reduces the amount of Carbon that is stored in areas with vegetative cover. There are differences in carbon storage of ‘undeveloped’ areas: forests store more carbon than farmland; different forest-types store different amounts of carbon; farming practices with minimal tillage and/or which include trees or perennials store more carbon than those with complete tillage and only annual row crops.
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