WCEL > Issues > Urban Growth and Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part 1 > Integrated Planning > Community Energy Planning > Energy Aware Planning Guide

Smart Bylaws Guide – Community Energy Planning – Energy Aware Planning Guide

www.energy.ca.gov/reports/energy_aware_guide.html

Produced by the California Energy Commission, this Guide explores the connection between land use patterns, automobile dependence, energy consumption and air pollution.  It contains a wealth of information for understanding many of the complex linkages between energy, land use planning, air quality, transportation and economics.

“The Guide is a well-thought-out energy plan that can improve the economic and environmental impact of nearly all local government decisions. The guide is designed to create awareness of the full effect that decisions have on how energy is used, generated or imported by a community, both now and in the future. Energy consumption is used as a yardstick of economic and environmental quality and can contribute to a communities' long-term sustainability.”

The Guide includes:

• A methodology for assessing the scope and extent of energy issues including efficiency potential, where energy and money can be saved, local renewable energy development potential, where to go to find information specific to a particular jurisdiction and the methodology to help users organize the information for decision-making;
• A catalogue of over 270 energy-conserving implementation ideas from 41 subject areas. Each idea is supported by model general plan language, discussions of economic and environmental costs and benefits, and examples of successful local government programs.
• Graphics, drawings and photographs, calculation methods, research data, and design and policy suggestions to help jurisdictions incorporate specific ideas into community plans and programs.
• Background sections describing requirements of Federal and California Clean Air Acts, Congestion Management Programs, California Building Energy Efficiency Standards, The Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 and other legislation.
• Appendices of basic air quality impact information, contacts for developing transportation programs, and the Ahwahnee Principles for planning more liveable communities.