Smart(ish) Cities
Fast facts about cities, climate change, and sustainability
- Less than 1: Percent of the earth’s surface covered by cities (1)
- 75: Percent of global energy consumed by cities (2)
- 80: Percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions contributed by cities (1)
- 6.7 billion: World population in 2007 (3)
- 50: Percent of world population expected to live in urban areas by the end of 2008 (3)
- 70: Percent of world population expected to live in urban areas by 2050 (3)
- 840: Mayors who have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (4)
- 50: States from which those signatories hail (4)
- 80 million: Citizens those signatories represent (4)
- 3: Actions those signatories agree to take (strive to meet or beat Kyoto goals in their communities; urge state and federal leaders to meet or beat Kyoto goals; urge Congress to pass bipartisan greenhouse-gas reduction legislation) (4)
- 110: Mayors who attended the November 2007 U.S. Conference of Mayors Climate Summit, the largest-ever meeting of U.S. mayors devoted solely to climate protection (5)
- 1,200: Tons of annual carbon emissions cut by replacing regular traffic-light bulbs with LEDs in Warwick, R.I. (6)
- 1,100: Tons of annual carbon emissions cut with free home energy retrofits in Houston, Texas (2)
- 30: Percent increase in public transportation use in the U.S. between 1995 and 2006 (7)
- 24: Percent increase in vehicle miles traveled in the U.S. during the same time (7)
- 88: Percent of all trips taken by car in the U.S. (8)
- 48: Percent of U.S. greenhouse gases contributed by the building sector, primarily through energy consumption (9)
- 50: Percent of the “built environment” expected to be rebuilt by 2030 (10)
- 1.7 billion: Estimated tons of carbon that could be saved by large-scale conversion to greener buildings in North America by 2030 (11)
- 418: Percent increase in number of cities with green building programs between 2003 and 2007 (12)
Sources:
(1) The Boston Globe, 14 May 2007
(2) Clinton Climate Initiative/C40 Cities
(3) KOMO TV, 01 Mar 2008
(4) Mayors Climate Protection Center
(5) The Seattle Times, 02 Nov 2007
(6) Sierra Club Cool Cities
(7) American Public Transportation Association
(8) The American Prospect, 14 Feb 2007
(9) American Institute of Architects, 10 Sept 2007
(10) BusinessWeek, 11 Feb 2008
(11) Science Daily, 18 Mar 2008
(12) American Institute of Architects, 28 Nov 2007
(2) Clinton Climate Initiative/C40 Cities
(3) KOMO TV, 01 Mar 2008
(4) Mayors Climate Protection Center
(5) The Seattle Times, 02 Nov 2007
(6) Sierra Club Cool Cities
(7) American Public Transportation Association
(8) The American Prospect, 14 Feb 2007
(9) American Institute of Architects, 10 Sept 2007
(10) BusinessWeek, 11 Feb 2008
(11) Science Daily, 18 Mar 2008
(12) American Institute of Architects, 28 Nov 2007
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