Fresh Loaf

Gather ’round, Atlanta, Marietta, Sandy Springs — according to the Brookings Institution, your carbon footprint is shrinking. Everybody gets a gold star.

The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has released a study of the carbon footprint from transportation and residential energy uses of 100 metropolitan areas. The three-city survey conducted from 2000 to 2005 in our neck of the woods shows that our impact has decreased 4.75 percent while that of the average metropolitan areas and nation has increased 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent during this time, respectively. In all the rankings, the three cities hovered in the middle.

Hard to believe, eh? I know what you mean. That could be chalked up to the fact that the areas are more-or-less near one another, that a lot of other metro Atlantans travel from as far off as Gwinnett and Hall County to work in the city core, etc. The output surely hasn’t reduced because of public transit. With how sprawling metro Atlanta is, the three cities selected may not be suitable samples.

The study also doesn’t take into account our food supply, which according to a consultant with Mayor Shirley Franklin’s Sustainable Atlanta initiative, makes for up to a quarter of our carbon footprint that’s often overlooked.

What are the solutions? Researchers say:

Federal policy could play a powerful role in helping metropolitan areas—and so the nation—shrink their carbon footprint further. In addition to economy-wide policies to motivate action, five targeted policies are particularly important within metro areas and for the nation as a whole:

• Promote more transportation choices to expand transit and compact development options
• Introduce more energy-efficient freight operations with regional freight planning
• Require home energy cost disclosure when selling and “on-bill” financing to stimulate and scale up energy-efficient retrofitting of residential housing
• Use federal housing policy to create incentives for energy- and location-efficient decisions
• Issue a metropolitan challenge to develop innovative solutions that integrate multiple policy areas

Marilyn Brown of Georgia Tech, considered one of the leading researchers in energy policy, co-authored the study. After the jump, feast upon the numbers. To view the full study, click here.

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Speaking of passports  …

Miami Dolphins linebacker Channing Crowder apparently told a reporter he thought he might need a translator while he’s in London for Sunday’s game against the Giants in Wembley Stadium. He also confessed to being ignorant of geography.

I swear to God. I don’t know what nothing is. I know Italy looks like a boot. I learned that.

“I know (Washington Redskins linebacker) London Fletcher. We did a football camp together. So I know him. That’s the closest thing I know to London. He’s black, so I’m sure he’s not from London. I’m sure that’s a coincidental name.”

If he’s joking, the 2002 North Springs High School grad is a funny man.

If he’s not, then, well, remind me to not procreate in the Sandy Springs school district.

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Last night the Sandy Springs Board of Zoning Appeals rejected developer John Portman’s plan to build a 69-foot-tall, 27,500 square-foot palace on Northside Drive. Sandy Springs limits the maximum height of private homes to 40 feet.

Atlanta’s alternative daily is on top of this. Check out this telling passage from this morning’s great story by Cynthia Daniels.

After all, [Portman] said, he could have built a 40-foot-high home closer to the street — at the land’s highest point. Instead, he decided to hide the home in a ravine so that although its average height would be 69 feet, it would sit lower than a 40-foot-high home built on the ridge.

Or, he could have subdivided the 12-acre property for a five-home cul-de-sac.

Translation: Oh, lowly neighbors, you should be grateful to me for wanting to build this monstrosity. Think of all of the things I can build there that you’ll hate even more.

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John Portman wants a bigger house.

The 83-year-old architect and developer responsible for Peachtree Center, as well as most of the big buildings surrounding it, is asking Sandy Springs for a building variance so he can build a 70-foot-tall, 27,500-square-foot home at 5193 Northside Drive.

City ordinance caps the heights of single-family homes at 40 feet. Portman will be at Sandy Springs City Hall on Thursday at 7 p.m. where he will argue that rules made for single-family homes shouldn’t necessarily apply to palaces.

No word yet on whether Portman’s new home will be connected to nearby buildings via elevated, see-through walkways.

(Note: If you’re wondering what the title of this post means, you should click here and then here.

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