Greener Housing

There are all sorts of green products, and green information, and what I've read referred to as "greenwash"--that is, the misrepresentation of something as environmentally friendly. When it comes to housing, the information is so complex many of us who would like to live green simply give up. This is partly due to the difficulty of 'scoring' homes. Homes aren't mass produced, so there isn't some metric you can look at, like auto emissions or gas mileage, to compare one home's green-ness to another.

But what about the green-ness of a home's location? Generally speaking, living in the city is a greener option than living in the suburbs or, god forbid, the exurbs (or Peoria, where I grew up). That's partly because cities are chock full of amenities around every corner, minimizing the need to drive, or drive as far, for anything.

Walkscore.com assigns a walkability score, from 1 to 100, for any US address. That is, how likely are you to be able to walk to the things you need (for me, that is the drugstore, the grocery store, and an ice cream shop in August). Living where you can walk lots of places, is of course greener than living someplace where you have to drive everywhere.

If you're curious about the your neighborhood's walk score, check out walkscore.com. And if you're interested in how walkscore.com does it, check out this article. I know, it's another New York Times article. It's my Wikipedia, but written by professionals!