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How are eco-towns 'green'?

Everyday actions, like heating your home and driving your car, consume energy and produce emissions - such as carbon dioxide - which contribute to climate change. There are a number of standards that eco-towns will follow to lower carbon emissions.

Green standards

Eco-towns should:

• use low and zero-carbon energy sources to reduce carbon emissions, so that the overall carbon emissions across all the buildings in the eco-town over the course of a year are zero, or less than zero
• use building materials and designs for homes and buildings that need less energy to maintain
• have 40 per cent of the town allocated as green space - at least half of which will be open to the public
• ensure that a minimum of one job per household will be available which can be reached using public transport, by bicycle or on foot

Greener transport and travel

Eco-towns should be designed so that residents do not have to rely on car travel to get around:

• each eco-town will have shops, businesses and community facilities within walking distance - or just a short public transport ride away
• there will be a variety of transport and travel options to promote alternatives to car journeys where possible
• homes should be no more than ten minutes' walk away from good public transport and neighbourhood services, and no more than 800 metres away from primary schools

Using low-carbon energy sources

Eco-towns will use a range of low and zero-carbon energy sources which reduce carbon dioxide emissions from energy use by producing energy from:

• natural sources within the town, such as wind and solar energy
• combined heat and power plants which use energy which could otherwise be wasted

As well as lowering energy consumption, eco-towns should also use measures to:

• minimise water use
• reduce waste

The effect of all these measures means that the total carbon emissions produced from homes, and public and commercial buildings (such as hospitals and shops) across an eco-town over the course of a year should be zero, or less than zero. This will make them more environmentally friendly and cheaper to run.

More useful links

• Home ownership schemes (home and community section)

• Climate change: a brief history (environment and greener living section)

• Greener living: a quick guide to what you can do (environment and greener living section)

• Sustainable development (environment and greener living section)