In King County, which includes the city of Seattle, nearly 90 percent of new housing units are now springing up in urban rather than rural areas. Seattle's emphasis on limiting sprawl grew in part from the 1990 Washington State Growth Management Act that required fast-growing areas to create comprehensive, coordinated plans for future development. To check its 1980s suburban sprawl, the county drew a boundary between Seattle and rural lands to the east. Beyond it, the county prohibited single-dwelling lots smaller than five acres and denied new water and sewer services. Meanwhile, to attract the displaced growth, Seattle began promoting dozens of urban villages.
Most people believe the alternative to cars is better transit - in truth, it's better neighborhoods.
The companies and the federal agencies then split the audited savings from the improvements. The DOE is awarding contracts region by region. It announced the first round of contracts last May and expects to complete the contracting by the end of this year. Compensation formulas reward managers who trim wastes, measure progress, and provide ecological training to staff. Interface's sustainability programs aim toward zero waste, benign emissions, reliance on renewable energy supplies, closing the product loop, using resource efficient transportation, raising people's ecological sensitivity, and redesigning commerce.