From: Rafal Smigrodzki (rms2g@virginia.edu)
Date: Sun Feb 09 2003 - 10:34:41 MST
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gary Miller" <garymiller@starband.net>
To: <extropians@extropy.org>
Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2003 10:06 AM
Subject: Minimizing energy consumption as a planned community
> I saw an interesting company in Northern Ohio, can't remember the name
> right now, but at the same time they built their new manufacturing
> facility in a highly rural area, they built a housing development and
> apartment complex within eyesight of the plant and opened the housing
> only to company employees.
>
> Can you imagine how much commute time and energy cost is being saved by
> the people walking, biking, or hopping on the Van shuttle to get to
> work?
>
> If they installed an underground tunnel between the apartment complex
> and the plant you wouldn't even need to step outside on a snowy day.
>
> Has there been any studies on planned communities like this and the
> return on investment?
>
> I commuted 1 1/4 hrs each way to work for 4 yrs. And had at least 5 very
> close calls on the highway.
> I wasted $100/month on gasoline $360/month auto wear and tear. The
> above company was very forward thinking. The government should initiate
> some type of tax incentive for companies who do this type of thing!
>
### Good ideas need no incentives - they are incentives on their own. Ideas
which need incentives at gunpoint, aren't good, usually.
(sorry, it's my reflex reaction)
I think you are right that the idea is cool, except there are a lot of
people who prefer to commute, rather than cope with a house which is not
exactly to their liking - and a planned community cannot anticipate all
personal tastes. If tax incentives artificially lower the price of such
communities, persons who want a house of their own design are being
penalized, by having to pay taxes which benefit somebody else.
The general outcome of tax incentives is a lower standard of living for
everybody.
Rafal
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