What Will We Do About Levittown?

The drive toward developing sustainable housing within sustainable communities is gaining momentum.  Zero-energy home building challenges, such as the one in Massachusetts^[1] are making great strides in developing the materials and techniques for building truly energy efficient homes. Up to 40% of the energy used in the United States is attributed to heating, cooling and powering our buildings. The development of energy efficient housing is a welcomed effort that can serve home owners now and into the future.

There is a great deal of inertia represented by existing housing. With over 124 million households in the US, dominated by single family housing built at times when energy was cheap and environmental consequences deferred, the question now is; How do we make substantial progress toward energy independence, reducing environmental impacts, and developing sustainable communities without dealing with what is in front of us? In short, what will we do about Levittown?

Many suburban communities were designed and constructed in an era when energy efficiency was not a priority. During initial development, planning and code compliance effort provided some control and oversight, although energy efficiency wasn’t a priority for that effort either.  But what happens 20, 30, or 50 years down the road after this housing has been built? Most suburban planning agencies are focused on new or pending development and may not have the mandate, budget or capacity to take a retrospective look at older communities. Who then looks back to assess the status of existing housing as new priorities emerge over time?  The answer often is no one.  And yet we must.

Looking for Energy Efficiency

Levittown Pennsylvania is a case in point. Built in the 1950s, it includes 17,311 single family homes and like its sister community in New York was designed to be heated exclusively with oil. For the 50+ years of Levittown’s existence in Pennsylvania it’s consumed 500 million gallons of heating oil, 7.75 billion kilowatt hours of electricity and emitted over 21 billion pounds of CO₂ to the atmosphere. A recent private study of Levittown housing indicates that the potential exists to reduce energy and heating costs significantly (43% +) through remodeling that is focused on energy conservation. Individual achievements have exceeded 60% in overall energy reduction. The potential conservation benefits are as large as the scale of the built community.

Unlike the case when the original builder specified and controlled all aspects of the design and construction of each house, these homes are now privately held and each home owner will make the decision to upgrade their home to conserve energy based on their particular circumstances. When they do make that decision, they are faced with a blizzard of ads, claims of performance, and anecdotal accounts from neighbors, contractors and suppliers. Making effective choices about energy conservation measures for the average home owner requires a lot of work, a lot of luck or both. There is a better way.

Developers use common design elements to enable them to standardize processes and maximize construction efficiency. As a result, a large number of houses in a given development have common attributes. Programs that are focused on improving energy efficiency one house at a time will take many, many years to effect change across the large number of housing units that exist in the U.S. However, a program that focuses on the common design attributes of an entire developed community has the potential to effect change in a large number of units quickly. Developing solutions for the 6 house designs in Levittown, Pennsylvania offers the potential to affect 17,311 existing homes by putting the information in the hands of individual homeowners. The limited number of unique core house models makes it feasible to apply a focused building science approach as a fundamental basis for developing technical solutions for energy conservation. The scale up from 6 to 17,311 results in a potential multiplier of 2,885 which is a very cost effective means to get representative, science based energy conservation solutions to the people who need it.

“The Greenest Home Is The One That Already Exists”

Although we can do this, should we?  Levittown is an iconic example of suburban sprawl. Whenever the term sprawl is used in a development context, it is inevitable that a Levittown aerial photograph will be used to illustrate the point. Although great effort was made in the 1950’s to develop a community and not just a collection of houses, it does not fully exhibit our present day understanding of what a sustainable community requires. The reliance on automobiles to get to areas of commerce, culture, and recreation is a point often noted. However, when we consider sustainable principles it is important to note a key fact: Levittown is. And the often repeated adage that “The Greenest Home Is The One That Already Exists” is particularly relevant at this scale. The embodied energy represented in the vast quantity of west coast timber, concrete, piping and even the nails that were made on site represents an investment in resources that should be preserved.  The means are available to significantly reduce its operating energy for the future.  So the question remains, what will we do about Levittown?

Kevin Deeny

[Author’s Note: This article was written almost 10 years ago and has become even more relevant today. Climate change is already here and efforts to adapt are already underway in some countries and communities. The private study referenced in this article can be found here on this web site.] Levittown Study