A Sustainable Train of Thought

The idea of a location efficient mortgage (LEM) has been around since at least 1995, but I just read about it the other night. Basically, LEMs propose to help people buy houses in communities which are conveniently located to nearby supermarkets, public transportation, schools, and the like. The idea is that people who live in location efficient communities have less need to drive, which saves them money in terms of car payments and insurance, which they can then use to repay the loan.

LEMs also provide a variety of side-benefits:

• Increase home purchases in a variety of location efficient communities;
• Boost public transit ridership;
• Support neighborhood consumer services and cultural amenities;
• Reduce energy consumption; and
• Improve local and regional air quality.

What I find interesting about LEMs is the idea that you can encourage certain behavior in one area of society (driving less) by providing incentives in another area of society (home ownership), with the net result providing ancillary benefits. Of course it makes sense when you think about it, but I haven’t seen too many examples of such thinking.

That said, one example does come to mind: ShoreBank, which I ran across while reading GreenMoney Journal. What’s interesting about ShoreBank is that they promote energy efficiency among their customers. The bottom line, again, is money. An energy efficient home reduces heating and cooling costs, which frees up money to pay back the bank.

I think the important point from both of these examples is that we can find common areas of interest between seemingly disparate topics.

Anyone know of similar examples?