Sustainable reuses for closed car lots

June 24, 2:30 PMConsumer News ExaminerBroderick Perkins

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Consumer News Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

GM and Chrysler announced this year they plan to close a combined total of some 2,000 car lots.

What will become of all those car lots?

A better question is "What SHOULD become of them?"

With many car lots spanning up to several acres, the expanse of real estate alone should inspire adaptive reuses that recognize the automobile both as a necessary evil in the name of personal convenience and as a fossil-fuel burning dinosaur whose time is done.

New uses of old car lots should recognize both our current and future need for mobility, but also our need to reduce our dependence on fuels that shorten the life of the planet.

Car lots are also typically located in areas that could use an island of community awareness, say through an educational, social or neighborhood facility.

With those considerations in mind, here are some ideas for reusing empty car lots.

Keep in mind, before new building ensues, there are always zoning, planning, environmental and community issues that can prevent a project from getting off the drawing board.

These ideas are merely food for post-fossil-fuel thought and considerations to reduce the carbon footprint of new developments.

New Energy Go-Carts

Designed right, an attraction where visitors can rent and race go-carts powered by biofuels, solar power (charging electric batteries) and even a strong breeze (wind turbines generating electricity) would really help take the smell of petrol out of the air.

Because there are no fumes, electric go carts can race indoors.

Not your typical suburban go-cart rental arcade, New Energy Go-Carts would include a local-university affiliated research and development-in-miniature outreach effort where energy professors and engineering students would put their experiments on the test track for fun and profit.

As a fun field trip for elementary school kids, the destination would teach younger students about the future of fuel and individual transportation.

Real Green Putt-Putt

Cool down the suburban heat island with a golf putting course designed with real indigenous vegetation and structures built with sustainable materials.

Landscape a real suburban oasis complete with an ecosystem of recycled water, drought resistant plants, and natural organic foods served in the solar-powered concessionary.

Make Real Green Putt-Putt a living gardening, crops and plant studies laboratory for the local university's extension service.

Energy farms with alternative fuel stations, park-and-ride shelters

Raze and repave the old car lot with raised solar panels.

You only need about 300 square feet of solar panels to take a home off the grid. The home is a 2,000 square foot northern California home with a monthly electric bill of up to $150.

With some 44,000, 300 square foot parcels per acre, that's about 14,000 homes per acre that come off the grid with solar panels, 28,000 homes for two acres and 42,000 homes off the grid with three acres of solar panels.Some solar panel makers are already using the idea on expansive parking lots.

Beneath the panels? Build a public transit hub with park-and-ride spots.

Energy farms with alternative fuel stations, edible crops

Likewise, energy farms can be used to directly fuel charging stations for both electric and biofuel vehicles.

That can mean planting wind turbines and corn, along with or instead of solar panels.

On a wind farm, along with fueling stations, the land below can also be used to grow organic crops for both eating and making biofuel.

Community Gardens

Along with cooling the heat island, growing organic and fuel crops and reducing pollution community gardens can be a cross-cultural neighborhood focal point.

According to the American Community Gardening Association, a community garden is invaluable as one community plot or many individual plots to grow flowers, vegetables or landscaping skills.Benefits include boosting the locavore movement; improving the quality of life for gardeners; stimulating social interaction; neighborhood beautification; reducing family food budgets; preserving green space; conserving resources; creating opportunities for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education; and creating income opportunities.

More ideas

A few acres of land can also be used to host a farmers' market, a city park, a small affordable housing community, a small health clinic or school, or otherwise applying the principles of smart, sustainable growth and development.

Planetizen readers offer a host of other ideas.