Quite a few years ago I was part of Riot For Austerity ( goal being 10% of Average USA energy use), and I think the way these issues were thought about there is about right, instead of just focusing on one issue, there was a calculator we could use for a while that helped to see the the total, while not perfect, it helped to see that different choices could come up with a similar outcome. Categories of transportation, which is cars and plane flights, buses, etc,,, electricty used, heating/cooking gas used, wood used, how much food was restaurant, backyard grown, imported from far away, how much trash, how much money spent on "stuff".
So, my household came out very well, even though I am not in town. I threw out my airconditioners, and heat with local sourced wood. I dont fly, or at least it is exceedingly rare. I totally left "online" for a while as that uses power we dont see for servers. Use a solar oven,etc... I drove and still drive a car. At the time, it was very good gas mileage diesel. I combine trips. Before the fire, the miles to plate for my dairy and fresh fruit and veg was measured in feet.
A city lifestyle can be low energy. But, alot of people are not in that they fly all the time, consume and throw out, order food in or eat at restaurants constantly, lots of packaging, and taking a cab uses as much propulsion energy as a private car, less embodied energy if you dont do it often. You of course can be very low consumption in a city, but I think that is not the usual lifestyle, but there are many examples of not traveling, cooking at home, and conserving heat and cooling, walking or taking the bus or train,etc..
My current location is not ideal, Being right outside of a town or in a town with a 1/4 acre or 1/2 acre lot sounds very nice, or at least not with the elevation gain I have to a town. ( 2000 ft over 6 miles).But, I have less travel and "stuff" and food energy used than most people, country or city. I also know that people lived right here where I am before cars. They had the same elevation and distance to the same town. They walked or took a horse or wagon. They hauled apples down from here by wagon in the fall. There were vineyards before prohibition. This was also a lumber and lime(for cement) mining area. Once most of the lumber was taken, it went to farming the crops that didnt need rain ( apples, wine grapes), they stopped taking the lime recently, there is still alot left. Once the economic competition changed for the fruits, it is all mature forest again. There were less houses here, with larger lots then ( for hay and firewood I would imagine) and we had many more schools, smaller, but more of them. 3 one/two room school houses eventually consolidated to the current school once cars were very common. The closest one to my location is about a bit over a mile, certainly less than 1.5 miles walk from my house, elevation change is moderate enough. The building is still there, added on to and used as a private residence.
I would imagine if energy expenses get high enough, accommodations will happen. I have taken the bus many times, but it doesnt run often enough to make it easy. I can take the bus and get groceries and my allergy shots if needed, it goes to the further, larger town. It is good exercise at both ends. I go to town once a week by car currently, combine trips though including other locations I cant walk to from that end station and then too much to carry on this end. Most people have never taken it at all, or put their teens on it ! So, they could, and more frequent buses could be added if people were taking them. And, we could get some kind of local "store" in places up here, right now, it is against county zoning (!) to have a "corner" store outside of city limits. But, if there is ever in the future sufficient demand, then an illegal one will spring up. We have a non permitted pop up coffee shop twice a week, thursdays and saturdays, and we sometimes have private people selling weekly bakings of bread or pizza. Personally, I could live just fine with infrequent inputs of bulk foods, hay and chicken grains. Socially, a small town closer by sounds good ( in theory...)
Re: intersection of frugality and the automobile
So, my household came out very well, even though I am not in town. I threw out my airconditioners, and heat with local sourced wood. I dont fly, or at least it is exceedingly rare. I totally left "online" for a while as that uses power we dont see for servers. Use a solar oven,etc... I drove and still drive a car. At the time, it was very good gas mileage diesel. I combine trips. Before the fire, the miles to plate for my dairy and fresh fruit and veg was measured in feet.
A city lifestyle can be low energy. But, alot of people are not in that they fly all the time, consume and throw out, order food in or eat at restaurants constantly, lots of packaging, and taking a cab uses as much propulsion energy as a private car, less embodied energy if you dont do it often. You of course can be very low consumption in a city, but I think that is not the usual lifestyle, but there are many examples of not traveling, cooking at home, and conserving heat and cooling, walking or taking the bus or train,etc..
My current location is not ideal, Being right outside of a town or in a town with a 1/4 acre or 1/2 acre lot sounds very nice, or at least not with the elevation gain I have to a town. ( 2000 ft over 6 miles).But, I have less travel and "stuff" and food energy used than most people, country or city. I also know that people lived right here where I am before cars. They had the same elevation and distance to the same town. They walked or took a horse or wagon. They hauled apples down from here by wagon in the fall. There were vineyards before prohibition. This was also a lumber and lime(for cement) mining area. Once most of the lumber was taken, it went to farming the crops that didnt need rain ( apples, wine grapes), they stopped taking the lime recently, there is still alot left. Once the economic competition changed for the fruits, it is all mature forest again. There were less houses here, with larger lots then ( for hay and firewood I would imagine) and we had many more schools, smaller, but more of them. 3 one/two room school houses eventually consolidated to the current school once cars were very common. The closest one to my location is about a bit over a mile, certainly less than 1.5 miles walk from my house, elevation change is moderate enough. The building is still there, added on to and used as a private residence.
I would imagine if energy expenses get high enough, accommodations will happen. I have taken the bus many times, but it doesnt run often enough to make it easy. I can take the bus and get groceries and my allergy shots if needed, it goes to the further, larger town. It is good exercise at both ends. I go to town once a week by car currently, combine trips though including other locations I cant walk to from that end station and then too much to carry on this end. Most people have never taken it at all, or put their teens on it ! So, they could, and more frequent buses could be added if people were taking them. And, we could get some kind of local "store" in places up here, right now, it is against county zoning (!) to have a "corner" store outside of city limits. But, if there is ever in the future sufficient demand, then an illegal one will spring up. We have a non permitted pop up coffee shop twice a week, thursdays and saturdays, and we sometimes have private people selling weekly bakings of bread or pizza. Personally, I could live just fine with infrequent inputs of bulk foods, hay and chicken grains. Socially, a small town closer by sounds good ( in theory...)
Atmosperhic River