Texas Coast Real Estate Checklist for Rising Sealevels and Energy Costs

With global warming, rising sea levels, increasing energy and insurance issues we suggest criteria you should consider before purchasing a new home near the Texas coast.

New Coastal Homes, Innovative Communities and Going Green offer "Beach of Mind" - that can more than make up for the difference in costs and could create an exponential increase in value over time.

According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, coastal counties contain 53% of the nation’s population, yet, account for only 17% of U.S. land area. Most of the nation’s most densely populated areas are located along the coast. Coastal areas are home to a wealth of natural resources and are rich with diverse species, habitat types, and nutrients. They also sustain a wealth of economic activity.

• Employment, recreation and tourism, waterborne commerce, energy and mineral production are driving forces of population migration to our nation's coastal areas. Median household income for coastal counties is approximately 17% higher than non-coastal counties. The Gulf of Mexico region is the fourth most populated coastal region in the United States.
• The leading coastal counties in population change are found in Texas and Florida. In terms of percentages, coastal population growth is expected to occur heavily in the Florida panhandle and in southern Texas, where the increase is expected to reach over 18 percent.
• As the coastal population continues to grow, attention is brought to the methods by which the coastal environment is managed and studied. A change in paradigm is taking place, moving away from management based on political boundaries and toward an ecosystem-based management approach to population growth, urban sprawl, and their interactions with the sensitive coastal environment.
• Climate change, global warming and the potential of rising sealevels make the paradigm shift more critical.
  
  

While many think of coastal living as "the crown" of life, and rightly so, You can do your part when purchasing a home on the coast by considering at least some of the following criteria:

• Location Location Location
  erosion rates, elevation, storm surge barriers, Government backed FEMA/TWIA insurance availability, ...
• Sustainable Community Design
  new urbanism, neighborhood standards, exposure of common amenities, maintenance considerations, orientation of homes to sunrise and sunsets, ...
• Storm Resistant Home Construction
  build high and strong, reflect and collect the sun, modular construction,  ...
• Energy Efficient Features
  green living, appliances, doors, windows, insulation, ...
• Walkable Score and Aging in Place
  walkable communities, smart growth, drive less and enjoy more while saving money, available health care, shopping, aging-in-place,  ...
• Financial Viability of the Housing Project
  some projects are in trouble from the economic slowdown, one should always consider the financial stability of the overall project when selecting a new home. ...

• see our "rare and remarkable" Texas coast project picks
• read about new urbanism on the Texas coast

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The Texas Government is Taking Proactive Actions

IBHS is an independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization supported by the property insurance industry. The organization works to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other risks to residential and commercial property by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.

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• The Shores - South Padre Island
• Cinnamon Shore - Port Aransas
• Harborwalk - Galveston Bay

• The Sapphire - South Padre Island
• Marina Vista Villas - South Padre Island
• Diamond Beach - Galveston Seawall
• The Dawn - Galveston Seawall

In partnership with the NOAA and the International City/County Management Association, the EPA has released Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities. click here to read more

Sea Level Rise Maps and GIS Data

The Center for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets shows rising seas world-wide under different climate change scenarios.

www.cresis.ku.edu/research/data/sea_level_rise

U.S. President Barack Obama promised strong action on climate change from his first day in office, but he is heading into a series of meetings with other world leaders this month under growing pressure to deliver on his rhetoric.

More than 100 world leaders, including Mr. Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao, are scheduled to meet Tuesday at the 64th United Nations General Assembly to talk about fighting climate change.

Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the International City/County Management Association, and Rhode Island Sea Grant, released ''Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities.'' Developed in consultation with the national Smart Growth Network, the interagency guide builds on the network's ten smart growth principles to create coastal and waterfront-specific strategies for development.

The guide includes an overview of the unique development challenges and opportunities along the water and provides specific approaches to development that include a description of the issues, tools and techniques, and case studies. ''Smart Growth for Coastal and Waterfront Communities'' is intended for planners, local government officials, developers, residents, and other stakeholders.

See http://coastalsmartgrowth.noaa.gov/

Comments from the following blog entry: http://7article.com/2009/09/new-texas-coast-property-checklist-for-rising-sealevels-and-energy/

Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-20th century and its projected continuation.

Global surface temperature increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the last century.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes that increasing greenhouse gas concentrations resulting from human activity such as fossil fuel burning and deforestation caused most of the observed temperature increase since the middle of the 20th century.

The IPCC also concludes that variations in natural phenomena such as solar radiation and volcanoes produced most of the warming from pre-industrial times to 1950 and had a small cooling effect afterward.

These basic conclusions have been endorsed by more than 40 scientific societies and academies of science, including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries. A small number of scientists dispute the consensus view.

Climate model projections summarized in the latest IPCC report indicate that the global surface temperature will probably rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the twenty-first century.

The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole, and everywhere in between. Globally, the mercury is already up more than 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius), and even more in sensitive polar regions.

And the effects of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future. They’re happening right now.

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/gw-effects.html

the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization released a report on the top 25 national parks being changed — or about to be — by trapped greenhouse gasses warming the earth.

“The park service has to indicate that it is serious about this, and so far it has not,” said Stephen Saunders, one of its three principal authors.

According to the report, Padre Island could be one of the first units in the national park system to literally disappear. The low dunes are already losing their protective vegetation as weather patterns change. The sand itself is being pulled offshore as stronger storms become more frequent.

“Padre Island could be totally submerged by rising seas,” the report states. “Padre Island has the world's longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island, much of it less than three feet above current sea level.”

http://www.rockymountainclimate.org/

EPA's Climate Change Site offers comprehensive information on the issue of climate change in a way that is accessible and meaningful to all parts of society – communities, individuals, business, states and localities, and governments.

http://epa.gov/climatechange/

Senators Boxer and Kerry unveiled a strong climate bill that recognizes the growing impact of transportation emissions on our climate. But we need to make sure states have adequate funding to provide cleaner, safer and smarter transportation options for Americans.

The exact funding details are still being debated, but if the Senate follows the lead of the House, the bill would only direct an optional 1% to clean transportation, even though one-third of all emissions come from transportation.

Tell your Senators to guarantee funding for cleaner, more efficient transportation options in the climate bill.

http://t4america.org/blog/2009/10/08/tell-your-senators-boost-funding-for-clean-transportation-in-the-climate-bill/

"The Science of 350, the Most Important Number on the Planet"

350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

Accelerating arctic warming and other early climate impacts have led scientists to conclude that we are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm, and that unless we are able to rapidly return to 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.

read more at 350.org