What began as a ripple in a profitable housing market bubble has, in the course of a year in a half, turned into a potentially world-changing credit crisis. While tough times for industry often open the door for clean tech advances, tougher conditions for consumers could be a different story. Because much of the recent interest in the shift to sustainable practices is viewed largely as a luxury, will reduced consumer access to credit result also in reduced purchases of eco-friendly goods?

It’s an alluring argument. After all, it’s hard to imagine a cash-strapped consumer springing for an eco-friendly party kit over a less sustainable plastic one. Similarly, car buyers faced with lower gas prices due to decreased demand will have less incentives to focus on buying efficient cars, leading to increased levels of carbon and smog-forming emissions per mile traveled. This problem is further complicated by the higher cost of most hybrid vehicles, which are often saddled with high-end gizmos to run up the price.

But the thing is, many bearish economists aren’t simply predicting a decrease in consumer spending; they’re predicting a decrease in available consumer credit. While it seems like a petty distinction—there’s no real difference between paying for something with an ATM card now, verses using a credit card and paying for it at the end of the month—less credit could actually have a significant beneficial impact for the environment by hitting the economy in two of its least green-friendly sectors: cars and housing.

Unlike biodegradable party sets, cars and homes are seldom bought all at once. They require consistent repayment of a debt, and thus are harder to come by in times of tight credit. This mean less incentive for people to simply buy new cars when older ones begin to fall apart. Keeping and old car running has long been touted as more eco-friendly than buying a hybrid, and without easy credit for loans, consumers may have no choice but to keep their old jalopies kicking.

While older cars create more (and worse) emissions, the knowledge that they can’t be easily replaced may reduce miles driven, and lower turnover means fewer cars in landfills and less energy expended building new machines. Tight purse strings at lending institutions might also force consumers into smaller, less expensive cars when they do purchase a new vehicle, even if gas prices are depressed by the weak economy.

Similarly, lack of available credit will steer homebuyers away from larger, less efficient homes. While sustainable touches can do wonders for the resale value of a house, it’s a drop in the bucket compared to the allure of raw square footage. Tough-to-come-by mortgages might also encourage renting instead of home buying, which generally places multiple households into a single, large building, more efficiently conserving energy spent on heat.

So while it may make conspicuous, sustainable luxury a thing of the past, the impending credit crunch is far from a death knell for the burgeoning sustainability movement.

Photo by Flickr user SqueakyMarmot