[IMAGE]MET4green.jpg[/IMAGE]Sustainability does not only have an environmental impact, but it has economic and social impacts as well. “The sustainable aspect of the transportation industry impacts people in more ways than the physical environment of moving people from one point to another or constructing new facilities,” says Parsons Brinckerhoff’s Susannah Kerr Adler, VP; manager, architecture and buildings, Technical Excellence Center. 

She believes that there is increasing awareness on the issue and the various components that make up the “sustainability umbrella.”

Shifting focus

“Sustainability in general and green design development is not necessarily equal to sustainability,” says Kerr Adler. “It’s a component of sustainability.” When assessing the trends in the sustainability arena, Kerr Adler says that the focus has shifted away from pilot projects or programs to a more comprehensive approach. “Now, people are looking at a suite of activities to implement, not just the one-offs,” she adds.

Defining what sustainability means to the transit industry is also an important focus. Other sustainability trends she is seeing include transit agencies looking to reduce their environmental impact. Reducing an operation’s wastewater final discharge, for example, as well as taking advantage of day lighting are some practices being employed in projects. “A lot of this is just basic design or common sense,” Kerr Adler says. “But, sometimes you get caught up in designing or building something to fit a particular site; you kind of forget about the context.”

Climate change, carbon footprints and greenhouse gases are all topics of focus these days. The issue of climate change has been a major focus for the international community for a while, so assessing resources such as water, land or soil, are established practices, she says. “Because a lot of these regions are landlocked, there’s a heightened sensitivity to resources.” She expects the same focus to grow within the U.S. in the next five to 10 years.

India’s Delhi Metro system is an example of an effective sustainable project on the international front. To counter the dramatic rise of the city’s population from 0.6 million to 14 million people over the last few years, the first line of New Delhi’s Metro network opened in December 2002. Phase I consisted of three lines totaling 40 miles, with Phase II, now under construction, representing an additional 78 miles.

Operated by the Delhi Metro Rail Corp., Delhi Metro is the first rail system in the world to receive ISO 14001 certification. The project employed extensive noise and pollution abatement measures; relocating and replacing thousands of trees that were displaced for the alignment; and disposing soil from tunneling in ways that wouldn’t harm the environment.

On the U.S. side, Kerr Adler cites the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Corona Maintenance Facility for its innovative design and use of natural elements.

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Industry commitment

While the transit industry has made great strides in becoming more sustainable, there are many more that have yet to begin exclusively working on sustainability in their organization, says Petra Mollet, American Public Transportation Association (APTA) vice president, strategy. To that end, APTA recently launched the pilot phase of its Sustainability Commitment, to help others in the industry work on greening their operations. “While we see that transit is inherently sustainable, we are recognizing at the same time, that we can absolutely do more to green ourselves,” she says.

Developed by APTA’s sustainability task force, chaired by Fred Hansen, general manager of Portland, Ore.-based TriMet and “the driving force behind the commitment,” allows for the exchange of best practices as well as introducing consistency across the industry. “I think one of the weaknesses is there hasn’t been a way to measure your sustainability in an organization,” Mollet says of the reasoning behind the program.

The task force brings together the CEOs of all the major transit agencies across the country with significant sustainability programs in place, as well as APTA business members with extensive programs in their companies.

For the pilot program, the only prerequisite was for participants to sign up for the entry level requirements, which include: making sustainability a part of your organization’s strategic objectives; identifying a sustainability champion within the organization; establishing an outreach program; and undertaking a sustainability inventory of your organization, including but not limited to a carbon footprint. A list of key indicators to be measured as a minimum for the base level include: water usage, criteria air pollutants and water pollutant discharge, carbon emissions, energy use (electricity, fuel), recycling levels/waste, operating expense per unlinked passenger trip and passenger mile.

“Carbon emissions are an entirely new area for some transit agencies, because it’s so difficult to measure,” Mollet says, adding that the organization is in the midst of developing a standard for measuring carbon emissions.

The higher levels of the program emulate the LEED structure. These include action items to achieve more long-term goals of sustainability. For more information, visit www.apta.com.

Green recommendations

In early January, New York’s MTA and its Blue Ribbon Commission on Sustainability released a synopsis of its final report, which included nearly 100 recommendations for strategies and technologies to reduce the MTA region’s carbon footprint while generating long-term savings and economic growth.

“While the agencies of the MTA had a string of individual green demonstration projects, they weren’t part of a comprehensive plan,” says Ernest Tollerson, director for policy and media relations, on the formation of the Commission.

One of the recommendations called for the MTA to draw 80 percent of its operating energy from clean, renewable sources by 2050. “We are a very large user of power in this region,” says Tollerson. “Ninety-percent is traction power for commuter rail and subways.” Suggestions for offsetting this usage include joining a consortium to pursue offshore wind power and implementing regenerative braking technologies for rail.

But, building windmills won’t solve everything, says MTA’s Projjal Dutta, director of sustainability strategic initiatives, of the misperception that greening the supply is the answer. “What is not understood is, for any kind of balance to be had, supply has to be green, but also the demand has to be reduced.” If transportation continues on a single-occupancy basis, the problem won’t be solved, he added.

Building bus rapid transit (BRT) corridors was one of the strategies listed that would produce results quickly. “The report identified places in New York City, Long Island and in the Hudson Valley, where you could use those BRT corridors to feed our existing subway and commuter rail network,” Tollerson says.

LEED certification (see sidebar) is not a new concept to the MTA. Its Corona Maintenance Facility features an impressive array of sustainable concepts including photovoltaic paneling, rainwater harvesting system and day lighting usage. The Sustainability Commission’s final report asks that the MTA adopt the LEED Silver standard for all building projects, new construction and major renovations wherever applicable. Development of Green Design Guidelines based on the LEED system is recommended for all other transit facilities not covered by the standards. In addition, the number of LEED-accredited employees should also be increased. “If employees come with all that preparation already, then they will be more likely to lead the projects,” Dutta says.

Recommendations that go beyond the MTA include concepts such as smart growth and transit oriented development, which would require drawing two-thirds of all new development to within close proximity of transit access. Community issues, such as local politics and governance associated with meeting those goals, will be challenging, Dutta says, “but there are high rewards if those things were to come to fruition.”

Probably the most challenging aspect of the recommendations is finding the financing to implement them. “Green projects can have a large upfront cost, while their long-term operating costs can be much lower,” Tollerson says. “One of the challenges will be to see how to finance them while we go through this period of austerity.”

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Reduce, reuse, recycle

The Toronto Transit Commission, which provides more than 450 million passenger rides each year, developed an Environmental Plan for 2008-09 that lists numerous green action items crossing all areas of operation.

By 2012, the TTC will buy 25 percent of its power from renewable energy sources — paying a premium cost. According to TTC’s Chief Safety Officer John O’Grady, the Province of Ontario offers incentives to developers of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. “There are a number of windmill farms in Ontario,” O’Grady says.

Waste management is another priority of the city of Toronto. When the local landfill closed because it exceeded capacity, there was a lot of political debate about finding a new landfill site. In the end, the city contracted with a private company in Michigan, which requires waste be trucked across the U.S. border. This costly endeavor pushed the city to implement recycling mandates. “We really look hard at what we can reuse or recycle.”

Five years ago, the TTC saw an opportunity to make a big impact in its program by recycling concrete. When the system replaced rail for its streetcar system, private companies would crush the broken up concrete and make it into aggregate for reuse. “Beyond that, we try to recycle almost anything you can think of — wood, paper, metals and old train wheels,” O’Grady says. Batteries and e-waste, such as computers are also recycled. Additionally, waste generated by passengers such as soda cans and bottles are segregated for recycling purposes.

The TTC also adopted a green procurement policy. “In new contracts, we will specify environmental performance criteria and make buying decisions based on those criteria,” says O’Grady. In a broader sense, the operation is looking at the full cost accounting of any product, i.e., operational, fuel, as well as end-of-life costs — not just low bid, he adds. “The green procurement is a massive enterprise. The engineering department will be rewriting the master specification book to include environmental considerations, for example, how far away is the product being shipped?” While the program has been finalized, the TTC has just started to implement various practices and several pilot projects are under way.

Forming a committee

Illinois-based Champaign Urbana Mass Transit District (CUMTD) is one of the transit agencies taking part in the APTA Sustainability Pilot Project. “The transit district has always been interested in how to operate in an environmental way,” says CUMTD’s Transportation Planning Consultant Cynthia Hoyle of the system’s initiatives. While the agency had various sustainable practices being employed, it looked to organize them into one program. With that goal in mind, CUMTD Executive Director Bill Volk, decided to form a sustainability committee, which Hoyle was asked to lead.

Since signing on for the APTA program, the CUMTD committee meets once or twice a month to discuss their goals and will provide a report of their progress in five months.

Some of the green practices the transit agency employs, include switching over to environmentally friendly cleaning products; using waste motor oil for heating the bus barn; implementing an anti-idling requirement and reducing the amount of water used for bus washes. “They check the buses when they come in now, to decide whether they need to be washed,” Hoyle says. “That resulted in some significant water savings.”

The transit agency’s multimodal center also received the “green” treatment. “We recently redid the flooring and wallpaper and went with green materials,” Hoyle says. Cork and environmentally friendly carpet were installed and the agency boosted the number of bike racks available.

Bikes play a large role in the CUMTD’s mode shift concept being promoted by Hoyle. “We are encouraging development that supports walking, biking and transit, and enabling people to shift modes.” The agency has sponsored bike club activities in the community, donated a bus for events, and contributed toward development of a map of the community’s bicycle routes. Walkability of the community is also important to the agency.

Sponsoring Webinars and presentations on such topics as global warming 101 to emerging trends in bicycle and pedestrian facilities are some of the other aspects of the outreach efforts. Local elected officials, staff and activists are invited to attend these events for free. “We have helped organize and sponsor bike safety training workshops and roadeos,” Hoyle adds.

The MTD has partnered with the cities of Champaign and Urbana and the University of Illinois to offer a Zipcar sharing program in the community.

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Testing emissions

Although the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) had purchased emission control diesel buses using ULSD fuel, the agency’s board asked them to go a step further by monitoring the vehicle’s emissions. “We looked at a number of technologies that would do real life emissions measurements,” says Andrew D. Brennan, MBTA’s director of environmental affairs.

After testing different systems, the operation selected a remote sensing system that was accurate and efficient, allowing for the testing of many buses within a short period of time. “We set up the device at a point in the bus yard where the buses go in and out of every day,” Brennan says. As the buses pass the sensor, it captures the vehicle’s emissions information and records it.

The testing equipment goes from garage to garage — the MBTA has eight garages total — checking all the buses as they go through. Because not all buses go out every day, the testing equipment stays at one garage for two to three weeks to get several readings on all vehicles before being moved to the next location.

A threshold was devised, so that if any of the emission readings crossed that threshold, the bus in question is re-checked. “[The system] allows us to find offenders early. And, if something is wrong with the bus, we can take it out of service and bring it in for maintenance and find out what the problem is,” he says. “This way, we can keep the buses in optimal condition.” According to Brennan, the failure rate of 1 percent to 2 percent is surprisingly small.

Brennan says the project was a community effort; a group of stakeholders helped research the right technology and system. There are also plans to start posting the data on the agency’s Website as well.

In 2007, the emission testing system service, which is contracted out at a cost of $500,000 a year, was implemented. “We looked into buying the equipment and doing it ourselves, but we found, particularly at startup, that it was better and more efficient for us to do this as a contracted service,” Brennan says.

Other transit agencies have expressed interest in the MBTA’s project. While it was paid for out of the operating budget, Brennan says other transit operations may be eligible for CMAQ (Congestion Mitigation Air Quality) money to pay for their own emission projects.

Smart building

Toronto-based GO Transit opened its $45 million environmentally friendly, state-of-the-art bus facility in Streetsville, which houses and services more than 200 buses, including GO’s double-decker bus fleet manufactured by Alexander Dennis. “Building smart, green facilities that can grow with us is integral to our success and part of our future plans,”says GO Transit Managing Director Gary McNeil.

Due to Canada’s cold climate, special attention was paid to reducing energy costs and GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions associated with heating, says GO Transit spokesperson Jessica Kosmack. The facility features a well-insulated precast concrete building envelope, in-slab radiant heating system with condensing natural gas boiler, solar hot water system and ventilation-air heat recovery units throughout the facility to capture waste heat. “An energy model of the building has been independently verified to use 50 percent less energy than required by building code,” Kosmack says.

With the opening of the Streetsville facility, GO is now able to store and service hundreds of buses in the west region. By limiting the distance buses travel to get to the west region, the transit system will save on fuel and fleet mileage, and minimize maintenance requirements. Storing buses in multiple locations also helps improve operations for delivering reliable service to customers. As ridership continues to grow, the Streetsville Bus Facility has the capability to expand to meet demand.

This facility was designed and built to silver LEED standards, as recognized by the Canada Green Building Council, and will be the first LEED transit building in the greater Toronto area. Balancing human and environmental health, the development of this facility took sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, material selection and indoor environmental quality all into consideration.

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Role of natural gas

Natural gas supplier Clean Energy currently fuels over 2,700 transit buses at 20 transit agencies in 10 states. In August 2008, the company boosted its supply by taking over the Dallas-based McCommas Bluff landfill gas processing plant — the third-largest landfill gas operation in the U.S. “They are producing pipeline quality natural gas,” says John Somers, Clean Energy’s director of business development. Currently, the facility is producing 29,000 gallons a day (gasoline gallon equivalent) and expects to produce 40,000 gallons a day once the upgrades are complete, and, ultimately, 100,000 gallons per day, he says. “Eventually, you could fuel the equivalent of 1,200 transit buses a day from the natural gas at that facility.”

According to Somers, bio-gas is being developed across the U.S., not only in landfills but also at wastewater treatment centers and agricultural digesters using plant and animal waste. “The U.S. government is interested in diversifying natural gas sources through the capturing of these bio-gas resources,” he says.

Interest in hydrogen as a fuel source is also increasing. Clean Energy recently built a hydrogen station at the company’s existing LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) fueling station as part of a project with General Motors. “We have positioned natural gas as the bridge to hydrogen,” says Somers. “We have all the capabilities to move in that direction.” Hydrogen is still not economical, he adds, but hopes it will be someday.

With the growing focus on the environment and energy conservation, alternative energy sources, particularly natural gas, “certainly hit those buttons,” says Somers.

According to the California Energy Commission, heavy-duty natural gas vehicles are 23 percent cleaner and light-duty vehicles are as much as 30 percent cleaner when compared to greenhouse gas emissions from diesel and gasoline vehicles. These statistics only boost the case for natural gas, when the discussion of air pollutants and, in the larger scheme of things, greenhouse gases come up, which is becoming more and more important in the environmental discussion, Somers says.

Economics also comes into play with the seesaw prices of gasoline and diesel. “This time last year, transit agencies were struggling because of fuel prices,” he says adding, “and now, many of them have seen reduced revenues because they are dependent on sales tax revenues.”

Natural gas use, which is domestically sourced, plays an important role in helping the nation meet its sustainability goals. “There’s a whole other aspect of economic security, national security interests, energy security. I think people understand that oil is going to go back up. Experts see the price of oil hitting $80 a barrel by the end of the year, and it will just keep going as the world economy picks up.”

Blue light special

Something seemingly small can lead to energy and cost savings. For Jeff Carvalho, manager of equipment and facilities for Herzog Transit Services, which operates and maintains the Altamont Commuter Express rail service for the San Joaquin (Calif.) Regional Rail Commission, it was a barricade light that caught his eye for having potential to go green.

These flashing blue lights — required by the Federal Railroad Administration for safety purposes — were powered by two six-volt batteries that had to be replaced about every eight days, Carvalho says. Not even taking into consideration the environmental impact of this process, it took time to replace the batteries and all the maintenance added up. “We looked for a solar-powered light and found one made in Canada by Carmanah.”

The solar light, originally manufactured for the marine industry for use on buoys or docks, included a toggle switch, which they asked the company to modify to a hidden magnetic switch to prevent the possibility of it being switched off by rail yard trespassers. The new solar-powered light has an internal battery that holds a charge for up to 14 days and has a life expectancy of a minimum of five to eight years.

When Carvalho did a cost analysis of the two lights, he found that the original barricade light cost the company $2,800 dollars over five years, while the new solar light cost $175 for the same period of time.     

 


 

Greening with LEED Ratings

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is getting a lot of press lately. We spoke with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Marie Coleman, communications director, to ask a few questions about the certification process.

Explain the LEED certification process and rating system.

LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green building. LEED is a point-based system where projects earn LEED points for satisfying specific green building criteria. Within the six environmental categories, projects must satisfy particular prerequisites and earn points. The categories include Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation in Design. The number of points a project earns determines the level of LEED certification the project receives (certified, silver, gold and platinum).

Discuss long-term cost savings associated with certain green practices.

Because green buildings use less energy, electricity, water and other resources, builders and developers can expect to save greatly on their utility costs. Also, because green buildings are more efficient and function at a higher capacity, maintenance costs are lowered by 13 percent and overall operating costs decrease from 8 percent to 9 percent. Thinking even longer term, the value of green building increases by 7.5 percent and expected return on investment improves by 6.6 percent. By 2013, the green building industry as a whole is projected to be worth $96 million to $140 billion.

What are some newer green building practices? Which trends are showing growth?

It’s probably safe to say that in this current economic slope, businesses and builders are looking to save money. So, recycling materials and using refurbished materials when possible is an area that’s been popular. Speaking in general terms, more than ever, there seems to be a focus on how to cut back, not just monetarily, but on consuming materials and different ways to use less — a back to basics trend.

Discuss transit-specific LEED building projects.

Right now, there are 18 transportation/transit-related projects that have received LEED certification — each of which certified under the LEED for New Construction certification system. This may indicate a trend coming from state and local governments who are increasingly offering incentives or even mandating the incorporation of LEED standards into the building and construction of government/public buildings and facilities.

Discuss other LEED projects that the transit industry could look to for inspiration.

In each of our certification systems, under the Sustainable Sites requirement is a credit for transportation. These credits are based in the project’s proximity to commuter, light or subway rail system; public or campus bus system; and/or provided shuttle service to these transit options. So, access to transit is an important factor in our certification system, and transit facilities looking to certify could certainly benefit from these projects.

What basic building practices can the transit industry incorporate into their project designs?

Also a tenet under the Sustainable Sites credit is the opportunity to implement bicycle storage and changing rooms. These may be available at many public transportation facilities in the form of bike racks and restrooms; however, there are alternative options to make this a more secure facility that also offers showers for bicycle commuters. An option such as this could provide an increase in ridership on rail and bus systems.

For more information about the LEED rating process, visit www.usgbc.org   

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