2nd Green Revolution » Eric Wilson

Denver Zoo Lays Claim to Greenest in Country

Eric Wilson — Thu, 24 May 2012 11:55:42 +0000

As the Denver Zoo prepares to open its latest addition, a 10 acre exhibit dedicated to the Asian Tropics, they have incorporated a number of eco-conscious features. As part of the new construction, the entire complex is striving for LEED certification, the first large animal exhibit facility in the nation to be certified as such. In order to earn LEED (certification is expected to be at the gold or platinum level), the “Toyota Elephant Passage will use renewable energy, recycled water, natural daylight and ventilation, efficient heating and cooling systems and other green design and construction practices.” The renewable energy system is as local as it gets. Known as a “biomass gasification system” the onsite power generation will convert “more than 90 percent of the zoo’s waste [trash and animal waste] into usable energy.” The exhibit opens to the public on June 1st.

While this most recent project further demonstrates Denver Zoo’s commitment to reducing its footprint, it is only the latest step in the zoo’s ongoing greening. Among the employees, Denver Zoo has a full-time Sustainability Coordinator on staff. “This coordinator guides purchasing decisions, deciding which industries, vendors and products best support the Zoo’s mission. That includes being environmentally, socially and economically responsible.”

In 2008, the zoo was accepted into the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment’s Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) as a Gold Leader. As part of this honor, the zoo developed an ISO-14001 Environmental Management System, becoming the first Zoo to achieve this international standard in every facet of its operations. It is this level of achievement that supports their claim as the greenest zoo in the country.

Additionally, the zoo has converted all of its holiday lights to LEDs, “saving 70-90 percent more energy than regular incandescent holiday lights.” The Zoo Lights installation runs during the winter holidays and closes shortly after the new year. Further energy savings were realized by having Xcel Energy conduct an energy audit of the facilities.

The zoo also promotes alternative modes of transportation. In addition to a bus stop located in front of the grounds, all employees are eligible for an Eco Pass, which “allows employees to ride public transportation for free, both for commuting to and from work as well as taking care of personal errands and travel.” Walking, biking, and carpooling are also encouraged. Located in the city’s largest park, there are bike and walking paths that make navigation easy. Lastly, “the Zoo also implemented a transportation logging database to collect the usage of the Eco Pass to prove and continue to improve its usage.” Using this system, zoo employees tallied 146,000 commuter miles using the various modes of alternative transport. Furthermore, a $2 discount is given to guests who use mass transit. Unfortunately, the only route that services the zoo directly has been reduced in its frequency and inexplicably no longer runs on the weekend. While the zoo may not control mass transit decisions, they have supported various modes of transportation both among their employees and patrons.

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Natural Capitalism: Chapter 2 – Reinventing the Wheels

Eric Wilson — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:44:33 +0000

A few years back I started reading Natural Capitalism. I wrote a post about the first chapter and vowed to come back to the book “soon.” Geologically speaking, it’s been the blink of an eye. In human terms, a wee bit longer. The book isn’t inordinately long, but after coming back to it after many months, I find the second chapter a rich source of information, ripe for reflection.

Natural Capitalism is both forward-thinking and innovative despite its age. Much like his Ecology of Commerce, Hawken melds the everyday and the natural world. He and his co-authors demonstrate the feasibility of efficient, viable systems that can be implemented now. This book, published in 1999 could have been written today. While more work has been done to make the world more “sustainable,” much of what is discussed in the second chapter has failed to penetrate into mainstream business practices in the US.

With this in mind, there are several points I want to touch on in the second chapter. As a quick reminder, Paul Hawken co-authored the book with efficiency gurus Amory and Hunter Lovins. The second chapter begins as an homage to super efficient automobiles, so-called “Hypercars.”. These vehicles are not only lightweight (thus reducing the amount of energy needed to power them) but they also run on clean energy like hydrogen. What seems like an ardent argument for efficiency morphs into a plea for community development.

The most surprising aspect of the second chapter was the ending. In a book dedicated to capitalism, albeit one in line with ecological constraints, the final portion looks at community. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but given the focus on hypercars in the beginning, I got the sense that there was little place for a discussion about sidewalks and bike trails. I was wrong.

From Portland, Oregon and the neighborhood grocery store to European city planning with wider sidewalks and more bike lanes, cities were (and still are) being reshaped to consider non-motorized traffic. In order to reduce vehicular congestion, the authors suggest the following solutions:

Make parking and driving bear their true costs.
Foster genuine competition between different modes of transportation.
Emphasize sensible land use over actual physical mobility – a symptom of being in the wrong place.

These three ideas have yet to fully take hold. However, cities like London have implemented higher toll rates for driving in the city, thereby decreasing traffic and allowing pedestrians to roam more freely.

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From Parking Lots to Parking Garages

Eric Wilson — Sun, 20 May 2012 10:15:09 +0000

Last week I wrote about parking lots and my distaste for them. While parking garages are a much better use of land, they can be quite ugly.

My argument today is not an aesthetic one though. While riding the light rail the other day (where I also composed this op-ed), I passed a large parking garage, four levels high or so. Right before getting on the train I walked passed another one downtown. The downtown garage had shops and restaurants on the ground floor, a good use of space, especially in the urban center. However, it is this other garage that got me thinking.

When explorers landed on Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island), what did they think of the giant moai (see the image accompanying this post), the enormous stone statues that populated the coastline? Those vestiges are pretty much the line remnants of a once powerful civilization. Jared Diamond writes about them in Collapse, as well as an article for Discover magazine several years ago. He likens the stone statues to the massive homes built by Hollywood producers, namely the 50,000+ square foot home of Aaron Spelling (recently featured on HGTV). Diamond makes the argument that these shows of power waste resources in an attempt to mark one’s territory by showing off their wealth. The disregard for consumption inevitably led to the downfall of civilization on Rapa Nui.

I realize this is a bit of a stretch to parking garages, but will future civilizations view them similarly? Will they be seen as monuments to the car, an anachronistic structure that sucked up resources (both the garage itself and the cars they housed)? My intention is not to paint a stark picture in which people do not play a role, or in which vehicles are a relic of some bygone era. Rather, as pointed out in another recent post, the future might hold some semblance of pedestrian-centric ethos that will make parking garages the Stonehenge of the future.

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EPA’s Green Power Challenge

Eric Wilson — Tue, 15 May 2012 18:36:33 +0000

Over the course of the past academic year, 30 collegiate athletic conferences comprising more than 70 universities competed in the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) College and University Green Power Challenge. The competition, which is an offshoot of EPA’s Green Power Partnership, wrapped up last month with the Ivy League’s University of Pennsylvania taking the top spot.

Winners were determined by the amount of “green power” they purchased. Smaller schools with lower consumption were at a disadvantage, although the percentage of green power purchased was also calculated. The EPA defines green power as “electricity produced from solar, wind, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact small hydroelectric sources.”

The top conference in terms of total green power purchased was the Pac-12. Although only four schools from the conference participated, they collectively purchased in excess of 228 million kilowatt-hours. Here are the top five conferences and their green power purchases:

1. Pac-12 Conference (228,529,654 kWh)
2. Big Ten Conference (213,707,149 kWh)
3. Ivy League (200,194,600 kWh)
4. University Athletic Association (119,515,000 kWh)
5. Big 12 Conference (113,001,780 kWh)

Interestingly, only one school from the UAA (Carnegie Mellon University) and one from the Ivy League participated. Perhaps next year more schools will take part. To join the Partnership, visit the “Join Us” page. According to the challenge, in order to be included, “a conference must have at least one Green Power Partner and an aggregate green power use of at least 10 million kWh between conference members.”

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I Don’t Understand Parking Lots

Eric Wilson — Sun, 13 May 2012 20:09:00 +0000

In an op-ed a few months back I alluded to the coming diatribe against parking lots. As a form of land use, parking lots make no sense to me. Conversely, most parking garages are eye-sores. I understand that underground parking is expensive and laborious to construct.

There are some wonderful advances in “parking lot technology,” (in addition to the use of manure and other attempts to make roads more environmentally friendly) but they really mask the greater issue. Vast tracks of land have been paved over and turned into storage for cars. In Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and Hunter Lovins put the car in perspective. The amount of time we sit in cars is minute compared the resources we spend on them. While I can’t find the exact number, the average was somewhere around 4% of our time is spent commuting in cars. Think about the money, energy, and materials that go into cars. Leasing or purchasing a car on an installment plan can cost several hundreds per month. This doesn’t include insurance, upkeep, fuel, parking, or any other associated costs.

This brings me to the parking lot. We have now dedicated plots of land to store our cars while we work, shop, and go about our day. I realize that we have to keep them somewhere, but go on Google Earth and look at your local mega-mart. I’ve embedded the aerial (satellite) view of a certain large retailer below. Even in the map view, the parking lot is distinguishable by being a dark gray, pretty fitting I suppose.

What if that land were turned over for growing food? Even a portion of it? What if people who are unemployed were given the opportunity to tend the land and sell the bounty? I’m just throwing some ideas out there, but it is truly staggering to see the amount of land dedicated to parking lots. In fact, when I first clicked on the satellite option in Google Maps, I said “Holy Sh” well, you can imagine. Check it out for yourself below.

The amount of space that the lot(s) take up is unreal. In downtown, where space is at premium, there are more parking garages, but also an occasional lot that has trees offering shade and breaking up the vast expanses of pavement. That would be an improvement.

Next week’s post will follow a similar line of thought so check back on the parking lots’ more space friendly relative the parking garage.

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