2nd Green Revolution » Sustainability

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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Walkscore Now Rates Bike Friendly Cities; Guess who is No. 1

Justin Manger — Wed, 23 May 2012 11:47:06 +0000

What is it about Minneapolis? A frozen tundra in winter, the Minnesota city has already somehow built a reputation as a bike friendly city. Walkscore, which has found success evaluating which are the best areas in terms of getting around on foot, recently turned its attention to rating the ease of 2 wheel locomotion as well. The site now has a Bike Score and has bestowed the #1 ranking for bike-ability to, you guessed it, Minneapolis (top ten listed below).

The scores are from 0-100 and “based on the availability of bike infrastructure (lanes and trails), the hilliness of the area, destinations and road connectivity, and the number of bike commuters.”

Bike Score is new, though, and hasn’t been implemented everywhere. They are expanding, so if your city isn’t currently listed, let them know you want it added.

Perhaps in a fitting show of how our cities and neighborhoods are not designed to biking, number one ranked Minneapolis doesn’t even get a B for its effort. The 79 score it has is the highest in the country.

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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Five Friday Facts: The New World Trade Center

Justin Manger — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:45:47 +0000

The following facts come from a pamphlet sent to me by a relative who visited the construction site and memorial pool at the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1 World Trade Center (WTC) building is expected to reach it full height soon, whereupon its 408-foot (124 m) radio antenna will be installed on top to complete the structure.

The WTC central chiller plant will circulate 30,000 gallons of Hudson River water every minute – enough to flush about 15,000 toilets.
The electricity generated by the 1 WTC’s fuel-cell plant will be able to continuously light 52,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs.
At least 75% of 1 WTC construction waste is recylced.
Everything from the gypsum boards to ceiling tiles at the WTC contains a minimum of 20% post-industrial recycled content.
At least 50% of the wood for 1 WTC comes from Forest Stewardship Council certified sustainable harvested forests.