Sustainability: A Primer

Sustainability

A Green Parking Primer

January 16, 2013 - 2pm ESTPresented by Jonas Broth

For discussion by the GPC Sustainable Technologies Committee

Brundtland Commission

Sustainability means: “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”

Brundtland Commission report, “Our Common Future” - 1987 UN WCED

Brundtland Definition

• Intentionally weak garnering the most chance of acceptance

• Ambiguous, open to interpretation

• Does not address “carrying capacity”

Sustainability revised in Economic Terms

1. Harvest renewable resources only at the speed at which they regenerate.

2. Limit wastes to the assimilative capacity of local ecosystems.

3. Direct profits from the use of non-renewables towards developing suitable renewable substitutes.

-Herman Daly

Gifford Pinchot

"When the Gay Nineties began, the common word for our forests was "inexhaustible." To waste timber was a virtue and not a crime. There would always be plenty of timber....The lumbermen...regarded forest devastation as normal and second growth as a delusion of fools....And as for sustained yield, no such idea had ever entered their heads.”

"Where conflicting interests must be reconciled, the question shall always be answered from the standpoint of the greatest good of the greatest number over the longest run."

Universal Laws of Thermodynamics

• First Law: Energy can neither be created nor destroyed: – You can’t get something from nothing

• Second Law: Entropy– All systems move towards disorder

Waste = food

Linear Production Model

Source: Un Food and Agriculture Organization

Take – Make – Waste

Cyclical Industrial Process(Closed Loop)

Cradle to Cradle

Measuring Sustainability

• Triple Bottom Line Accounting (TBL)

– Social, Environmental and Financial Performance

People, Planet, Profit

Interface

“Mission Zero”Carpet Tile

Seven Faces of Mount Sustainability

1. Eliminate waste.2. Eliminate harmful emissions. (working up the supply chain)

3. Move towards 100% renewable energy.4. Create closed loop processes.5. Resource efficient transportation;

from commuting to logistics to plant siting. 6. Integrate Sustainability into our corporate culture.7.Pioneer new business models of sustainability.

Profits Up, Emissions Down

• Net GHG Emissions Down 82%

• Sales 66%• Profits doubled• Fossil Fuel Use 60%• Costs $400M

• Saved $1M/yr by removing light bulbs from employee soft drink machines

• Saved $2.6M/yr by putting LED lighting in freezers

• Installed 65 MW of solar on store rooftops– Leading all other US retailers

• Installed APUs for overnight truckers– Eliminated 100,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions, – reduce diesel fuel consumption by 10 million gallons, and – saved $25 million per year.

• Force of Nature, Edward Humes

Sustainable Technologies

• The search for greater efficiencies• Find profit niches through improved

efficiencies• Differentiate yourself from the competition

Green Parking…

Sustainable Technologies Product Coverage Areas

• Less Hazardous Chemicals– Environmentally Responsible Cleaning

Products/Systems– No or Low VOC Coatings, Paints, &

Sealants• Decreased Idling Technologies

– Automated/Cashierless Payment System– Parking Guidance Systems– External Parking Guidance and Wayfinding

• Vehicle Technologies– Alternative Fuel, Hybrid and Alternative

Drive Vehicles (Shuttles)– Alternative Vehicle Rate Program (Small

Vehic, Alt Fuel, etc)– Tire Inflation Stations

• Lighting– Energy Efficient Lighting Systems– Lighting Controls

• Mechanical Systems & Controls– Energy Efficient CO Ventilation System– Environmentally Responsible Office and Booth

HVAC System– Indoor Air Monitoring/Healthy Office Environment– Environmentally Safe Fire Suppression System

• Integrated Renewable Energy– Solar, Wind, Other– EV Charging Stations (Free and Pay Per Charge)– EV Charging w/ Integrated Clean Energy– Clean Energy Storage for Sustainable Power– Sustainable Power- Net-Zero Energy Building– Roofing Systems (Green roofs, Low albido paints)

• Comprehensive Water Mgmt– Indoor Water Efficiency– Rain Water Harvesting– Water Efficient Landscaping– Greywater Reuse

• Emerging Innovative Technologies

GPC - Sustainable Technologies Committee Mission Statement

• Identify sustainable parking technologies and products through an objective, brand-neutral process. Focus particularly on those technologies relevant to achieving Green Garage Certification.

• Identify existing industry-relevant standards to which quality technologies must conform. Where such standards don’t exist, develop alternative approaches to identifying quality technologies.

• Produce written summaries of standards and existing technologies. • Develop and maintain a public online clearinghouse / database of

sustainable parking products and technologies • Develop a practical and effective process to document and share industry

experience with the technologies and products identified by the Sustainable Technology committee.– Our work will be ongoing and evolutionary as technologies evolve and develop.