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STREETCAR INFRASTRUCTURE: OC Streetcar Project

21-May-2019

The OC Streetcar project, managed by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), recently earned an Envision Silver rating for sustainable infrastructure. This is the 15th Envision-verified project in the state, and the first modern streetcar project in California to receive Envision recognition.

The project helps OCTA and the cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove reach their goals to increase transportation options and improve transit connectivity. The $407.7 million project, which is expected to begin operation in 2022, will operate along a 4.15-mile route that connects the bustling Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center (SARTC) — providing regional rail, OCTA bus, and intercity and international bus services — to a new multimodal hub at Harbor Boulevard/Westminster Avenue in Garden Grove.

The project is being constructed and will be funded primarily through a combination of local, state and federal funds, including California Climate Investments and the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The project recently received a $149 million Full Funding Grant Agreement from the FTA―the first modern streetcar to receive a New Starts FFGA and the largest ever New Starts commitment to a streetcar project.

Using the Envision framework helped the project support sustainability and environmental commitments for the funding agencies, including measures to mitigate environmental impacts; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; provide benefits to disadvantaged communities; and drive economic, environmental and public health benefits.

Developed as a collaboration between OCTA and the cities of Santa Ana and Garden Grove, the project is anticipated to play an important role in improving transit accessibility for transit-dependent residents and relieving congestion at major streets and local freeways by providing east-west connections. Designed with input from across the community, OCTA is working numerous consultants, including HDR, program manager and Envision facilitator, and designer HNTB.

The Envision sustainable infrastructure rating system assesses sustainability in five categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Natural World, Resource Allocation, and Climate and Resilience. These contribute to positive social, economic and environmental impacts on a community during the planning, design and construction of infrastructure projects. Innovative project features incorporated into the project include:

Quality of Life: The streetcar route reintroduces rail to a former rail right-of-way, utilizing previously unused land for a significant transportation improvement. Focused on making connections, the project links multiple modes of transport, including rail and bus, as well as reinforcing the walkable character of the two communities and taking into consideration bicycle connections. The project provides “last mile” connectivity to several major activity centers and key neighborhoods within the project area, as well as employment, restaurant and retail centers in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and surrounding areas.

Leadership: The OC Streetcar project offered numerous opportunities for stakeholder involvement, from the initial Alternatives Analysis, through Environmental Assessment and planning, design and engineering. The objectives of the project’s outreach efforts were aimed not only at increasing the overall awareness of the project and keeping stakeholders updated, but also soliciting feedback and incorporating public feedback into the final design concept. This process continues with events and surveys posted on the project website.

Resource Allocation: The design of the streetcar stops emphasizes sustainability. For streamlined maintenance, all stops will adhere to a preselected ‘kit-of-parts’ design, which means all of the stop elements―such as the canopies, benches, trash receptacles, furnishing, or signs―are the same for every stop along the route. Additionally, the maintenance facility’s train wash system is designed for ease of maintenance, recycling and parts reuse. The operations and maintenance plan for streetcar vehicles will not only allow for ease of disassembly, but will ensure long-term vehicle reliability.

Natural World: The streetcar route uses existing city streets and unused rail right-of-way for the alignment and the Maintenance and Storage Facility repurposes a site previously used for industrial and commercial businesses, locating one hundred percent of the project footprint on previously developed land. The project’s landscape plans integrate locally appropriate and low water use plants along the project corridor, at streetcar stops and at the maintenance facility.

Climate and Resilience: A goal of the streetcar is to reduce air pollution by reducing the number of single-occupancy vehicles on the road and reducing traffic congestion. Air pollution reduction is a focus of OCTA and both the Cities included in this project. In addition, this project fulfills broad agency and state goals, which both consider a long-term view of resource depletion and extreme events, as well as social and economic changes.

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Events

8-May-2019

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Envision Review Board

30-April-2019

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WASTE PROJECT: Surrey Biofuel Facility

9-March-2018

The Surrey Biofuel Facility located in the City of Surrey, British Columbia is the most recent recipient of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) Envision Platinum award. This is the first waste sector infrastructure project in North America and the third Canadian project overall to earn the prestigious Envision award for sustainability.

The largest facility of its kind in Canada, the facility is also the first closed-loop fully integrated organic waste-to-energy infrastructure facility in North America. The 14,323 square metre facility is capable of processing 115,000 tonnes per annum of residential and commercial organic waste into renewable natural gas (RNG). Approximately 120,000 gigajoules of biogas per year will be generated – enough to fuel the city’s entire natural gas-powered waste collection vehicles and its growing fleet of natural gas-powered operations service vehicles, as well as provide a renewable fuel source for the City’s District Energy System. It will also help the Metro Vancouver area achieve its regional waste diversion targets of 80% by 2020. The by-product of this facility—Class A organic compost—will also be available for use in local agriculture and landscaping applications.

“ISI is pleased to present the Surrey Biofuel Facility with the Envision Platinum award for sustainable infrastructure,” said ISI President and CEO, John M. Stanton. “This project is an excellent example of a closed-loop system that will serve the needs of the City for years to come, while significantly reducing waste, and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.”

The Surrey Biofuel Facility is a flagship Public-Private Partnership (P3) project and is eligible for up to $16.9 million in grant funding from the federal P3 Canada Fund. It was developed between the City of Surrey and its partner, Orgaworld Canada part of Renewi plc – a leading international waste-to-product business based in the United Kingdom. Construction of the facility commenced in spring 2015 and operations began in fall 2017.

“Designing, building and operating sustainably is at the core of achieving Surrey’s vision for a thriving, green, inclusive city,” said Mayor Linda Hepner. “I am extremely proud the collaborative efforts and sustainable decision making of everyone on our Surrey Biofuel Facility design-build team who were responsible for making this remarkable infrastructure project a reality.”

Renewi will operate the facility for a 25-year period. This partnership required teamwork and close consideration of shared challenges and opportunities throughout the planning, design and operational phases of the project. Other key firms involved in this state-of-the-art project included the building design firm Stantec Consulting Ltd., the contractor Smith Brothers & Wilson Ltd., and process design/construction by Waste Treatment Technologies BV from the Netherlands.

The Surrey Biofuel Facility earned high scores in the Leadership, Climate and Risk, and Natural World categories.

Key sustainable accomplishments include:

Leadership: The City of Surrey has demonstrated tremendous leadership by intentionally selecting CNG-powered vehicles to establish the option to transition them onto biofuel energy once the City could establish a reliable local supply. From the conception of the city’s overarching organic waste collection system, the City has always intended to pursue a closed-loop system. The completion of the Surrey Biofuel facility will help to realize the City’s vision to power its fleet of waste collection and service vehicles through natural gas produced from organics collected from residents and commercial enterprises throughout Surrey.

The City’s approach to organics waste management is both scalable and transferrable to other cities in North America with established organics diversion and collection programs. In fact, other Canadian municipalities are currently exploring opportunities to replicate this strategy for a closed-loop organics system because of this project’s anticipated success.

Sustainability is a core value of the City of Surrey, and the City based part of its selection process for the consortium of partners who have been working collaboratively to design, build and eventually operate this state-of-the-art project on sustainable performance This facility will be the first organic waste facility to be completed using this approach, and one of only five solid waste P3 projects Canada-wide, a testament to the project team’s leadership.

Climate and Risk: The Surrey Biofuel Facility is expected to have a negligible impact on air pollutant emissions, and the project’s anticipated emissions are far below the California Ambient Air Quality Standards, and well below the even more stringent British Columbia Air Quality Objective.

In addition to falling below air pollution emissions standards for the province of British Columbia and Canada generally, the Surrey Biofuel Facility is expected to be net carbon negative, and it is expected to contribute to a net reduction of more than 49,000 tonnes of CO2e (carbon emissions) after one year of operation. This net reduction in carbon emissions will be primarily achieved through the transition of anaerobic digestion of organic wastes, rather than open air composting.

Natural World (NW): The project site is surrounded by industrial lands. The City commissioned a full remediation of the entire site. Metals and hydrocarbons were among those contaminants removed from the site. No previously undeveloped land was acquired for this project.

Although the project is situated in an industrial area, the project team introduced significant landscape elements to preserve species biodiversity. Vegetation will include a wide range of native and non-native shrubs, and more than 20 trees which far exceed local tree protection bylaws.

To learn more about the Surrey Biofuel Facility, please visit surreybiofuel.ca.

ENERGY PROJECT: West Campus Utility Plant

11-July-2017

The University of Washington’s West Campus Utility Plant in Seattle is the recent recipient of the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) Envision Gold award. The Envision system rates sustainable infrastructure projects across the full range of environmental, social, and economic impacts.

The West Campus Utility Plant (WCUP) is a design-build project developed to expand central utility capacity for the University of Washington (UW). While the UW community is the primary user of the WCUP facility, the project team also worked with the local community to ensure the facility positively contributed to the broader university district, nearby neighborhoods, as well as the public. The project team also developed the utility plant project to align with several local infrastructure plans, including the UW Campus Master Plan, the West Campus Development Framework, and the U District Strategic Plan. Several organizations worked in close collaboration with UW to deliver the sustainable infrastructure project, including Mortenson Construction, Miller Hull, Arup, GGN, KPFF, and O’Brien and Company.

Conceived as an integral component of the broader community’s utility infrastructure, the WCUP project at UW was found to have commonalities with central utility plants that are more efficient, sustainable, and easier to operate, versus other types of utilities located within each of the campus’s many buildings. In this way, the WCUP has greatly improved infrastructure integration on campus.

Many stakeholders were consulted throughout the design of this project. Stakeholder feedback was sought, and concerns raised by stakeholders were explicitly addressed by the project team in the facility’s design, including visual impacts, noise and vibration, emissions, stormwater, and tree preservation.

“Recognizing that Envision was the most appropriate third-party rating system for our new West Campus Utility Plant, the University of Washington made the early decision to target Envision Silver verification. Through the collaborative efforts of everyone on our progressive design-build team, we actually surpassed our initial target and are thrilled to have received Envision Gold verification.  We understand that this is one of the first Envision verified projects for a higher education building in the United States and hope that our example inspires our other peer institutions to follow in our footsteps.”

– John Palewicz, Director of Major Capitol Projects, University of Washington

As a collaborative effort between ISI and the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, the Envision system rates the impact of sustainable infrastructure projects as a whole. The ISI Envision system measures sustainable infrastructure in five categories: Quality of Life, Leadership, Natural World, Resource Allocation, and Climate and Risk. These key areas contribute to the positive social, economic, and environmental impacts on a community.

Key sustainable accomplishments of the University of Washington’s West Campus Utility Plant include:

Leadership: The WCUP project team has demonstrated significant leadership in sustainable development by making public their sustainability commitments. For example, through the UW Sustainability Office, the Environmental Stewardship Committee, and the Campus Sustainability Fund, UW demonstrated clear and tangible commitments to the principles of sustainability. UW has implemented several sustainability policies, tracked a range of sustainability metrics campus-wide, funded student and faculty research in sustainability, and developed and implemented sustainable capital projects, such as the WCUP. All members of the project team have extensive experience designing and building sustainable infrastructure projects, and all key firms involved in this project make their sustainability commitments known through publicly accessible policies and annual sustainability reports.

The project delivery model, the Progressive Design-Build (PDB), used to deliver the WCUP was chosen as it fosters effective collaboration and teamwork between all members of the project team. The “design-build” aspect of the delivery method brought together the general contractor, architects and engineers. The “progressive” part of the model emphasized early design stage collaboration with the client (project owner) rather than a more traditional design-build model.

A key element of the PDB project delivery method for the WCUP was the early involvement of the constructor’s trade partners. Allowing trade partners (subcontractors) to make design suggestions based on their extensive knowledge of procurement, fabrication, and installation increased the efficiency of the project’s delivery.

Natural World: The WCUP incorporates measures to prevent pollutants from contaminating surface and groundwater, such as the redundant systems with sophisticated leak detection and monitoring. It is also equipped with a double-wall 30,000-gallon fuel oil storage tank and a fuel distribution system for the rooftop generators. This system is also equipped with a leak detector, and a transition sump design to contain potential fuel leaks. In addition, the project’s refrigerant monitoring system provides monitoring and automatic equipment shut down in the event of a refrigerant leak. During the design process, an abandoned underground oil storage tank was found on-site and all hazardous materials were abated and removed from the site to remediate existing and prevent future contamination.

Quality of Life: Prior to the WCUP project, the existing site was a parking lot with an under-used building, isolated foot path, overgrown vegetation, and an alley. The foot path was isolated from public view, attracting unwanted activities. The landscape design for the project improved these conditions, contributing to a more livable campus community. It improved access to existing amenities by repairing the pedestrian infrastructure and making it safer, enhancing the aesthetic character of the campus through the removal of overgrown vegetation, and creating an improved sense of safety and security by removing informal foot paths and adding lighting to the site.

A large polycarbonate screen wall was incorporated into the project’s design that serves to hide equipment from view, thereby improving the overall aesthetics of the building, and helping to maintain the character of the campus. This screen wall is also a unique campus landmark that will help orient pedestrians, and act as a distinctive “gateway” to the campus. Interactive LCD displays were incorporated at the pedestrian level of the WCUP to encourage participation in dynamic content and improve the overall appeal and character of the facility.

“The West Campus Utility Plant at the University of Washington is an excellent example of thinking differently about necessary infrastructure, such as a utility plant, and turning it into a more sustainable, aesthetically pleasing, and character enhancing project that benefits the community,” said ISI President and CEO John Stanton. “This project is testament to the University’s commitment to sustainability, and will serve the needs of the campus for decades to come. ISI is pleased to present this project with the Envision Gold award for sustainable infrastructure.”

To learn more about the West Campus Utility Plant, please visit http://millerhull.com/projects/#serve

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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AGRICULTURE/FARM: Kunia Country Farms

23-August-2016

Hawaii’s Kunia Country Farms project was awarded the Envision Gold award, becoming the first private corporation, and first entity in the state of Hawaii, to receive Envision sustainability recognition.

Kunia Country Farms (KCF) is one of the largest commercial aquaponics farms and producers of leafy greens in Hawaii. KCF project sustainably grows local produce in a manner that minimizes resources, achieves economic sustainability and helps reduce Hawaii’s food dependence on imports. Kunia Country Farms has become a main supplier of aquaponic lettuce to the islands’ supermarkets and high-end restaurants. The KCF project focuses on the development and implementation of Zero Impact Farming, which minimizes water and electricity use, soil degradation, pollution and other environmental economies, and maximizes land efficiency, labor efficiency, and the production process.

“Sustainable infrastructure comes in all shapes and sizes, and ISI is proud to recognize Kunia Country Farms for its contribution to the local community, environment, and economy” said ISI President and CEO, William Bertera. “Infrastructure serves the community, whether it is publicly owned or privately owned, and this project highlights the impact of the sustainability of privately owned infrastructure on the community.”

“The farm is designed to provide locally grown produce using sustainable techniques and practices, helping Hawaii achieve food independence from imports,” said Jason Brand, KCF owner and president of the Brand Industrial Group, Inc., which maintains active equity positions in sustainable farming and production ventures (including KCF) in Hawaii. “It is humbling to know that our efforts are having a positive impact on our community.”

KCFs sustainability achievements caught the attention of Blue Ocean Civil Consulting (BOCC), who nominated the project for assessment in the Envision rating system. “KCF took industry-transforming risks, and we were inspired by their innovation and commitment to sustainability and resiliency,” stated BOCC principal engineer Amber Takenouchi. “Envision verification provides a credible and independent means to measure the project’s sustainability successes and will further the KCF, BOCC and TEACHawaii missions.”

The Envision Action Committee of Hawaii (TEACHawaii) is exploring the potential implementation of Envision in Hawaii by educating people about the sustainability rating system. Member outreach, the TEACHawaii August 29 workshop, and the KCF Envision award will highlight the application of Envision to planning and engineering sustainable infrastructure throughout Hawaii and serve as a call to action. “The Envision rating system is a multi-tool with potential use in a wide variety of projects,” said TEACHawaii member Jon Young. “All projects – especially our public infrastructure projects, could use a greater focus on transparency, collaborative ingenuity, environmental responsibility, and resiliency. Envision promotes a streamlined navigation of sustainability goals.”

The Envision categories with the highest scores for the Kunia Country Farms project include:

Quality of Life (QL): The KCF project contributes to community attractiveness for both business and residents. New jobs are created and complimented by educational outreach and a commitment to hire locally. The local production of foods provided supply stability for the restaurant and supermarket industries.

Leadership (LD): Kunia Country Farms is committed to supporting sustainable practices and is a pioneer of commercial aquaponics technology in the region. The project team identified by-product synergies to minimize wastes at the community scale, such as repurposing shipping pallets for garden beds to save virgin materials. The leadership set aside resources to support long term monitoring and maintenance.

Resource Allocation (RA): The farm’s solar panels generate 100% of the project’s energy needs. The project also takes advantage of captured stormwater, water recycling, and water efficient practices to reduce the potable water use by more than 75% over industry norms.

Natural World (NW): The project was designed to integrate with the natural world to preserve prime habitat, restore farmland and also protect wetlands and surface water. The impacts of pesticides and fertilizers are reduced and measures were taken to prevent surface and groundwater contamination.

Climate and Risk (CR): The project team assessed the threat of climate change and developed an adaptation plan. They address short-term hazards, long-term adaptability, and other vulnerabilities.

ENERGY PROJECT: Tucannon River Wind Farm

9-November-2015

Portland General Electric’s (NYSE: POR) Tucannon River Wind Farm project has received the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) Envision sustainable infrastructure rating system’s Gold award. Tucannon River Wind Farm is the first energy project to receive an ISI Envision-verified sustainable infrastructure award in North America.

“As the first energy project to be verified by the ISI Envision system in North America, the Tucannon River Wind Farm is exemplary in the Envision sustainable infrastructure rating categories, which includes quality of life, leadership, resource allocation, and natural world, as well as climate and risk.” said ISI President and CEO, William Bertera. “The Tucannon River team achieved highly rated infrastructure characteristics due to their commitment to the principles of sustainability.”

Located on 20,000 acres near Dayton, Washington, the 267-megawatt wind project is one of two large wind projects owned and operated by PGE. The project produces clean renewable energy that helps PGE meet Oregon’s Renewable Portfolio Standard, which requires the investor-owned utility to supply 15 percent of the electricity to its customers from qualified renewable resources by 2015 and 25 percent by 2025.

Construction of the Tucannon River project began in 2013, and the facility went into commercial operation on Dec. 15, 2014. The wind farm includes 116 turbines atop 80-meter tubular steel towers. Given the variability of wind power, the plant produces an average of around 101 MW – enough to power the homes of about 84,000 average residential customers.

“PGE is committed to providing safe, reliable electric service to our customers in an increasingly sustainable manner. This means working in partnership with our stakeholders to consider the impact of our long-term business decisions on people, the planet and our performance,” said Jim Piro, PGE president and CEO. “Earning the Envision Gold award for our Tucannon River Wind Farm – the first energy facility in the nation to win this distinction – is a testament to the dedication and commitment of the PGE employees and contractors who stepped up to meet this challenge successfully.”

During initial phases, the Tucannon River project team looked at ways of reducing net embodied energy and designed the turbine foundations to reduce the amount of concrete. A significant portion of the construction materials used in the project was sourced locally. This reduced transportation costs and helped boost the regional economy. All the material excavated during construction was retained and reused onsite, and most of the wind farm components can be recycled at the end of the project life.

“As the provider of engineering and technical consulting services on the project, Burns & McDonnell is proud to have initiated and helped facilitate PGE’s application that resulted in achievement of the ISI Envision Gold award,” said Robert Healy, Burns & McDonnell Regional Global Practice manager. “We believe this will raise awareness of sustainable practices that will carry over to future projects.”

ISI’s Envision rating system measures sustainable infrastructure projects through the measurement of five categories: Quality of Life (QL), Leadership (LD), Natural World (NW), Resource Allocation (RA), and Climate and Risk (CR). These contribute to overall credits for the positive social, economic, and environmental impacts in a community in the planning, design, and construction of infrastructure projects.The Envision categories in which the Tucannon River Wind Farm scored highest include:

Quality of Life (QL): The project offers many benefits to the community including full-time, family-wage jobs, and income for local businesses, as well as increased county tax revenue and easement payments to landowners. It also benefits the Oregon economy by helping PGE provide customers with clean, renewable power at a reasonable price.

Leadership (LD): In the Leadership category, PGE established plans and resources necessary for the long-term monitoring and maintenance of sustainable performance for the completed project. In addition, environmental monitoring plans are used during operations to manage and protect sensitive natural and cultural resources.

Resource Allocation (RA): Tucannon River Wind Farm will provide a net positive amount of energy to the grid during the next 20 years. This project’s infrastructure contributes more than 676,000 megawatt-hours of clean, renewable energy to the grid each year. By contributing renewable energy to the grid, Tucannon River helps decrease dependence on fossil fuel energy sources and increase national energy independence.

Natural World (NW): Tucannon River Wind Farm was sited to avoid all wetlands and surface water, floodplains, steep slopes, and other potentially fragile or hazardous terrain. The project was also designed and constructed to avoid surface waters and to avoid contamination of waters. The project team reduced the use of hazardous and/or potentially polluting materials as much as was possible.

Climate and Risk (CR): The sustainable elements include that the project reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 92 percent during its lifetime compared to a conventional power plant with the same capacity.

The Tucannon River Wind Farm team thoroughly assessed likely hazards and upgraded designs to prepare for direct and indirect impacts of short-term hazards. In addition to hardening the infrastructure and configuring its systems to be more resilient to man-made hazards, designs have been implemented to withstand floods, wildfires, and extreme temperatures and winds. Specific protections have been added to address lightning strikes, ice storms, and seismic events.

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