Green
Green Washington 2011: Government/Academic
By Sheila Cain, Sarah Dewey and Aaron Alan Tilley September 16, 2011
This article originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of Seattle magazine.
Winner: Port of Seattle
The Port of Seattle runs Seattles airport and seaport.
GREEN ACTIONS Its an impressive list, from creation of a centralized preconditioned air system for aircraft parked at gates at Sea-Tac Airport to implementing electric ground support equipment, from spearheading the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest (SAFN) project to food-scrap collection and off-aircraft recycling. And then theres the At-Berth Clean Fuels (ABC Fuels) program for cruise ships and the Scrappage and Retrofits for Air in Puget Sound (ScRAPS) program for vehicles operating at port terminals.
RESULTS Equally impressive: reduction of about 50,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually; 180 tons of recyclable materials diverted from landfills in 2010; more than 100 tons of food scraps diverted from landfills in six months; reduction of about 340 metric tons of sulfur dioxide emissions from Port of Seattle terminals in two years; 280 trucks with engine model years between 1970 and 1993 scrapped.
Runner Up: Washington State University
State research university with campuses in Pullman, Spokane, Tri-Cities and Vancouver.
GREEN ACTIONS Recycling services are provided to all buildings and public areas. The Move Out & Pitch program collects items left by students and redistributes them to nonprofit organizations. The print shop was the first university printer in the nation to achieve Forest Stewardship Council certification. A new composting system will reduce water and energy use. The Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach (CEREO) is a national leader in clean-tech research.
RESULTS Sixty tons of waste have been recycled after major sporting/entertainment events on the Pullman campus. CEREO has won multiple grants, including one for a project to understand interactions among carbon, nitrogen and water. A new composting system and an upgrade in the chilled-water system will reduce the schools annual carbon footprint by 650 metric tons.