Sustainability Works

Last month Allegheny County and the city of Pittsburgh, PA welcomed public works and sustainability professionals to the 2012 Sustainability in Public Works Conference.  Were you there?

This year's conference brought together sustainability experts and public works innovators from across the US and Canada to explore the latest trends, best practices and newest approaches to developing sustainable infrastructure and services in their communities. 

The conference was kicked off with a keynote address from Mayor Patrick Henry Hayes from North Little Rock, AR and current President of ICLEI- Local Governments for Sustainability USA. Mayor Hayes explained to the audience how his commitment the next generation along with the need to provide for economic development in his community led him to undertake an ambitious plan to transform North Little Rock.  Attendees at the conference had many great presentations (visit http://www.apwa.net/sustainability to see many of the handouts from these presentations) and technical tours to choose from including lessons from Monaca Borough where they are reaping big savings and other benefits  by transforming lighting in their communities; lessons on how a SMARTRAFFIC system can improve highway efficiency; and lessons from two communities who have embraced green infrastructure; and technical  tours to the David L. Lawrence Convention Center and the Allegheny County green roof.  Another highlight of the conference was the buzz around the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) and the EnvisionTM Sustainable Infrastructure Rating System.  There were two excellent presentations that demonstrated how EnvisionTM can be used in the planning and evaluating of projects and exposed attendees to the benefits that using the system can provide.  ISI also had a booth in the exhibit hall where interested attendees could learn more about ISI and how they can get involved. 

All in all the conference was a great success and staff at national could not have done it without the support and assistance from the Western PA Chapter of APWA, Allegheny County.  Both were great hosts.  As a mater of fact, the County Executive issued a proclamation recognizing APWA for its work and commending the association for its efforts to educate its members on sustainability in public works.  (read the Proclamation here).  Finally a big thanks goes to Cathy Trexlor and her team of great volunteers who helped staff ensure that all ran smoothly.  

If you were able to join us in Pittsburgh feel free to share your thoughts below.  If you couldn't make it this year, hopefully you can make it to next year's conference.  Planning is already underway.  Consider submitting a proposal (http://www.apwa.net/conferences/cfp for more details) and check back for new details about the 2013 Sustainability in Public Works conference.

New Sustainability Resources from the Emerging Leaders Academy Class of 2012.

Each year a small group of public works professionals participate in a year-long Emerging Leaders Academy that provides intensive leadership and management training within the context of public works. The ELA program encourages professional growth through a strong network of peers, and offers an in-depth introduction to APWA at the national, chapter, and branch levels.

Each ELA class selects a topic to focus its class project on and the ELA Class of 2012 focused its work on determining how can APWA integrate sustainable thinking into the public works profession as well as into the culture of APWA?

The goals of the class project focused on increasing awareness of sustainability principals and methods to those in the Public Works profession. The project goals were determined to include the following:

• Investigate currently available tools such as the Center's Framework for Sustainable Communities (http://www.apwa.net/documents/sust/framework_designFINAL.) and ISI's EnvisionTM sustainability rating system (www.sustainableinfrastructure.org)
• Produce a packet of tools that can be distributed to Public Works professionals that would assist them in integrating sustainable practices and policies into their organizations and projects
• Guidance for creating sustainability-focused RFPs
• Sample Board/Council letters to implement sustainable policies into local ordinances
• Video explaining what sustainability means in Public Works and the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure
• Develop a pilot program
• Develop a plan to distribute the packet to Public Works departments throughout the U.S.

The ELA Class of 2012 submitted its final project report in August and presented its findings during APWA Congress & Expo in Anaheim.  The final project report includes several helpful resources including sample council letters, sample RFP language, and an example of a project that used EnvisionTM to evaluate the sustainability of the project.  I encourage you to spend sometime reviewing these resources and thinking about how you can use them to bring more sustainable practices to your community.

It’s been a busy few months for the Institute of Sustainable Infrastructure. 

Stantec has become the most recent company to commit to getting at least 100 of its employees credentialed as ENV SPs this year. Other “fast track” companies are Arcadis, Arup, HDR, and Psomas.

This month’s edition of the APWA Reporter has two terrific articles on Envision^TM.

    - Vicki Vickery Quiram and Carl Quirams’ article: Envision – The tool that creates confidence.
    - Kim Lundren’s article ENV SP: The only accreditation I will ever have.


Many ENV SPs will be speaking at next week's 2013 APWA Sustainability in Public Works Conference.

     - Ann Radil will give a presentation on "Using Envision to Advance the Practice of Sustainable Design and    Construction"
     - Katherine Gies will discuss "Achieving Wastewater Treatment Plant Sustainability Goals Using Envision"
    - David Reardon and Stephane Laroque will talk about "Sustainable ROI: Making the Business Case for Sustainability"
    - Kim Lundgren will discuss "Assessing Vulnerabilities of Infrastructure to Climate Change"
     - Jay Bockish will present a "Comparison of Transportation Sustainability Rating Systems"
     - Rene Vidales will participate in a panel discussion of "North Park San Diego: From Historic Neighborhood to Sustainable Community"

The Center for Sustainability has also added new EnvisionTM resources to its website to help public works departments join ISI and to incorporate sustainability principles into RFPs.

ISI has added a new feature to its website that will help you find speakers or presenters for your conferences or meetings.  You can now "Request a Speaker" for your event or group to learn more about Envision^TM.   Download the form at the bottom of the Resources tab on ISI's website.