by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
The days of dumping anything and everything into landfills and waterways are rapidly coming to an end. So are the days of fluorescent light bulbs, gas-guzzling vehicles, underinsulated walls in new construction to hold down costs and poorly-timed traffic lights that leave one or two cars senselessly idling while no one zips through a green light.
Thursday, the Jacksonville Business Journal sponsored a green summit at the Hyatt. The day-long affair highlighted those issues and many others, all of which can be addressed through various cost-saving measures — measures that may be expensive on the front end, but pay off in the long run.
“The future is fraught with uncertainty regarding fuel costs,” said JEA CEO Jim Dickenson. “We have to focus on the things we can do.”
Dickenson was one of several speakers during the summit, which also featured break out sessions and panel discussions. Ebenezer Gujjariapudi, director or environmental resource management for the City, talked about the City’s efforts to build and renovate as “green” as possible and Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan explained how the Alachua County city of 125,000 made the conscious decision several years ago to provide incentives to developers who incorporated environmentally sound practices. The City of Gainesville has also been on the forefront of green practices for over a decade. The University of Florida is also participating.
“I suspect UF may have the highest concentration of green buildings in the state,” said Hanrahan, who has two degrees in environmental engineering from UF and is a member of the 2002 class of Leadership Florida.
Hanrahan said Gainesville offers developers several incentives to concentrate their efforts in the urban core of the town. Those incentives include: redevelopment, infrastructure, home ownership, energy efficiency and others.
Transportation is one area where Gainesville has been very successful.
“We require that any road built takes into account all modes of transportation,” she said. “We don’t just focus on moving cars, we focus on moving people.”
Those transportation incentives are working. Hanrahan said between the university, Shands Hospital, the Veterans Administration Hospital and downtown business, about 60 percent of daily commuters use mass transit. Gainesville, she said, is the 12th largest city in the state, but has the fourth highest mass transit ridership.
The city is also in the process of converting 168 traffic signals into an intelligent traffic system, meaning lights will change when traffic dictates, rather than on a timer. Hanrahan says this means on a yearly basis 3,000 tons of carbon dioxide will not be emitted into the atmosphere from idling vehicles.
Locally, Gujjariapudi said the City of Jacksonville is implementing several green practices. The renovated Haverty’s Building is being remodeled with the environment in mind and the brand new animal control building will be green.
“Not only are we looking at buildings, but also vehicles,” he said, adding there’s a mandate that City vehicles idle no more than two minutes at a time. “We are also looking at more satellite offices and we are phasing out fuel inefficient vehicles and replacing them with hybrids.”
Gujjariapudi said the green initiative is being administered through his office and while he’d like to implement as much as possible right away, the idea at first is to educate the citizens about environmentally friendly practices at work and home.
Dickenson said being cognizant of the environment certainly falls under the City and JEA. However, he also said businesses and individuals must also be aware of green practices.
“Every individual and business ought to think about mastering the use of water,” he said. “And, we need to take a longer look at decisions involving energy and water use on a daily basis. We need to ask ourselves, What am I doing? We need to take steps to create a business strategy. It is smart business.”
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