by Angela Miller
I am very excited to say that yesterday we heard through a press release that we were one of the Public Transit entities chosen by the US Department of Transportation to receive part of the funding from the green transit portion of the stimulus program.  One of the hats I am happy to wear at the District is that of leading the Sustainability program for the District.  I’ve previously blogged about attending some of the APTA Sustainability meetings, and on our desire to create a plan for the District.  But this is the largest sustainability project I’ve been able to facilitate since my arrival at the District.

This grant will allow the District to build on its basic commitment to the three elements of sustainability:  economic, social, and environmental.  We were awarded $2 million to build on our plan by investing in more innovative solar power installations at the District, and in to install plug-in vehicle charging stations at some of our rail parking facilities for our customers. 

The application process was highly competitive, with only $100 million available for Green Transit initiatives across the entire United States.  My organization was one of 43 entities receiving the funding, and received one of the largest awards in acknowledgement of the business case and ROI analysis put forth.  The project includes:

• Demonstrating the feasibility of deploying solar technology in the Rail right-of-way, thus leveraging space that cannot be utilized for other purposes.  Makes idle property more productive and possibly revenue-generating
• We will also be installing solar at maintenance and administrative facilities to offset power needs at those locations.
• Deploying parking spaces with charging units for plug-in vehicles as a value to our customers.
• Installing solar carports at some parking lots to both provide power and provide better parking options to our customers. 

This grant award is part of an overall commitment to sustainability that includes other steps like an energy-efficient data center, replacing parking lot lights with more efficient options, the creation of a new Compressed Natural Gas fueling station, our approach to transit-oriented design for transit centers and stations, the use of solar along the COASTER right-of-way to power our wireless security system, the replacement of older buses with CNG-powered vehicles, paratransit, and our commitment to being a long-term sustainability partner with the communities we serve.