I am very excited to say that working with our consultant TrustElement, we were able to join the Climate Registry this week.  I struggled with this concept initially for NCTD: what taxapayer or ridership value would we bring to the table for making the investment in measuring and reporting emissions, waste, and water usage data to this nonprofit organization?

At the end of the day, the concepts of auditing, data quality, and transparency seemed important to our community.  It has become too easy to say one is engaging in projects that are “green” or “sustainable” without some independent validation of these statements.  The Climate Registry requires that all reporting entities be validated by an independent and certified third party.  This means that our communities and riders could have confidence that the data the NCTD is reporting is in fact accurate.  This to me seemed worth the investment.

There is a downside to all of this work; however.  I am afraid to say that our initial baseline year does not measure up well to other industry entities.  In transit, one important metric is the amount of carbon public transit offsets.  So for every ton of carbon generated by our agency in conducting operations, we in theory offset an amount by having our riders avoid independent emissions from their choice to ride our more efficient service rather than driving their own car.  In New York, the MTA is able to achieve an emissions factor of 12 – for every 1 ton of carbon, they offset 12 tons.  Chicago achieved 5 this year.  Philadelphia 3.  The industry average is 1.9.  Unfortunately, NCTD is 1.6 for calendar year 2009.

The good news is that this gives us a new set of targets and goals to achieve to improve this number.  As part of our plan, in 2010 we turned on the green data center, we started deploying solar installations, we installed emissions controls on a segment of the Breeze bus fleet, and in September 2010 we installed a driver feedback system on the buses called GreenRoads to try to improve gas mileage.

Regardless of the numbers we achieved in our baseline year, by measuring ourselves and by having that number audited and verified, our community can now see the progress we make and trust that the numbers are real.

I am happy to say that after many challenges, we were able to turn on the SPRINTER solar system today.This system was funded by the ARRA Transit Investments in Greenhouse Gas Reductions (TIGGER) grant.  It is approximately 225 kw, and should offset almost 30% of the power needs for the facility – which is a good thing as the SPRINTER Maintenance facility draws more power than any other site at NCTD.

This project ran into many complications, not the least of which was the need to repair the facility roof.  We could have made the decision to compromise on the quantity of panels at the facility, but I think we made the right choice to go ahead and fix a facility that is a mission-critical site for the agency.

We also faced the significant challenge of putting panels in an area that is designated as a bioswale for retention of water and prevention of nonpoint source pollution runoff.  In order to protect that purpose, we  had to replace the irrigation system and all of the vegetation with something more suitable to the new environmental conditions.  The added benefit is that is allows us to cut our water consumption by over 25% at the site.

I want to say a big thank you to Dan Harding and Seth Worden at Transit America, and to Josh Beeson at Martifer Solar.

I spoke today with Bob Mobach – one of my technology gurus at Logicalis – about my concerns about the non-green generator.  After much discussion and research, we have again validated our decision to move forward with the generator.  He had some excellent insights about why we are in this position, and when some of the alternative technologies are more appropriate.

NCTD requires a high-availability environment now.  There is no getting around the fact that we run important, mission-critical systems on our infrastructure, and as such we can no longer afford to have unexpected and unplanned outages.  To meet this basic requirement, we must have the capability of creating power on-demand, nearly instantaneously should our power fail.  There simply are few choices on the market today to address this need for a facility of our size.

We could have taken the approach that we would provide our own ‘co-lo’ power via a set of natural gas generators.  This scenario would have allowed us to failover to SDG&E power should the natural gas units fail.  This option does not really make sense for our data center because firstly we’ve invested in solar pv power to offset the power demands, and secondly because our data center power draw is really too small to make this economical.  So from a business case, this is a poor choice for our scenario.

Another option was the fuel-cell based UPS.  The problem with this approach is simply the cost and the durability of the power.  We have had now two outages this year over 6 hours in duration.  There is simply no way we could sustain the entire data center on the fuel cells for this long.  And again, the business case is not there.

We are now investigating alternative fuel sources for the Kohler generator – either ‘clean diesel’ or biofuels.  While the biodiesel seems like a natural choice, the biggest issue is the long-term storage of the fuel.  Fuel that sits around for months can degrade due to algae or condensation.  Research indicates that not many entities are yet using biodiesel as their fuel choice for standby scenarios where the generator is not going to be used frequently.  So my next step is to contact the manufacturer to determine whether a biodiesel mix is appropriate in the generator, and what they would believe the ideal mix to contain.  We will then compare this to the emissions, performance, and price of ‘clean diesel.’

So while I am still not 100% reconciled that installing a generator is moving us in the right direction for a green data center, I am convinced that we’ve made the business decision which balances our environmental needs with our business realities.

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.

by Angela Miller
We haven’t formally announced it yet, but yesterday NCTD went live on Google Transit finally.  This was a nearly 9 month effort to get our schedules loaded into the Google Maps tools.  Now when people are looking for directions in San Diego County, they can also choose to find the optional public transit path with next departure times.

The thing that is really nice about this tool is that it consolidates information from NCTD, San Diego Metropolitan Transit System, Amtrak, and other southern California transit entities so that it doesn’t matter who is providing the service you can still easily plan the trip.

Anything that makes public transit a more convenient option for the community is a good investment in my mind.  And unlike some of the other technology investments, this one cost the District almost nothing and should have a significant return.

My plan is to now jump off of this and leverage this tool to provide better information for the community through kiosks, and devices for our security and customer service teams that help all users better plan their trips.

Also thought I would mention that there is a SPRINTER application in the iPhone Applications Store.  I’m not endorsing it, but it is there.  This application was built by an independent third party developer using just our paper schedules.  My intent is to make our schedules available in the Google Transit Feed format on our website for any developer who might want to create applications.  Exciting stuff.

by Angela Miller
A few months ago I wrote a post about attending an American Public Transportation Association meeting on Sustainability and how I felt out of place as the only IT person in the room.  Today I had yet another lonely experience.  I was the only person in the collection of IT professionals in public transit focused on green technology. 

I gave a presentation on how transit entities can take small steps to make incremental progress toward greening their data center.   I’m not sure that my observations could compete with the more exciting presentations like iPhone applications and Google Transit.  But I think the slide that showed how making a simple change in our desktops and monitors had actual dollar savings and a measurable reduction in our carbon footprint made some impression.

by Angela Miller
We had some excitement today at my office.  We noticed around 4:30 this morning that we dropped our connectivity to some of the servers – never a good sign when you are seeing multiple notifications from the automated system.  Turns out that the air handling I’ve discussed in other posts just wasn’t up to the job.  One of the two air conditioners blew, and the second one did not take over as designed.  In under 20 minutes the room hit 117 degrees, and servers started shutting down.

Walking into that environment this morning was a little heart-stopping.  The room was filled with smoke, but fortunately nothing was on fire.  Things generally performed as they should after an incident like this, and most of the servers shut down as they were designed to do.

This incident could have been far worse.  We could have lost equipment, or data, or actually had a fire in the room.  But it is still a wake-up call that we must invest in remediating the data center.  Fortunately, we’re hearing about the possibility of stimulus money from the federal government for transit.  So my goal over the next week will be to brush off the grandiose plans for that green data center and start working on getting together biddable requirements for a project.

by Angela Miller
Apologies while I divert for a moment and show off one of my green-geek-toys:  my completely ridiculous electric bicycle.  This may seem a strange investment for someone who already owns a hybrid car and has a mere 15 miles to commute to the office. 

I completely embrace the fact that this is as my son says “gooby”.  I had grandiose plans of riding my regular bicycle either to the train station or all the way to the office, but after a couple of aborted trials I am free to admit that I am simply too out of shape for such folly.

But this bicycle makes me laugh as I ride.  My neighborhood is very hilly, but a little crank on my throttle and the little electric motor helps me to easily reach the tops of the hills.  And it folds – it folds!  It has been a great conversation starter on the train as it definitely looks different than your regular bike.

So while I am not likely to ride this everyday like a good eco-junkie would, I do think I’ll use it a couple of times a week down to my local SPRINTER light rail station.

by Angela Miller
Today I finalized our official Technology/E-Waste Recycling Policy at NCTD.  I am happy about this policy for a couple of reasons.  While we have traditionally attempted to sell our surplus or retired equipment, it usually is at a loss.  The way we are required to do this is that we pay an auction company to come retrieve the equipment and sell it for us with a revenue-sharing approach.  While this would be excellent if we had items of value, most of the equipment I intend to retire really has no useful life in it.  We are going to be retiring switches and routers that are more than 10 years old, desktop computers that are 7 years old… in other words, we usually end up owing money in the auction process.

So I was happy to be able to garner agreement from the executive team for a Technology Recycling Policy.  We have put three local companies through an evaluation process to determine which offers the best combination of price, safety, security, and obviously the greenest recycling program.  Happily the managers agreed that using a company which would recycle our materials at no cost to us was not only a smarter fiscal approach, it is a more environmentally-friendly approach.

Having a formal corporate recycling policy is a wise decision no matter the size of your firm.  It is important in this process to develop a solid set of criteria for determining when equipment has reached the end of its useful life, when you might be able to trade-in for credits with your equipment manufacturer, and when it is most appropriate to recycle.  Our policy includes not only these decision criteria, but also metrics for measuring our disposal of e-waste, and a scorecard for ensuring that our vendors meet our sustainability goals.

This scorecard is an important approach because we are not interested in inappropriate disposal.  Unfortunately many companies that recycle do so by simply shipping our e-waste overseas where is poses significant problems to the third-world countries that accept it.  Instead, NCTD wants to insure that the components are broken down locally and all viable materials are separated and recycled here in the United States.  My message to other IT Managers and CIOs is to do your homework on this issue to ensure your policy is indeed a sustainable one.

Dig deeper on the issues:

I relied on the following sites for analysis in support of this post:

Natural Resources Defense Council
TechNews Article
Geeks.com Article
PBS Frontline Article on Poor E-Waste Policy

by Angela Miller
Not every company gets to invest in the top-of-the-line data center to run their operations.  In fact, I would imagine that most IT people reading this would agree that we face serious constraints in our data centers.  Unless the company’s core business is technology, spending money on the rooms and spaces that house the technology infrastructure often ranks far lower in the executive mind than other operational concerns.

So as I walked into my new role as CIO for the NCTD, I knew that there were going to be issues with my core infrastructure and facilities.  On the one hand, NCTD has invested wisely in the basic facility infrastructure.  Unlike some SMB and governmental agencies, we do in fact have a true data center.  We have fire suppression, and a nice footprint, and standard data center design from the 1980s.  I was pleasantly surprised to have this as a foundation on which to build.

But we also face significant challenges in that space – we have a clash of the old and the new – with both a Prime mini-computer occupying a significant portion (almost 30% of the footprint) of the room, and racks full of rack-optimized computers.  There has been no investment in newer thinking about the data center – blades, virtualization, storage area networks, etc.  Of greatest concern for me are power and air handling.  My data center has two Carrier units that intake the air on floor-level and blow out the cooler air through a large set of blowers.  The torrent of air that whooshes through this small room is impressive.

We installed some environmental monitoring devices and discovered that in addition to the obvious problems with the air handling, we also now have a significant humidity issue.

So we have decisions to face at the company- do we invest in upgrading the data center?  Do we move instead to a co-location facility?  How are we going to handle disaster recovery?  These questions form an excellent backdrop for a question more pertinent to this blog – is it possible to employ greener approaches to the technology while still living within our means?  Will I have a business case for a more sustainable data center?

My intent is to focus over the next several months on my data center challenges in this blog to see whether I can make that business case.  It will be challenging, especially for a small team on a tight capital investment budget.   But I believe that making small, but greener, choices at NCTD will cumulatively lead to a more sustainable technology program for the District.