Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project Sustainability Program- Update

Robert Hastings FAIA

TriMet, Agency Architect

Portland, Oregon

Holistic Approach with Measurable Results

• Leverage full Agency input

• Fulfill design team’s strategies

• Incite contractor’s engagement

• Field Office follow through

• Innovative measurement methodology

THE NEED FOR A FRAMEWORK

There’s been significant focus on the sustainability of the built environment, but not in infrastructure, which covers larger areas and has wider, more variable impacts.

The lack of indicators and assessment methods to comprehensively measure the progress toward sustainable infrastructure has been a barrier to its development.

Source Dasgupta and Tam, 2005 and metaculture.in

THE ENVISION RATING SYSTEM ™

Envision a Complete Approach

Purpose and goal

“The purpose of EnvisionTM is to initiate a systemic change…to transform the way infrastructure is designed, built, and operated.” -William Bertera

EnvisionTM is designed to be used as a project assessment tool and to provide guidance for sustainable infrastructure design.

Applies to all phases of infrastructure development.

What Types of Infrastructure Will EnvisionTM Rate?

ENERGY

Geothermal

Hydroelectric

Nuclear

Coal

Natural Gas

Oil/Refinery

Wind

Solar

Biomass

WATER

Potable water distribution

Capture/Storage

Water Reuse

Storm Water

Management

Flood Control

WASTE

Solid waste

Recycling

Hazardous

Waste

Collection &

Transfer

TRANSPORT

Airports

Roads

Highways

Bikes

Pedestrians

Railways

Public Transit

Ports

Waterways

LANDSCAPE

Public Realm

Parks

Ecosystem Services

INFORMATION

Telecommunications

Internet

Phones

Satellites

Data Centers

Sensors

Source: Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure 2013.

60 Credits in 5 Categories

Purpose, Community, Well-being

Siting, Land & Water, Biodiversity

Materials, Energy, Water

Collaboration, Management, Planning

Emission, Resilience

Source: Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure 2013.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Levels of achievement:

1.Improved

2.Enhanced

3.Superior

4.Conserving

5.Restorative

HOW CAN EnvisionTM be used?

Envision™ can be used by infrastructure owners, designers, constructors and policy makers to:

Organize sustainability commitments into a comprehensive framework.

Meet sustainability goals.

Be publicly recognized for high levels of achievement in sustainability.

Make decisions about the investment of scarce resources.

Include community priorities in civil infrastructure projects.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The PMLR will create a light rail alignment that travels 7.3 miles, connecting PSU in downtown Portland, inner Southeast Portland, Milwaukie and north Clackamas County.

MAX service is scheduled to begin in 2015.

The bridge will be highly versatile with tracks for light-rail and streetcar and allow for pedestrian and cyclists’ movement across the southern quadrants of the city.

TriMet Sustainability Drivers

Secure additional public support for projects and programs.

– How can TriMet leverage its sustainability commitment to garner additional funding from EPA/HUD/FTA Smart Communities grant program?

Help TriMet understand the significance of this project within larger transit industry.

Identify high-value sustainability initiatives that could be codified into best practices.

RFP Objectives

Help TriMet evaluate the effectiveness of its sustainability strategy

Identify additional opportunities for sustainable construction

Communicate the effectiveness of sustainability initiatives to internal and external stakeholders

Benefits of Our Approach and Envision

Provided guidance and tools to further improve the sustainability of the PMLR;

Will provide a baseline for future reporting and benchmarking by collecting and displaying sustainability metrics for the design and construction of the PMLR;

Will display the breadth and depth of TriMet’s commitment to sustainability in order to educate and hopefully inspire others outside of the agency; and

Will encourage an open and honest conversation about the challenges faced and solutions needed to move forward.

Positioned TriMet to receive additional funds from FHWA to apply INVEST.

Sustainability: Beyond the Triple Bottom Line?

Conventional sustainability frameworks seek to measure the ability to deliver economic performance, environmental excellence and social contribution.

Quadruple Bottom Line – Governance

Quintuple Bottom Line – Culture

How do you measure the effectiveness of sustainability strategies spanning these realms?

Envision helps you evaluate what matters,

and how much it matters. Scoring methodology combines qualitative and

quantitative assessment methods.

Qualitative approaches rely on:

• Explanation and description

• Dialogue, discussion and debate

• Iterative learning/double loop learning

Quantitative approaches rely on:

• Industry and agency-approved metrics for calculating measureable improvements, sometimes in relation to BAU.

“If we can come up with a set of metrics that people can agree to and that has the credibility … to measure and evaluate these projects, I think we’re going to have a very meaningful impact, a critically important impact, on preserving our environment.”

-Paul Zofnass, President, EFCG

Qualitative Assessment

Example: Turning building demolition into a training opportunity for local firefighters.

1. We crosswalk initiatives to the appropriate credit(s), which in this case is “LD1.3 Foster Collaboration and Teamwork.”

2. Using building demolition as a training opportunity shows a shift from BAU to a systems view of project design and delivery, helping TriMet earn a “Superior” Level of Achievement for this credit.

Quantitative Assessment to Answer “So what?”

1. Smart Track Engineering

2. Regenerative Energy Storage

3. Pervious Paving

4. EcoTrack

5. Material Upgrades

6. Bicycle/Ped Access

7. Bike/Ped Connections

8. Vehicle Charging Stations

9. Salvage Materials

10.Pervious Paving

11.Habitat

12.Flex Cars

13.Art…

Sustainability

Strategy

Effectiveness

Measure

Potential Measurement

Methodology Unit

Meaningful Interpretation of

Strategy

Potential/Example

of Meaningful

Interpretation

Smart Track

Engineering

Energy Savings, Air

Emissions Avoided

Measure the total amount of

energy saved due to adjustments

in track geometry over the

proposed lifetime of the system.

This measurement could be

interpreted from the track

profiles created by the Track

Engineer (URS).

Kilowatt Hours (kWh) of

Electricity Saved

Using Agency-Approved Equivalency

Calculators (Such as the EPA GHG

Calculator which can be accessed online at

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-

resources/calculator.html), develop

meaningful equivalency messaging.

"Smart Track Engineering

Saves Enough Energy to

Power X Number of

Portland Homes for One

Year".

Wayside

Regenerative

Energy

Storage

Energy Savings, Air

Emissions Avoided

Measure the total energy savings

realized by reconverting energy

by using motors as generators

when braking. This measurement

could be interpreted using

existing systems and

architectural plans prepared by

Systems Engineer (LTK).

Kilowatt Hours (kWh) of

Electricity Saved

Using Agency-Approved Equivalency

Calculators (Such as the EPA GHG

Calculator which can be accessed online at

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-

resources/calculator.html), develop

meaningful equivalency messaging.

"Regenerative Energy

Storage Saves Enough

Energy to Power X

Number of Electrical

Vehicles for One Year".

Salvage

Materials from

Selected

Demolished

Buildings

Waste Avoided, Air

Emissions Avoided,

Energy Saved,

Quantity of Oil and

Gas NOT

Consumed, and other

metrics.

EPA created the Waste

Reduction Model (WARM) to

help solid waste planners and

organizations track and

voluntarily report greenhouse

gas (GHG) emissions reductions

from several different waste

management practices.

Kilowatt Hours (kWh) of

Electricity Saved, Tons of

Emissions Avoided, Tons of

Waste Beneficially Reused,

Gallons of Gasoline Saved,

and more.

WARM allows users to compare baseline

scenarios of material consumption with

alternative, more sustainable scenarios. The

JLA team could populate material recovered

(tons) from buildings using data collected by

Stacy and Witbeck.

"During construction, the

PMLR team salvaged X

tons of building materials

for beneficial re-use. This

has the same impact on

the climate as planning X

number of trees."

Bicycle

Access/Bike -

Ped

Connection/

Flex Bicycling

Several, including

gallons of gasoline

saved, air emissions

avoided, and number

and type of non-

motorized transport

users.

The Transportation Research

Board has published data on how

bicycle access affects ridership.

Using this data as a baseline, the

JLA project team could apply a

framework for evaluating non-

motorized transportation

benefits and costs developed the

Victoria Transport Policy

Institute in British Columbia.

The "Units" of measurement

could be as diverse as the

categories of non-motorized

transport benefits and costs,

which include "Improved

walking and cycling

conditions ", "Increased

walking and cycling activity",

"Reduced automobile travel",

"Land Use Impacts",

"Economic Development",

and "Cost".

In the category of Reduced Automobile

Travel, examples of meaningful metrics

include congestion reduction, road and

parking facility cost savings, consumer

savings, accident reductions, energy

conservation and air emissions reductions.

"The PMLR makes it

possible for X number of

people a year to use their

bikes and public transit to

get to work. This amounts

to a savings of X gallons of

gasoline each year."

Wayside

Regenerative

Energy Storage

Energy Savings, Air

Emissions Avoided

Measure the total energy savings

realized by reconverting energy

by using motors as generators

when braking. This measurement

could be interpreted using

existing systems and

architectural plans prepared by

Systems Engineer (LTK).

Kilowatt Hours (kWh) of

Electricity Saved

Using Agency-Approved Equivalency

Calculators (Such as the EPA GHG

Calculator which can be accessed online at

http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-

resources/calculator.html), develop

meaningful equivalency messaging.

"Regenerative Energy

Storage Saves Enough

Energy to Power X

Number of Electrical

Vehicles for One Year".

Quantitative Assessment to Answer “So what?”

There are many ways to use EnvisionTM

• As an organizing framework.

• As an industry barometer.

• Envision Checklist.

• Project Assessment and Verification

There are many reasons to use EnvisionTM

Positions agencies to secure additional public support.

Encourages efficiencies.

Infrastructure specific.

Objective framework allows you to clearly measure whether sustainability objectives are met.

Comprehensive. Indicators include all life stages and reflect social, economic, and environmental aspects.

Cost-effective. ISI has done the hard work of compiling resources and analysis (e.g. LCA and Sustainable ROI).

Builds transparency and accountability / reduces risk.

Increase stakeholder support.

There are many reasons to use EnvisionTM (2 of 2)

Saves Money.

It’s the right thing to do.

Portland-Milwaukie Light Rail Project Sustainability Program- Update

Questions?

Robert Hastings FAIA

hastingb@trimet.org

Website:

http://trimet.org/pm/index.htm