Why isn't any building in JFK airport "green"?

posted by Barry Popik
Wed, 05/16/2007 - 9:03pm

Why isn't JFK airport "green"?

New York City is currently hosting an international climate summit. 16 cities have pledged to go "green" under a Clinton foundation plan.

JFK airport is America's gateway--the first impression most international visitors get of New York City. I was traveling through it yesterday and noticed a roof; it was not a green roof or a roof of solar panels, just a pretty bad and ugly roof. I checked the JFK airport website, and there are few (if any) environmental claims. A check of the Port Authority 2007-2016 Capital Plan Project List shows almost no innovative "green" plans for anything.

Why is JFK so far behind? Why not start here and tell the world? Is it because the Port Authority appointees are such slugs?

A new JFK Terminal 1 was completed in May 1998. A new Terminal 4 opened May 2001. Terminal 6 (JetBlue, which I used) is scheduled for some improvements, but not of the "green" kind. $250 million was given in 1998 for Terminal 7. Since 1999, $1.4 billion has been given for Terminal 8/9. Nothing is "green"?

Even Uganda announced a new solar airport. Here's a check around the country:

SAN FRANCISCO:

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=6098

March 1, 2002
San Francisco Airport Goes Solar
A 20 kW building-integrated photovoltaic array has been installed at San Francisco International Airport, which is now supplying a portion of the power needed at one of the airport's support buildings.

CHICAGO:

http://www.ohare.com/doa/avi_news/GreenRoofPressRelease2006.htm

O'Hare Goes Green
Airport building features environmentally friendly roof and solar panels

CHICAGO - As part of the Chicago Department of Aviation’s first annual “Month of the Environment,” O’Hare International Airport today unveiled its first “green” building.

Chicago Fire Department’s Rescue Building #3 features a 3,860 square-foot green roof designed to help improve air quality, conserve energy, reduce storm water runoff, reduce urban heat island effect, and serve as an insulated roof and a radiant barrier. The plantings, which include sedum and other groundcover, also provide an aesthetic benefit for Airport Transit System (ATS) riders, who can view the green roof as they travel to and from the terminal and the remote parking lots. In addition, the firehouse roof features ten solar-thermo collectors that capture the sun’s energy and heat the water circulated in metal tubes to provide hot water for the firemen who live and work within the building.

“Airport environment initiatives are an important part of the City’s ongoing efforts to make Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the nation,” said First Deputy Aviation Commissioner Patrick J. Harney. “In addition to our first “green” roof, we seek to educate travelers about the ways in which they can assist Chicago’s airports in our efforts to protect the environment.”

FRESNO:

http://www.calpilots.org/html/article.php?sid=1767

Saturday, April 14, 2007
Fresno Airport will Plug into Solar Power
By Jeff St. John
The Fresno (CA) Bee

Fresno Yosemite International Airport soon will be home to the largest solar power system of any airport in the country -- and under a plan approved this week by the Fresno City Council, it shouldn't cost the city a dime. That's because the 2-megawatt, $16 million solar system expected to be completed by March 2008 will be owned and operated by the New Jersey-based company that will build it, WorldWater & Power Corp.

In fact, under a power purchase agreement that is sweetened by state incentives and rebates administered through Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the new power system should save the airport about $13 million in electricity bills over the next 20 years, said Russ Widmar, the city's aviation director.

"We think it's a feather in our cap," Widmar said of the project, which is expected to see construction begin this summer. "It's the right thing to do. It continues the city's green policy, and, frankly, who wouldn't want to fix a portion of their utility bill for 25 years at rates that are comparable to today?"
That's the key to the project's cost savings, he said. With electricity costs increasing an average of 6% per year, being able to provide a slice of the airport's power needs at locked-in rates is almost certain to save money, he said.
After 20 years, the airport will take ownership of the system but will continue to work with WorldWater & Power under a set of operations and maintenance agreements for another five years, Widmar said.
The solar power system itself will be made up of 25 acres of photovoltaic solar panels spread across two locations, he said.
The first, an empty field owned by the airport at the southeast corner of Clovis and McKinley avenues, lies in the airport's restricted "clear zone," meaning no buildings can be erected on it, Widmar said. Solar panels are perfectly all right, however.
The airport's 5-acre rental car return lot also will have a set of solar panels that will do double duty as sun shades for the parking lot, he said. The airport had planned to build its own cover at the lot, so letting WorldWater & Power install solar collectors instead will save the airport about $5.5 million in construction and finance costs, he said.
Quentin Kelly, chief executive of WorldWater & Power, said the project is garnering some attention from managers of other airports across the country, though he declined to say which.
"I know of at least seven or eight other major airports that will be coming out to look at our system," he said.