Sustainability Team
The Sustainability Team is made up of seven members representing the City Manager’s Office, the Parks Department, Fleet Services, Building Codes, Engineering and Storm Water Utility. Their initial focus areas include energy efficient lighting, the use of recycled paper, hybrid cars, and calculating the carbon footprint
of the City government.
Police Department Patrol Vehicles Go Green
The Police Department has purchased four new patrol cars which are six-cylinder models and will use less fuel. The vehicles will be the smaller Dodge
Chargers and Chevrolet Impalas. They are expected to get around 17 miles per gallon. Other patrol cars are eight-cylinder and are the traditional Ford
Crown Victoria’s and average around 12 miles per gallon.
Officers will monitor the mileage, savings, durability and performance of the cars. They will decide if the smaller vehicles are good for the type of
miles and work that is required in patrol activities. Also, two Toyota Priuses were purchased for the unmarked fleet.
Green Sweepers
The City has purchased seven (7) new street and they all use green technology. The Purpose-Built Three-Wheeled Mechanical Street Sweepers have diesel
engines, meet the 2007 clean air emissions standards and can use up to B-20 (20% Bio-Diesel) fuel to further reduce emissions that impact the environment.
The street sweepers are self propelled by hydraulically driven wheel motors.
The units will be used in the Public Works Department for street cleaning and in the Parks and Recreation Department for facility, street and parking lot
cleaning. The seven new units will replace nine (9) current street sweepers that have exceed their life cycle. The fleet reduction of two (2) units is
achieved through department sharing of combined resources under Centralized Fleet Management and saves $319,000 in acquisition costs and $50,000 per year
of repair and maintenance costs.
New Parks Maintenance Facility is LEED Certified
In July 2008, the City of Des Moines Park and Recreation Department received certification for the Des Moines metro area’s first Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)* building, the West Zone/Glendale Maintenance Facility located at 4909 University Avenue in the
Glendale Municipal Cemetery building complex. This facility is a major milestone in the City of Des Moines’ effort to address all aspects of
its business with a mindset of conservation and sustainability and is among a select group of sustainable and innovative buildings that have
been recognized for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and certified by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED is
the USBGC’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high-performing buildings.
Click here to view the ratings received for certification of the West Zone/Glendale
Maintenance Facility. It is the city’s goal to incorporate the LEED criteria wherever possible in the building projects it undertakes in the
future.
The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based standard to support and certify successful green building design,
construction and operations. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in six key areas of human
and environmental health: sustainable site development; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; water efficiency; indoor environmental
quality; and innovation and design. Click here for detailed information of these categories
as they relate to certification credits received by the West Zone/Glendale Maintenance Facility project. Factors particular to certification of the
West Zone/Glendale Maintenance Facility include the following:
- The building achieved more than 30% higher energy efficiency than required by the current energy code.
- The metal roof meets the requirements to be considered a “cool” roof, reflecting the heat away from the building, and thus reducing the need for more cooling.
- An irrigation system was not needed because the grass and plantings are native or adaptive to this area.
- 21% of the project’s materials were manufactured and harvested within 500 miles of the site.
- 15% of building materials contained pre-consumer recycled content and post-consumer recycled content.
As noted, the West Zone/Glendale Building is the first project in the Des Moines metropolitan area to received LEED certification and is the first
municipal building in the state to receive this certification. Facilities in the central Iowa area that have previously received this
certification include projects at Central College in Pella, Grinnell College in Grinnell and Iowa State University in Ames. Buildings
constructed in 2008 under the LEED project program, and for which certification is being sought, include Polk County’s Oliver Plaza Renovation
on Euclid Avenue and a joint project of the City of Des Moines Park and Recreation Department and Polk County – the Martin Luther King Park
Shelter and Congregate Meal Site, located at East 17th and Garfield.
About the U.S. Green Building Council: “A sustainable-built environment within a generation” is the vision of this nonprofit membership
organization. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since
USGBC’s founding in 1993, it has grown to more than 13,000 member companies and organizations, a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates,
and organizing groups and a comprehensive family of LEED green building rating systems. More information about LEED and the USGBC can be
found at www.usgbc.org.