Phoenicians can breathe a bit easier thanks to new city efforts to clean up the infamous “brown cloud.”
A recent emissions report shows that Phoenix is making significant improvements toward promoting sustainability. Mayor Greg Stanton announced at the Go Green Conference last week that greenhouse emissions have been lowered by 7.2 percent since 2005 — well ahead of their original goal of a 5 percent reduction by 2015.
Moving forward, Vice Mayor Bill Gates said he hopes to approve a plan to cut emissions by a total of 15 percent by 2015.
The city hired ASU Sustainability Solution Services, an agency mixed between students and faculty, to monitor the progress since the city decided to reduce emissions in 2008.
The findings of the 2012 Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reductions Report outlines the success of city measures such as solar projects and the switch to clean or alternative fuel for more than 50 percent of the city’s vehicles.
Reducing methane gas produced at landfills was Phoenix’s biggest success, according to the report.
Rajesh Buch, practice lead for the Sustainability Solutions Services, said that the city’s use of wells in its landfills now captures 85-90 percent of the methane generated.
“As landfilled waste decays it produces methane gas, also known as landfill gas,” Buch said in an email. “If the methane gas is left uncaptured, it vents to the atmosphere as a fugitive emission.”
Methane emissions have 21 times the global warming potential as carbon dioxide, Buch said.
“By building a well system into the landfilled material and actively drawing on the landfill, the methane gas produced by the landfill can be collected and flared or combusted for energy,” Buch said.
Despite the city’s accomplishments, some believe that the initial goal of 5 percent was too conservative.
Sandy Bahr, director of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club located in downtown Phoenix, said that while the number was conservative, she is glad the city is making an effort.
“Some cities are looking at it and doing things; Phoenix is one of them,” Bahr said.
Gates was not in the City Council when the initial goal was made, but he said he believes the city chose 5 percent as a good place to start.
“This was a new undertaking … the city had never done anything like this before,” Gates said. “Looking back on it now, we have a much better view of what we can get accomplished.”
The initial goal was realistic “based on the viability of emissions reduction capabilities and potential,” said Richard Rushforth, graduate student and project manager for the Sustainability Solutions Services .
To nearly double the current rate of reduction, the city will have to increase existing efforts and look to new areas where sustainability can be promoted, Gates said.
Gates, who also serves as the chairman of the Finance, Efficiency and Economy Subcommittee, said that all existing traffic signals will be using LED bulbs by 2015, whereas just 70 percent currently use LED bulbs.
There will be a project in the works to convert biogas emitted from wastewater facilities into energy, a project he has been pushing for several years, Gates said.
Becoming sustainable is an important effort for Phoenix now, Gates said.
“Millennials are demanding that their cities have more of a focus on sustainability, in fact companies are as well,” Gates said. “When new businesses are trying to decide where to relocate, (sustainability) is one of the items they are looking at.”
Promoting sustainability can also save taxpayer dollars and improve living situations, Gates said.
“We are all familiar with the brown cloud and the issues that we have,” Gates said. “Being sustainable can only help us in those efforts to cleaner air.”
Bahr also agreed that sustainability is an important focus not only for Phoenix, but for Arizona as a whole.
“In Arizona, we are in a place where we are experiencing the intense effects of climate change,” Bahr said. “We are obviously glad that the city is focusing on it, but at a state level there is not much happening other than denial.”
Contact the reporter at clongbon@asu.edu
