Solutions Volume 10, Issue 1

January 2019, Volume 10, Issue 1

For a sustainable and desirable future

Solutions 10th Anniversary Issue The National Western Center and the Sun Valley EcoDistrict

by Jocelyn Hittle and Chris Parr Sustainability at Denver International Airport

by Scott Morrissey Sustainability Finds a Home on the Range

by Jarrett Wendt Energize Denver

by Katrina Managan and Lauren DĂŠriaz Building a Sustainable and Resilient Urban Water Strategy

by Will Sarni www.thesolutionsjournal.com USD $5.99 CAD $6.99 EURO â‚Ź4.99

Entrepreneurs and Wicked Problems

by Tom Higley

A NEW DAWN FOR BUSINESS EDUCATION Our Vision — Helping business become stewards of society to improve the quality of life on earth

www.regis.edu/cbe

Tinianow, J. (2019). Solutions Journal 10th Anniversary Issue. Solutions 10(1): 1. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/solutions-journal-10th-anniversary-issue

Editorial by Jerry Tinianow

Solutions Journal 10th Anniversary Issue

S

ustainability solutions take many different forms. Reflecting that, this Tenth Anniversary issue of The Solutions Journal is different from any of the previous issues. The Solutions Journal has never before focused an issue on a single location. This issue is devoted exclusively to sustainability solutions in and around the city of Denver, Colorado.

Why Denver? It’s a medium-sized city of about 700,000, located where the American Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains. Its population is young, diverse and well-educated.

It’s a capital city, specifically the capital of the State of Colorado. It’s an international city, with one of the busiest hub airports in the world. It’s an academic city, with several large academic institutions nearby, including the University of Colorado, the Colorado School of Mines, Colorado State University and the U.S. Air Force Academy. And it’s the center of a region of high-tech institutions like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Denver has many advantages, but it also has many challenges. As American cities go it is relatively remote. Its central inland location puts it far from deep-water ports and other population center. It takes nearly a full day to drive to any other city of comparable size. Its relatively poor soils and semi-arid, four-season climate limit what can be grown nearby. It can sustain long-term prosperity only through careful attention to sustainability of the basic resources upon which that prosperity depends.

Despite these challenges, Denver’s historic attention to sustainability has made it one of the fastest-growing and most prosperous cities in the United States. At the core of its sustainability

success lies a culture of collaboration.

In Denver, businesses work well with government and with each other.

Non-profits thrive. Neighborhood and community organizations are numerous and engaging. Denver is a city where newcomers are welcome and can advance quickly, while families going back many generations remain to provide a sense of continuity.

together for ten intense days to develop private business solutions to ten of the most wicked sustainability challenges that Denver and other cities face.

Collaboration in Denver does not stop at our border. As our Mayor, Michael B. Hancock, points out in his article, Denver strives to set a good example, while recognizing that it cannot solve global problems like rapid

Denver’s historic attention to sustainability has made it one of the fastest-growing and most prosperous cities in the United States.

This issue reports on many separate initiatives. Some involve energy and greenhouse gas reduction, areas where Denver has enjoyed notable success.

Some involve water, always a challenge in a region that is dry to begin with and is subject to serious droughts even as the population grows rapidly. Indeed, water issues cut both ways in Colorado; sometimes we have too little, and other times we have too much; both challenges are addressed in this issue.

The issue also highlights how the Denver community collaborates so successfully. One article discusses the close relationship that Denver has developed with its investor-owned utility, Xcel Energy. Another describes the relationship between those two entities and Panasonic, which will result in the development of a new “smart city” near the airport. Another article discusses how Denver works internationally to bring in Israeli technology and experience to solve nearby problems. There is also an article on the 10.10.10 initiative, which brings ten serial entrepreneurs

climate change on its own. Denver works to export its successes to other cities, and in turn to learn what’s working for them. Such intercity cooperation and coordination is always important, but particularly so during the present time, when the U.S. federal government has abandoned climate leadership. This is why I welcomed to opportunity to be the guest editor of this issue; because the issue provides us with another opportunity to engage the rest of the world in Denver’s sustainability model.

The Solutions Journal represents an ongoing effort to inform the world about what works in sustainability. It celebrates success, and also promotes replication. I hope that this unique issue, which tells the story of how one very special place is addressing sustainability on multiple levels, will serve to inspire other cities to aim for a similar level of innovation, engagement and commitment. Ultimately, sustainability can only be achieved through a sustained and coordinated global effort.

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Contents

January 2019

Features

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The National Western Center and the Sun Valley EcoDistrict: Infusing Large-Scale Urban Development Projects with Sustainability

by Jocelyn Hittle and Chris Parr

Cities are defined by iconic district-level projects that embody the community’s fundamental values. Two projects in Denver, the National Western Center and Sun Valley, will showcase the latest in energy efficiency, renewable energy, water conservation and solid waste reduction.

The search for real answers begins with Solutions

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Sustainability Finds a Home on the Range

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Energize Denver: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Large Buildings in Denver

Become a Partner Your contribution is essential to our work!

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by Jarrett Wendt

Panasonic was looking for a new headquarters for its U.S. business operations and wanted a city with a strong track record in sustainability and public-private collaboration. It found one in Denver.

by Katrina Managan and Lauren Dériaz

Through a carefully-organized program of requiring large commercial buildings to record and report their energy usage publicly, Denver saw a 4.5 percent reduction in energy used in such buildings in just the first year of the program.

Join the Dialogue Submit your thoughts, data, and innovations in the form of articles, news stories, features, or online comments. Follow us and shout out on Twitter @SolutionsMag on Facebook @SolutionsJournal and on Instagram @Solutions.Journal.

What are your #solutions?

by Scott Morrissey

At the Denver International Airport, careful planning, committed leadership, and a willingness to innovate are demonstrating that sustainability can be a fundamental feature of one of the busiest airports in the United States.

Join the Solutions Team Become a part of the global Solutions team. Applications are invited for volunteer section editors. Have Solutions delivered to your door or devices with our PDF subscription. Keep up to date on our latest articles and gain exclusive access to online and face to face Solutions events.

Sustainability at Denver International Airport

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Transforming a Voter Initiated Green Roof Ordinance into Denver’s Ambitious New Green Building Policy by Katrina Managan

Denver’s new Green Building Policy, which originated as a voterpassed initiative, will require continued transformation of building energy performance, while providing flexibility to building owners.

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Building a Sustainable and Resilient Urban Water Strategy by Will Sarni

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Entrepreneurs and Wicked Problems by Tom Higley

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As the world becomes ever more urban, providing potable water in large urban areas is critical to their sustainability and resilience, particularly in cities like Denver that are situated in arid climates.

The unique 10.10.10 program is harnessing the power of private innovation to bring ten “serial entrepreneurs” together for ten intense days to create businesses that might help solve ten wicked problems.

On the Web

Perspectives

www.thesolutionsjournal.com Explore the Solutions website for more content and interactivity. What are your solutions? Share your vision for a sustainable and desirable future and learn more about the Solutions community.

Envisioning

Strange Bedfellows: How Municipal Officials are Collaborating with Local Academics to Address the Effect of a Trade War on Sustainability

by Jiban Khuntia, Xue Ning, and Elizabeth Cooperman

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ICLEI and USDN: The New Era of Intercity Collaboration by Angie Fyfe

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Regenerative Community Hubs: Creating a Finer Future in Your Place

by L. Hunter Lovins

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On the Ground A Unified Mountain City Committed to Sustainable Action by Janna West-Heiss

The Sustainable Denver Summit is a unique event among municipalities striving for sustainability. Based on the Clinton Global Initiative, the Summit focuses on action, not just talk. In three years it produced over 225 written commitments from businesses, non-profits and government agencies to specific actions that will advance community sustainability.

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Opening the Gates: Making a National Wildlife Refuge Accessible to Diverse Communities by Scott Gilmore

A Big-City Mayor Looks at Sustainability

by Mayor Michael B. Hancock

Sometimes meaningful access to nature is just footsteps away for underserved low-income neighborhoods. But first you have to open the gates.

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Idea Lab Noteworthy

10 In Review

The Denver-Xcel Energy Memorandum of Understanding: A New Model for City-Utility Cooperation

Life After Carbon a book review by Michael Armstrong

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A Finer Future a book review by Mairi-Jane Fox

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Direct Current Microgrids: The Wave of the Future?

PIPs Rewards­Valuing the Good You Do Every Day

Building Denver’s Green Infrastructure Program: Meeting Multi-Faceted Problems with Multi-Pronged Solutions

Editorial

Partnering Across International Boundaries for Water Security Through Technology and Startup Support

A mobile app review by Wendy Gordon

Solutions Journal 10th Anniversary Issue

by Jerry Tinianow

Why Denver? Sustainability Innovation in the Mile High City

by Editor-in-Chief Beth Schaefer Caniglia, Ph.D.

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The Solutions Journal Editor-in-Chief: Beth Schaefer Caniglia Associate Editors: Robert Costanza (Australia National University) Hunter Lovins (Natural Capitalism Solutions) Ida Kubiszewski (Australian National University) David W. Orr (Oberlin College) Managing Editor, History Section Editor: Frank Zelko, University of Vermont Book & Envisioning Editor: Bruce Cooperstein, University of California, Santa Cruz Media Section Editor: Rebecca Sheehan, Oklahoma State University Print Graphic Designer: Kelley Dodd On-Line Layout Design: Koen Dekeyser, University of Pretoria Editorial Board Gar Alperovitz, University of Maryland; Vinya Ariyaratne, Sarvodaya Movement for Peace, Sri Lanka; Robert Ayres, INSEAD; Peter Barnes, On the Commons; Bill Becker, Presidential Climate Action Project; Paulette Blanchard, University of Kansas; Lester Brown, Earth Policy Institute, Washington DC; Alexander Chikunov, Ideas for World Institute, Russia; Cutler Cleveland, Boston University; Raymond Cole, University of British Columbia; Rita Colwell, Canon US Life Sciences; Bob Corell, Heinz Center; Herman Daly, University of Maryland; Thomas Dietz, Michigan State University; Josh Farley, University of Vermont; Lorenzo Fioramonti , University of Pretoria; Jerry Franklin, University of Washington; Susan Joy Hassol, Climate Communications; Richard Heinberg, Institute for Global Communications; Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation, Inc.; Buzz Holling, University of Florida; Terry Irwin, School of Design, Carnegie Mellon University; Jon Isham, Middlebury College; Wes Jackson, The Land Institute; Tim Kasser, Knox College; Frances Moore Lappe, Small Planet Institute; Rik Leemans, Wageningen University; Wenhua Li, Chinese Academy of Science, China; Tom Lovejoy, Heinz Center; Manfred MaxNeef, Universidad Austral de Chile; Peter May, Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Jacqueline McGlade , UN Environment Programme, Kenya; Bill McKibben, Middlebury College; William Mitsch, The Ohio State University; Mohan Munasinghe, Munasinghe Institute for Development; Norman Myers, Oxford; Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir, University of Iceland; Bill Rees, University of British Columbia; Wolfgang Sachs, Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie, Germany; Ken Sagendorf, Regis University Anderson College of Business; Peter Senge, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Rebecca Sheehan, Oklahoma State University; Vandana Shiva, Navdanya; Anthony Simon, Unilever Bestfoods; Gus Speth, Yale University; Larry Susskind, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; David Suzuki, David Suzuki Foundation; Mary Evelyn Tucker, Yale University; Alvaro Umaña, International Monetary Fund; Sim van der Ryn, Ecological Design Collaborative; Peter Victor, York University; Mathis Wackernagel, Global Footprint Network; Eugene Wilkerson, Regis University Anderson College of Business; Mike Young, CSIRO, Australia In Memoriam Ray Anderson, Interface, Inc. Ernest Callenbach, Author, California Elinor Ostrom, Indiana University Subscriptions http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/subscribe Email: solutions@thesolutionsjournal.com Sponsorships & Partnerships http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/sponsor Email: solutions@thesolutionsjournal.com

On the Cover

Cover photo provided by the City and County of Denver.

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Contributors 3 2

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1. Michael Armstrong—Partner at

6. Mairi-Jane Fox—Visiting professor

City Scale. Prior to joining City Scale, Michael managed the climate and sustainability programs for 17 years for the city of Portland, Oregon, where he lives with his wife and their two teenagers.

in Political Economy at Regis University in Denver, Colorado. She earned her PhD in Natural Resources from the University of Vermont and her Masters of Science in Ecological Economics from the University of Edinburgh. Her work focuses on sustainability metrics and shift to a regenerative economy.

2. Elizabeth Babcock—Manager

of the Climate Action Team for the City and County of Denver. She leads planning, policy and programs in climate mitigation and adaptation. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Florida and a master’s degree from the University of Chicago.

3. Elizabeth Cooperman—

Professor of Finance & Entrepreneurship and Co-Director of the Managing for Sustainability Program at the University of Colorado Denver. Her research focuses on financial institutions and sustainability and corporate governance.

She is author of Managing Financial Institutions, Markets and Sustainable Finance.

4. Lauren Dériaz—Was the Energy

Efficiency Coordinator for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment and is a recent graduate with a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Colorado Denver.

She has taught environmental education through non-profits across the United States.

5. Gili Elkin—General Partner in the

Israel – Colorado Innovation Fund and a General Partner in the ICI Fund. Gili is the founder of the Israel – US Water Initiative. Gili is an Israeli lawyer; she holds LLB and BA dual degree (in Law and Business) from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and an MBA degree from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

7. Angie Fyfe—Executive Director

of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability USA and a member of ICLEI’s global senior management team.

Formerly Associate Director of the Colorado Governor’s Energy Office, she was part of the team to develop and implement 57 pieces of clean energy legislation under Governor Bill Ritter; executive director of the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Chapter.

8. Scott Gilmore—Denver’s Deputy

Executive Director of Parks and Planning.

He is on the board of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF). For 18 years he served as the Angler Education Coordinator for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. With his wife, Stacie Gilmore, he helped co-found the organization “Environmental Learning for Kids” (ELK).

9. Wendy Gordon—Co-founder and

CEO of 3P Partners, Inc a Certified B Corp in the ‘impact tech’ space. Wendy co-founded and Mothers & Others with Meryl Streep and originated the Green Guide. She has co-authored numerous books, including the award-winning True Food: 8 Simple Steps to a Healthier You. She serves on multiple boards including Rainforest Alliance, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and Eugene Lang/The New School.

10. Ashlee Grace—Project manager

in Denver Public Works’ Transportation and Community Design Team. Ashlee

Contributors 11

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Denver. His research interests include Healthcare IT and IT for Sustainability.

His research has been published in journals such as Production and Operations Management and Journal of Management Information Systems.

11. Michael B. Hancock—American

15. Ashley Lovell—Director of

businessman, author and politician, serving as the 45th and current mayor of Denver, Colorado. He was sworn in on July 18, 2012, and was easily reelected with no significant opposition in 2015.

During his first term, he created the Denver Office of Sustainability. In 2018 the Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association named Mayor Hancock as its Public Official of the Year.

Marketing and Communications for The Alliance Center. Ashley received her Ph.D. in Environmental Sociology from Colorado State University in 2014. She specializes in environmental communications and strategic collaboration.

10.10.10 and X Genesis. Through its process and programs, 10.10.10 and X Genesis invite 10 prospective CEOs to spend 10 days together exploring solutions to 10 wicked problems. Since first becoming an entrepreneur in 1993, Tom has founded nine ventures. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Harvard Law School.

13. Jocelyn Hittle—Director of Denver

Program Development for Colorado State University, Joycelyn focuses on creating new programs for CSU in Denver that address global issues of food, water, energy, health and the environment.

She is CSU’s point person on the National Western Center redevelopment project. She sits on the Denver Mayor’s Sustainability Advisory Council and is involved in the Urban Land Institute’s Building Healthy Places program.

14. Jiban Khuntia—Assistant

Professor of Information Systems and Director of the PhD Program at the Business School, University of Colorado

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was Denver’s first green infrastructure planner. She played a key role in building a foundation for the city’s nascent green infrastructure program. Ashlee received both her M.S. and M.U.P. from the University of Michigan.

12. Tom Higley—Founder & CEO of

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16. L. Hunter Lovins—President

of Natural Capitalism Solutions. A professor at Bard MBA, Hunter is a founding partner of Change Finance. She consults for industries and governments worldwide. Hunter has written 16 books and hundreds of articles. She has won dozens of awards. Time Magazine recognized her as a Millennium Hero for the Planet, and Newsweek called her the Green Business Icon.

17. Nadia El Mallakh—Colorado

Community & Customer Partnerships Lead/Assistant General Counsel for Xcel Energy. Before joining Xcel Energy, Nadia was in private practice at the international law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP. She holds a B.S., M.C.P. (Master in City Planning); and J.D. degree, all from the University of California, Berkeley.

18. Katrina Managan—Climate

Smart Buildings Team Lead for Denver Department of Public Health and Environment. She leads programs that help the City to achieve long-term climate goals in private sector commercial and multifamily buildings. Her work includes the Energize Denver initiative and Denver’s new Green Building Policy.

19. Scott Morrissey—Senior Director

of Sustainability at Denver International Airport (DEN). He is responsible for developing and improving systems that support the achievement of DEN’s sustainability goals. He previously served in the State of Colorado’s Energy Office and Greenprint Denver.

20. Xue Ning—Lecturer and PhD stu-

dent at the Business School, University of Colorado Denver. She specializes in sustainability and emerging IS areas of research. She worked as a project officer at ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, prior to joining the Ph.D. program.

21. Chris Parr—Director for the Sun

Valley EcoDistrict, a non-profit focused on sustainable revitalization of the Sun Valley Neighborhood in Denver. His focus is to bring holistic, sustainable, districtbased solutions that create significant community benefit. Chris also served as the Director of Development for the Denver Housing Authority. (Not pictured) 22. Will Sarni—Founder and CEO of

Water Foundry. He is an advisor to multinationals, water technology companies, investors, multi-lateral development banks and NGOs. He is an investor in water technology start-ups with a focus on innovative digital, off-grid and advanced treatment technologies. He is a globally recognized thought leader and has authored several books on corporate water strategies, the energy-water-food nexus and digital water technologies.

23. Tyler Smith—Area Manager on

the Community and Local Government Affairs team at Xcel Energy. Tyler manages the Company’s relationships with the City and County of Denver.

Working collaboratively, he helps the

City to meet and surpass its energy goals. Tyler holds a Master’s in Public Policy from the University of Denver and a Bachelor’s degree from Gonzaga University in Political Science and Journalism.

24. Jerry Tinianow—Denver’s first

Chief Sustainability Officer, serving since 2012. He was an attorney in private practice and volunteer grassroots activist for over 20 years, and has served as a national officer of both The Sierra Club and the National Audubon Society.

He is the 2018 winner of the Wirth Chair Sustainability Award given by the University of Colorado, and serves on the Global Executive Committee of ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability.

Jerry received his undergraduate and law degrees from The George Washington University.

25. Jarrett Wendt—Executive

Vice President & Head of CityNOW for Panasonic North America. He leads Panasonic’s Smart Cities initiative, CityNOW and “Cirrus by Panasonic,” the company’s ground-breaking intelligent V2X transportation platform. Jarrett also leads corporate partnerships for Panasonic providing large-scale solutions across Panasonic’s global portfolio.

26. Janna West-Heiss—Public

Affairs Administrator for the Office of Sustainability of the City & County of Denver. She has been involved in reducing environmental impact locally through behavior change initiatives in zero waste, sustainable business and transportation. She is the vice chair for the Colorado Renewable Energy Society and sits on the Colorado Pollution Prevention Advisory Board.

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Caniglia, B. (2019). Why Denver? Sustainability Innovation in the Mile High City. Solutions 10(1): 6. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/why-denver-sustainability-innovation-in-the-mile-high-city

Editorial by Beth Schaefer Caniglia, Ph.D.

Why Denver? Sustainability Innovation in the Mile High City

I

n April of last year, I published an article in Solutions entitled “The Path to a Regenerative Future: The Importance of Local Networks and Bioregional Contexts.” Originally conceived, that article was to focus on the special features of the City of Denver that makes it one of the most innovative and collaborative cities in the world.

Denver was the model I had in mind when I laid out the enabling conditions required to transform a place from sustainable to regenerative: • Collaborative organizational culture • Transparent and participatory governance systems • Non-silo behavior—positive and abundant interactions among public, private, non-profits, foundations, and educational institutions • Forward-looking, long-term vision • Openness to change and creativity • Innovative organizational forms— B-Corporations, Co-Working spaces, Social Enterprises, Impact Finance • Publicly-Engaged Universities that enthusiastically partner with startups, government agencies, and spark innovative approaches to solve community challenges • Creative, collaborative, projectbased approaches to finance community development, including slow money; impact finance; federal, state and local grants from government agencies, foundations, and NGOs. • Information dissemination structures that speak to and reach diverse segments of society

As a resident of Denver, I had the privilege of serving as the Founding Director of the Sustainable Economic & Enterprise Development Institute in the Anderson College of Business at Regis University. In that capacity, I served on the Board of the Alliance Center—a co-work space that brings together sustainability organizations from across the Front Range region and amplifies their work through partnerships with universities, government agencies, businesses, and nonprofits. I also served on the Infrastructure Committee Board of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, where the City’s many innovative infrastructure advances were featured on a monthly basis. Projects like the expansion of the Denver International Airport, the Panasonic Peña Station NEXT solar installation, building miles of bike lanes, the Green Roof legislation, and experimentation with first and last mile transportation solutions consistently put Denver at the forefront of innovative cities. And, as this special issue highlights, there is no end in sight to the lessons we can garner from the leadership Denver provides.

The articles included in this special issue highlight each of the characteristics listed above.

Together, they particularly feature the synergies across industries and sectors that have established steady creative momentum toward sustainability innovation.

Leadership is, of course, powerfully important, and Mayor Hancock’s editorial about his sustainability

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The Solutions Journal Editor-in-Chief, Beth Schaefer Caniglia, Ph.D.

vision demonstrates his central role. However, Mayor Hancock also states: “We needed to make sustainability the core business value of every agency of government, regardless of what service it performed.” The contagious commitment to moving the sustainability needle is shared throughout City government, facilitated by university research, profitable for Denver companies, advocated by nonprofits, and supported by funding from foundations and finance institutions across the region.

My deepest thanks go to Denver’s Chief Sustainability Officer Jerry Tinianow, Mayor Hancock, Dean Tim Keane in the Anderson College of Business at Regis University, and all of our contributors for their support of this special issue. Cities hold the key to so many of our greatest global challenges. I hope others are as inspired by the example set by Denver as I have been.

Hancock, M. B. (2019). A Big-City Mayor Looks at Sustainability. Solutions 10(1): 7–9. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/a-big-city-mayor-looks-at-sustainability

Envisioning

A Big-City Mayor Looks at Sustainability

by Michael B. Hancock Mayor, City and County of Denver, Colorado

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rowing up in Denver, I didn’t think about sustainability—at least not in the way we think about it today.

I never heard about “sustainable development goals.” I didn’t know what “the three-legged stool” referred to. I didn’t think about balancing the needs of the present with the needs of the future.

Life was simple. Water came from the tap. Food came from the grocery store. Travel was by car, or if you couldn’t afford a car, by bus.

I didn’t think about sustainability.

But I did notice things.

I noticed the brown cloud of air pollution that hung over our city, especially in the winter. We had creeks and the South Platte River nearby, but people ignored them. Dumpsters were filled with trash, and litter blew around all over the place.

Denver had trees and parks, but they weren’t spread evenly around town. The rich parts of the city had more and the poor parts had less. I knew that there were polluted areas in the city. They always seemed to be in the poor neighborhoods. My family was not rich, so there were limits on where we could afford to live.

I loved living in a place where lofty mountains and picturesque plains were nearby. I loved the western spirit in Denver, where people depended on each other and so cooperated with each other. I grew to love the place, but I knew it could be better. I wanted to be part of making it better.

From an early age I was interested in becoming a part of my city. At the time, I didn’t realize that would

mean one day becoming the Mayor of Denver—but I knew I would play an active role in public service. As a teen I was active in my school’s leadership, which would eventually lead me to an internship in the Mayor’s Office. I began to see possibilities.

I learned the intricacies of public policy early on. At the age of 27 I became the youngest executive director of a major city’s office of the National Urban League. A few years later, I was elected to Denver City Council, where I served for eight years, including time as Council President.

sustainability goals and plan. It drafted the city’s first climate action plan.

Things were changing outside of city government as well. Thanks to the passage of the federal Clean Air Act, the brown cloud that hung over Denver was gone most of the time.

The city had begun to rediscover its waterways; people were looking to the South Platte instead of ignoring it. The river was cleaner, thanks to the Clean Water act. And we were paying attention to our contaminated areas, thanks to the federal Superfund law. We were cleaning the dumps up.

We needed to achieve changes at scale—move big numbers in a way that would make a difference. We needed to make sustainability the core business value of every agency of city government, regardless of what service it performed.

It was during this time that I learned about the importance of public health and sustainability. I began to understand what initiatives and actions would help us to further invest in the city, and what it truly meant to balance the needs of the present with the needs of the future.

I was elected to be the Mayor in the middle of 2011. By then I had definitely heard of sustainability. My predecessor, John Hickenlooper, had opened a conversation with our residents about it. He formed Greenprint Denver, our city’s first sustainability program.

Greenprint drafted the city’s first

The other thing that was changing, was our climate. It was hotter in Denver more often. The droughts were worse, and more frequent. The storms were worse too. And those changes hurt the most vulnerable among us the most. People without air conditioning suffered the most during our hot spells. People who lived in flood-prone areas suffered the most from the storms.

It was amazing to me that the climate itself could change visibly in a single lifetime—my own.

When I came in as Mayor I knew that Greenprint, as valuable as it had

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Envisioning been in starting the sustainability conversation, wasn’t going to be enough.

We needed to do two things.

First, we needed to achieve changes at scale—move big numbers in a way that would make a difference. Second, we needed to get all oars in the water.

We needed to make sustainability the core business value of every agency of city government, regardless of what service it performed.

Scale meant being selective about what we worked on. It’s tempting as Mayor to make a splashy announcement or conduct a high-visibility event—pass out cloth grocery bags at a supermarket, or change light bulbs in someone’s home. Those actions are nice, but they don’t move big numbers.

I wanted changes that were big and long-lasting.

I also knew that I had to get everyone in city government involved in sustainability. I didn’t want sustainability delegated to a small office somewhere in the bureaucracy while everyone else was doing business as usual. It had to become a part of the city culture—if not every agency’s instinct, then at least every agency’s habit.

We have term limits in Denver.

Mayors come and mayors go, but the civil service work force goes on and on. Sustainability can’t just be the issue of the month. It has to become a permanent practice, an integral part of the fabric of our community and its government.

So I made some changes. I replaced Greenprint with an Office of Sustainability. I created the position of Chief Sustainability Officer.

I made that position cabinet level, so its holder could deal with department heads as peers. And I gave the Chief Sustainability Officer a simple agenda: Scale, and Everybody Plays.

Early on we set new sustainability goals. We organized the goals around

City and County of Denver

Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock

basic resources—the resources that are the foundation of every city’s economy and quality of life, things like water, energy, food, mobility and housing. I wanted to ensure that those basic resources would be available and affordable to everyone in my city, both today and tomorrow. We would do that through a

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combination of conservation, innovation, and cessation of reliance on non-renewable resources.

We got everybody involved by keeping the Office of Sustainability small. It has just three people, one of the smallest such offices in any major city in the U.S. I didn’t want the Office of Sustainability to be a green

Envisioning island, doing interesting projects on its own but not involving others.

I wanted it to provide top-level policy guidance while leaving the implementation details to our city departments.

While our sustainability office is small, our sustainability efforts are big, because they live throughout our municipal government.

Another element of my sustainability program was a recognition that Denver couldn’t do it alone. Yes, we had to set a good example. We had to push ourselves. But pushing ourselves by itself would not resolve our challenges. Denver could shut down every smokestack, eliminate every tailpipe—we could all just stop exhaling—and rapid climate change would keep on going. As 700,000 people in a world of seven billion we are just too small to make global changes on our own.

We’ve set many good examples during my Administration. I’m particularly proud of a collection of actions we took in 2016 to address energy and climate at scale.

First, we adopted the 2015 version of the International Energy Conservation Code. Doing so increased the projected energy efficiency of new buildings and major renovations by more than 25 percent over the previous code.

Next, we adopted a graywater ordinance that allows people to direct waste water from sinks and showers in their homes into toilets and irrigation.

This had the potential to allow major new reductions in usage of potable water.

We also created a PropertyAssessed Clean Energy program for commercial buildings—sometimes known as C-PACE. This provided a new financing mechanism to make it

It was during my administration that the world crossed a threshold, where, for the first time in history, more people lived in cities than lived outside of them.

Cities were going to be the key, and they had to move forward together.

We needed allies. We needed to set a good example ourselves, but we also needed to join forces with many other cities to do the same.

Other cities were the obvious partners. It was during my administration that the world crossed a threshold, where, for the first time in history, more people lived in cities than lived outside of them. Cities were going to be the key, and they had to move forward together.

easier and more affordable for commercial buildings to upgrade with energy efficiency improvements.

Finally, we enacted an ordinance that requires all buildings of 25,000 or more square feet to record their energy usage and report in publicly in a format that allows for comparison of energy performance among such buildings. We also created a web site— energizedenver.com—where anyone can see the performance of each such

building and compare buildings to each other. In the short time since we passed the ordinance thousands have visited to site to check performance; many building owners have been looking at their competitors. Such peer-to-peer competition will spur energy efficiency upgrades.

It was a big year and we are already reaping the benefits of those at-scale changes.

We use our own success to spur on other cities. We work closely through organizations like the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Urban Sustainability Directors Network, and ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, to compare notes, learn from each other, push each other and join together to influence policy at the national level.

Speaking of the national level, I came into office during the first term of President Barack Obama. His administration provided a strong federal partner for our efforts. We lost that partner when President Obama was replaced by President Donald Trump.

However, thanks to our growing alliance with cities around the world we were not left to cope on our own.

Through the collective action of these cities working together we continue to make progress in avoiding the worst effects of rapid climate change.

I am now approaching the end of my second term as Mayor, but I am excited about getting the opportunity to continue my work in sustainability.

Adolescent me may not have paid much attention to sustainability, but it has my attention now.

I am proud of what we’ve accomplished so far by emphasizing scale, getting all city agencies involved, and working with many other cities to magnify our efforts. I am optimistic that we will in fact succeed in ensuring that our basic resources are available and affordable to all of our resident both today and tomorrow.

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 9

Babcock, E., N. El Mallakh, and T. Smith. (2019). The Denver-Xcel Energy Memorandum of Understanding: A New Model for City-Utility Cooperation. Solutions 10(1): 10–13. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/the-denver-xcel-energy-memorandum-of-understanding-a-new-model-for-city-utility-cooperation

Idea Lab Noteworthy The Denver-Xcel Energy Memorandum of Understanding: A New Model for City-Utility Cooperation

by Elizabeth Babcock, Nadia El Mallakh, and Tyler Smith

X

cel Energy—Colorado and the City and County of Denver have entered into an innovative partnership model to achieve their ambitious goals for carbon-emission reduction and clean energy generation. The Energy Future Collaboration seeks to align the efforts of the City and the energy company to create a clean energy future that will benefit the city of Denver, its residents and businesses.

Denver has a long history of leadership on climate change. The City conducted its first greenhouse-gas inventory in 2005, has reported to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) since 2012, released its first Climate Action Plan in 2007 (meeting its goals ahead of schedule) and published its first Climate Adaptation Plan in 2014.

Denver was also one of the first cities to sign on to the Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the ambitious Mayors’ National Climate Action Agenda and the Global Covenant of Mayors. Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock reinforced that Denver remains committed to the target of the Paris Climate Agreement by signing the We Are Still In pledge. One day after Denver Mayor Hancock’s State of the City message in July 2018, he introduced Denver’s 80 x 50 Climate Action Plan. The plan is a detailed roadmap to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 from a 2005 baseline.

Denver’s goal is to move city facilities to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2025. Its aspirational goal would reach the same target community-wide by 2030, while looking for ways to

cut operating costs and bring climate programs to low-income families and other vulnerable communities.

“I know those are bold, aspirational goals, and I know cost and technology will determine how we get there,” Hancock said in his 2018 State of the City speech. “But we must act, and I’m grateful for our partnership with Xcel Energy, the nation’s leading utility when it comes to reducing emissions and building a path toward a clean energy future.”

In December 2018, the company announced the most ambitious cleanenergy goals in the industry: to reduce carbon emissions 80 percent by 2030 from 2005 levels. Longer term, Xcel

As the largest electric provider in Colorado, Xcel Energy demonstrated the same vision in its “Colorado Energy Plan.” Approved by state regulators in 2018, the Colorado Energy Plan will boost renewables’ share of electric generation to 55 percent by 2026, and cut emissions 60 percent statewide. Sixteen stakeholder groups, including the City and County of Denver, signed onto the plan. It was endorsed by scores of others, including economic development groups, other municipalities, large customers, independent power producers, environmental and conservation agencies, consumer advocates and industry associations.

We must act, and I’m grateful for our partnership with Xcel Energy, the nation’s leading utility when it comes to reducing emissions and building a path toward a clean energy future.

—Mayor Michael B. Hancock Energy’s vision is to serve all of its customers with zero-carbon electricity by 2050—while keeping reliability, affordability and local economic benefits top of mind. While 2050 is decades away, Xcel Energy has put the stake in the ground now to allow the necessary lead time to develop the innovative technology, partnerships and supportive policy to help drive this vision forward.

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As the first step, Xcel Energy and the City and County of Denver signed a joint Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in February 2018 to create a new “Energy Future Collaboration.” Along the way, Xcel Energy executives and City staff came to realize what a powerful tool they were creating, with benefits that extend far beyond city or even state borders and the potential to become

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Kevin Graham, Xcel Energy

A unique microgrid pilot project is underway at Panasonic’s North American headquarters near Denver International Airport. Combined with photovoltaic arrays on the building’s roof and canopies at the nearby transit parking structure, this Younicos battery array can power the microgrid for at least 24 hours on even the cloudiest days.

a national model for collaboration.

Investor-owned utilities serve more than 220 million Americans, mostly in urban areas. Globally, cities account for about 70 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions. When large energy providers and major cities work together, bigger regional and national progress can be made toward a climate solution.

How will this be done? Denver has focused its Climate Action Plan on three broad areas: decarbonized energy supply, energy-efficient buildings, and transportation. In the MOU, the City agreed to throw its weight behind

Xcel Energy’s large-scale renewable projects, demand-side management efforts and customer choice programs.

Denver agreed to advocate before the Colorado Public Utilities Commission and the state legislature on issues in which its interests align with the company’s, which often involve larger policies driving the state forward.

While the City and company don’t have identical targets in all areas, the mutual goal is to build a clean energy future. Xcel Energy seeks to enhance what the City is already doing to develop storage and microgrid solutions, establish a database of energy

use for commercial and multifamily buildings in accordance with existing requirements, and enable electric vehicle adoption. None of these efforts start from zero. In Colorado, Xcel Energy’s fuel mix is already nearly 30 percent renewable, with specific resource plans to move to 55 percent in less than a decade via its Colorado Energy Plan.

By surveying Xcel Energy’s cities and towns, the company confirmed, about 18 months ago, that municipalities were looking for a stronger partner in their energy company. Cities and towns wanted to work with Xcel

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 11

Idea Lab Noteworthy Energy to improve service levels, support local economic development and find ways to partner to achieve local energy-related goals. Communities want to grow sustainable economies by offering companies easy ways to do business in their cities and towns, and access to clean affordable energy. And, of course, rebates and expertise play a big role.

These results supported a proactive path that Xcel Energy was already exploring, which resulted in the creation of a new, flexible framework—the Energy Future Collaboration model. Energy Future Collaborations are a vehicle for Xcel Energy to team up with its communities to advance energy-related goals within the larger context of the state’s regulatory model. The collaborations are documented through non-binding memoranda of understanding and can cover any energy-related topic.

Denver’s Energy Future Collaboration highlights its sustainability efforts, but also includes other focus areas, such as economic development. The City and company have a history of working together in that space. When Denver successfully recruited Panasonic’s North American headquarters in 2014, Xcel Energy played a key role in a unique microgrid pilot, along with the City, Panasonic and Denver International Airport. The result is Peña Station NEXT, the transit-oriented “smart city” now under construction at the site.

Details are provided in another article in this issue.

A big part of the ongoing collaboration has to do with educating customers—not only about the best kind of light bulb to use, but about the energy business itself. Xcel Energy works within a highly regulated, technical industry that is nearly invisible

to most of its customers. While energy is vital to everyday life and commerce, customers tend not to notice how well the system works unless service is interrupted or they receive a higher-than-usual bill. Without active communication from the utility side of the table, the voices of Xcel Energy and its peer companies are lacking in some sectors of the public, which can result in misconceptions and misunderstanding.

By working together, utilities and cities can overcome many hurdles to achieving high levels of carbon reductions at grid scale. Cities like Denver can engage and educate their communities and use their political, economic and environmental expertise to support bold and innovative utility strategies for advancing clean energy.

In Colorado, Denver was a key partner in supporting Xcel Energy’s Rush Creek Wind Project and the Colorado Energy Plan.

By engaging all stakeholders in the community, Denver can help bolster support for rapid, large-scale transformation of the grid. The City’s role also extends to planning beneficial electrification efforts in buildings and transportation. In fact, as electrification accelerates, utilities and cities need to work even more closely together for effective grid planning and shaping the built environment in ways that support these goals.

Collaborating with municipalities allows Xcel Energy and other energy companies to step out from behind the curtain and explain why they do what they do. How does the regulatory process impact Xcel Energy’s work? How do utilities do resource planning and propose rates? What is the most effective way to balance the needs of customers, stakeholders and shareowners?

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This prompts another question.

How can investor-owned utilities like Xcel Energy help their customers— municipalities, businesses, building owners and citizens—navigate the increasingly complicated landscape of the energy business? For example, if Xcel Energy wants to encourage the shift to electric vehicles, it must first develop programs to help customers figure out the most cost-effective ways to make that shift. These can include pilot efforts to better help communities convert their city fleet of trucks and buses, or, through various programs, more information and sometimes incentives on electric vehicles.

The key collaboration with Denver is also an opportunity to get on the same page across the region. So far in 2018, along with Denver, seven other municipalities have signed MOUs, including Alamosa, Breckenridge, Lakewood, Lone Tree, Louisville, Nederland and Westminster. Xcel Energy’s goal is to create Energy Future Collaborations in cities of various sizes, located across its large and geographically diverse Colorado territory, from the rural high plains to suburban cities and mountain resort towns, each with its own priorities for energy-related issues such as sustainability, economic development and quality of life for citizens. When they collaborate, cities and utilities increase the likelihood that the legislative and policy solutions they seek are achievable. The next step in the process is to develop specific work plans with each municipality that translate the bigpicture vision of each Energy Future Collaboration into concrete and scalable steps.

In keeping with the pioneering spirit of the West, the State of Colorado and the City and County of

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Greg Hand, Xcel Energy

Sunflowers absorb solar energy at Xcel Energy’s Rush Creek Wind Project near Limon, Colo. The 300-turbine project, dedicated in September 2018, will deliver enough energy to power 325,000 Colorado homes. Projects such as Rush Creek advance the City and County of Denver’s renewable energy goals while boosting rural economies.

Denver are singular places when it comes to protecting the natural environment that makes it such a pleasure to live and do business here. Colorado was one of the first states with a voter mandate for renewable energy standards; Denver’s 80 x 50 initiative in 2015 was followed in 2017 by then-Gov. John Hickenlooper’s executive order joining the U.S. Climate Alliance and committing the State to climate action. Xcel Energy chose Denver to host the December 2018 announcement of its 2050 zero-carbon initiative. The City and County of

Denver and Xcel Energy—Colorado are proud to strengthen their commitment to an enhanced customer experience, affordable and reliable power and a clean energy future.

3. Denver 80x50 Climate Action Plan [online] (2018). https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/ denvergov/Portals/771/documents/EQ/80x50/ DDPHE_80x50_ClimateActionPlan.pdf 4. Mayor Michael Hancock State of the City Speech [online] (2018). https://www.denvergov.org/content/ denvergov/en/mayors-office/programs-initiatives/ state-of-the-city.html#Speech

References

5. Colorado Energy Plan Fall 2018 Update [online]

1. City of Denver Climate Action Plan [online]

(2018). https://www.xcelenergy.com/staticfiles/

(2005). https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/

xe-responsive/Company/Rates%20&%20

denvergov/Portals/771/documents/EQ/Climate1/

Regulations/Resource%20Plans/CO-Energy-Plan-

DenverClimateActionPlan_2005_Original.pdf

Fact-Sheet.pdf

2. City and County of Denver Climate Adaptation Plan

6. Xcel Energy’s Carbon Reduction Announcement

[online] (2014). https://www.denvergov.org/content/

[online] (2018). https://www.xcelenergy.com/

dam/denvergov/Portals/771/documents/Climate/

company/media_room/news_releases/xcel_energy_

Climate_Adaptation_Final%20with%20letter.pdf

aims_for_zero-carbon_electricity_by_2050

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 13

Lovell, A. (2019). Direct Current Microgrids: The Wave of the Future? Solutions 10(1): 14–17. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/direct-current-microgrids-the-wave-of-the-future

Idea Lab Noteworthy Direct Current Microgrids: The Wave of the Future?

by Ashley Lovell, Ph.D.

W

hat happens when you combine an aging electrical grid with the increased resilience demands of rapid climate change? You get longer, more destructive power outages. Our continued reliance on fossil fuel and long-distance energy transport for energy production and the power outages associated with our aging grid are putting our health, our economy, and our national security at risk. NASA and NOAA agree that the years 2014, 2015, and 2016 each set new all-time temperature records in a stepwise fashion.1 As our global air temperature warms, so do our oceans, leading to stronger, more frequent and more destructive storms.

The Climate Crisis and Our Aging Energy Infrastructure 2017 was a year of record-breaking natural disasters in the United States, including a trio of hurricanes (Harvey, Mariah, and Irma) with damages over USD$200 billion.2 The residents of Puerto Rico were largely without power for over six months after hurricanes Mariah and Irma hit in November of 2017. Recent reports3 argue that the storms themselves, combined with the devastation to the island’s energy infrastructure, resulted in over 4,000 casualties. Natural disasters like the hurricanes that pummeled Puerto Rico highlight the risks, inefficiencies and correlations between our changing climate and our aging energy infrastructure.

Our current energy infrastructure is increasingly unstable and underfunded. With more than 640,000 miles

Photo courtesy of The Alliance Center

Flow diagram showing solar-fed DC current system at The Alliance Center

of high-voltage transmission lines in the lower 48 states aging out of their 50-year life expectancy, funding gaps in electric generation, transmission and distribution are projected to grow to a level of USD$107 billion by 2020.4 From the 1950s to the 1980s significant power outages in the United States averaged fewer than five per year.5 In 2011, there were over 300 significant power outages on the grid.

Furthermore, while 40 percent4 of new power generation came from natural gas and renewable energy in 2015, our antiquated electrical grid is currently incapable of absorbing all of the energy produced by renewables, meaning a substantial amount of potential renewable power—power that we are capable of producing—cannot be used.

What does this mean for our energy security? It means that we can expect longer and more frequent power outages across the country, and that without significant investment, much of the energy generated by that could be produced from renewable sources will be lost because of inefficiencies in the current grid.

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Eliminating the Middleman: Direct Current Microgrids The current electrical grid in the United States was instituted at the turn of the 20th century. The grid was developed to deliver alternating current (AC). AC has long been the preferred method of energy transfer as it can be easily transmitted over hundreds of miles. The nation-wide electrical grid operates on AC, which requires inefficient conversions to power modern technologies that operate on direct current (DC). Technologies such as solar panels, computers, cell phones and modern LED lights all operate on DC. As such, we must convert the energy that comes from the AC grid into DC voltage for those devices to function—resulting in at least five to ten percent energy lost6 during conversion. The United States Department of Energy’s Power America initiative predicts that by the year 2030 an estimated 80 percent7 of all US electricity will require conversion from AC to DC, which creates the potential for significant energy savings if conversion can be reduced.

Idea Lab Noteworthy However, the DC electricity generated by solar must still travel through our aging AC grid to reach consumers.

It loses energy as it moves through the grid and is converted from DC to AC, and loses energy again when it is converted back to DC in our homes and businesses to power our personal electronics, lights and other DC native technology.

Building Resiliency: Direct Current Technology

Photo courtesy of The Alliance Center

Audience at one of the many programs produced by the Alliance Center for the Denver community

What was considered a strength in the past—the fact that AC power can be transmitted hundreds of miles—is quickly becoming a dangerous weakness due to security and resiliency issues. Sabotage of a small section of the grid, or even just destruction due to a natural disaster, can affect customers over a broad area. Furthermore, the dependency on fossil fuels for electricity and heat is the largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions at 25 percent.8 Fortunately, economic, technological, and social forces are uniting to tackle these systematic and embedded challenges.

Economic Returns: Why Solar Just Makes Sense Renewable solar energy is more efficient and cost effective than ever before. 15 years ago, it was projected that the solar market would grow by one gigawatt per year by 2010. By 2015 that projected growth rate was exceeded 53 times over. By 2016, 75 times over. The cost of crystalline

silicon solar cells in 2016 was USD$0.41 per watt.9 In other words, solar photovoltaics are over 150 times10 cheaper now than they were in 1970, while oil is about 35 times more expensive.

While the solar industry is currently under attack by the Trump administration, the local and regional economics of solar power indicate that there is great momentum that forecasts continued growth in the sector. For example, in Colorado, Xcel Energy—an investor-owned utility operating across eight states—recently released the Colorado Energy Plan11 which promises to save the utilities’ customers more than USD$200 million by shuttering an aging coal plant and replacing it with a combination of renewable energy and battery storage.

Aside from saving customers money, this plan has the potential to cut Xcel Energy’s greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent by 2026. It will take Colorado one step closer toward 100 percent renewable energy.

By integrating direct current energy from renewable sources into local microgrids, we can eliminate greenhouse gas emissions and greatly reduce the risks associated with our aging national infrastructure. A microgrid is a self-contained electrical distribution network that can disconnect from the traditional utility grid and operate autonomously. The term “DC microgrid” refers to a system of local power generation and distribution in the form of direct current. A DC microgrid can keep key systems operational during power outages or issues with the wider electrical grid. This offers benefits for both short term interruptions, as well as larger scale outages such as natural disasters.

Hurricanes such as Harvey, Mariah and Irma highlight the advantages of local power generation, storage and distribution. As mentioned earlier, those three storms left the residents of Puerto Rico without electricity for months, leading to a much higher death toll in the time after the storms than during the events themselves.

While increasing energy demand, threats from cyber hacking and natural disasters will only continue to increase stress on our national grid, DC microgrids offer an uninterrupted local power supply through renewable

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 15

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Photo courtesy of The Alliance Center

The Alliance Center, a former warehouse at 1536 Wynkoop Street in downtown Denver

energy sources and an on-site battery bank. Whether DC microgrids are fed by batteries, generators, fuel cells, photovoltaic panels or small wind turbines, they provide a level of protection and resilience in the face of natural disasters.

This resiliency benefit can also be calculated as it relates to the economic benefits of a stable and secure workplace. Companies such as Honda are installing DC microgrids at their facilities to reduce the risks associated with power outages including the loss of data, productivity and data insecurity.

A Radical Test Bed: The Alliance Center’s DC Microgrid Project According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2012, the building sector (residential and commercial) consumed nearly 75 percent of all electricity produced in the United States. This equates to more than 3 million GWh or 1.7 billion tons of CO2 emitted annually from the building sector alone. If these CO2 emissions were reduced by even seven percent, the result would be the equivalent of removing more than 23 million cars from the road.

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In Colorado, The Alliance Center, located in the heart of lower downtown Denver, has become a focal point for producing change of this type and scale. Our mission is to bring people together to create a world where our communities are inclusive, our democracy is strong, our economy thrives and our planet is healthy. We are a multifaceted nonprofit with an event and collaborative working space that we use as a demonstration site for sustainability in action. As one powerful node of our broader sustainability network, we are specifically focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the number and impact of socially and environmentally responsible businesses, and engaging a wide diversity of stakeholders to drive sustainable solutions in Colorado.

The Alliance Center was the first building in Colorado to become certified Platinum in the newest LEED version 4 and the first building in Colorado and fifth in the world to earn LEED ARC certification.

With an Energy Star rating of 96 the Alliance Center is one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the state.

Our impact programming scales our work beyond the brick and mortar of our building and drives measurable solutions across the Front Range. We convene decision makers and connect communities to drive strategic and inclusive collaboration.

Piloting a DC Microgrid in an Existing Building Since our founding, The Alliance Center has explored ways to reduce the building sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions by serving as a model for high-performance building innovation. Because prices in on-site renewable generation and energy storage continue to fall, and

Idea Lab Noteworthy demand for energy continues to rise, we aim to take a fresh look at how we generate, transmit and use power.

At 40,000 square feet, The Alliance Center is within the range that represents 95 percent of the commercial building inventory in the United States. This creates a tremendous opportunity for our own DC Microgrid Project to provide a replicable and scalable model for extreme energy and carbon reduction in the 5.6 million commercial buildings sector—comprising 87 billion square feet of floor space—in the U.S. The Alliance Center has been modeling energy efficiency and cutting-edge high-performance building practices for over a decade. In 2004, as part of our mission and commitment to sustainability, we converted our building into a highly efficient workspace. Through the renovation, we achieved an Energy Use Intensity (EUI) rating of 37, which is nearly 60 percent lower than the average EUI of 89 for comparable office buildings. We also eliminated all onsite combustion of fossil fuels—removing any instance of natural gas used for heating—meaning that all of the energy used in our building is currently from grid AC electricity.

Despite the success of the transformation in reducing energy consumption, however, we still consume more than 440 megawatt hours (MWh) of grid AC electricity annually—which equates to an annual carbon footprint of approximately 400 tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

To take our efforts to the next level, we undertook a revolutionary new project.

In 2017 we installed the equipment that powers our DC Microgrid Project here at The Alliance Center. This equipment includes solar panels on

our roof, DC-powered lights in suite 100, and batteries, a rectifier, a combiner and a voltage converter in our basement. Installation was complete at the end of December, 2017.

Our DC Microgrid Project makes it possible for us to take energy directly from an onsite energy generator (25.7 kW of photovoltaic panels) and use onsite storage (84 kWh of batteries) to power portions of our building. While energy from solar panels is typically converted from DC to AC and back again, our microgrid removes this need by replacing our lighting and plug loads with DC-native technology. This eliminates the need for bulky and energy-inefficient converters like the one on your computer cord.

The Alliance Center and our partners are excited to be piloting the DC Microgrid Project as another way for buildings to reduce their negative contribution to climate change. This project has the potential to radically change the energy paradigm for how buildings interact with the grid. While DC microgrids have significant potential, questions remain before they can scale in the commercial building sector. For example, native DC equipment currently comprises over 50 percent of a building’s energy usage, while reported energy savings from DC distribution varies by up to 40 percent. We are piloting DC microgrid technology and collaborating with industry thought leaders like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory to highlight the barriers to and potential of the adoption of DC microgrids in the commercial building sector. We will be testing, learning, adjusting and sharing our lessons along the way, so please follow our progress, learn along with us and get involved.

Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Chris Bowyer, Moira Wiedenman, Jason Page, and Brenna Simmons-St. Onge for their help reviewing and compiling the data and narrative for this article.

References 1. Potter, S, Cabbage, M & McCarthy, L. NASA, NOAA data show 2016 warmest year on record globally [online] (2017) https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/ nasa-noaa-data-show-2016-warmest-year-on-recordglobally 2. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) U.S. Billion-Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters [online] (2018). https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/billions/ 3. Robles, F. Puerto Rican government acknowledges hurricane death toll of 1,427. The New York Times. [online] (2018) https://www.nytimes. com/2018/08/09/us/puerto-rico-death-toll-maria. html.

4. American Society of Civil Engineers. 2017 Infrastructure Report Card [online] (2017) https:// www.infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/energy/.

5. Davies, D. Aging and Unstable, the nation’s electrical grid is “The Weakest Link”. Fresh Air, National Public Radio [online] (2018) https:// www.npr.org/2016/08/22/490932307/agingand-unstable-the-nations-electrical-grid-is-theweakest-link.

6. The war of the currents: AC vs DC power [online] (2016) www.energy.gov/articles/war-currents-ac-vsdc-power.

7. Power America [online] www.energy.gov/ecre/amo/ power-america 8. IPCC. Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report.

Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Core Writing Team, R.K. Pachauri and L.A. Meyer (eds.)]. IPCC, Geneva, Switzerland, 151 pp. (2014) 9. New Energy Outlook 2018 [online] www.about.bnef. com/new-energy-outlook/toc-download 10. Seba, T. Clean Disruption of Energy and Transportation: How Silicon Valley will make oil, nuclear, gas, coal obsolete by 2030. (2014) 11. Svaldi, A. Xcel Energy power plan would cut carbon emissions by half, use renewable sources for 55 percent of power. The Denver Post. [online] (2018) https://www.denverpost.com/2018/06/06/ xcel-energy-power-plan-would-cut-carbonemissions-by-half-use-renewable-sources-for-55percent-of-power/

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 17

Grace, A. (2019). Building Denver’s Green Infrastructure Program: Meeting Multi-Faceted Problems with Multi-Pronged Solutions. Solutions 10(1): 18–21. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/building-denvers-green-infrastructure-program-meeting-multi-faceted-problems-with-multi-pronged-solutions

Idea Lab Noteworthy Building Denver’s Green Infrastructure Program: Meeting Multi-Faceted Problems with Multi-Pronged Solutions

by Ashlee Grace

D

enver is a city in transition.

Ranked as one of the best places to live in the country, Denver ‘s population is booming. Over the past five years, the city has averaged close to 2.1 percent annual growth, adding over 14,000 people per year. This rapid influx has led to housing demand exceeding supply, resulting in skyrocketing home and land values. As of March 2018, the year over year gain for resale was 8.4 percent (1.9 percent higher than that national average of 6.5 percent).

Given these market conditions, many residents are deciding to make improvements to their current homes instead of entering the highly competitive housing market to move elsewhere, often leading to larger impervious area footprints on residential lots across the city. In the urban core, the city is seeing increasing densification with some neighborhoods experiencing over 50 percent growth in just seven years. Industry also recognizes that Denver is attracting a talented and capable workforce and is building and expanding offices across the city. According to the 2018 State of Downtown Denver Report, over USD$2.3 billion in investments are planned for Denver’s urban core, adding more than 700 hotel rooms, 4,5000 residential units and nearly 3 million square feet of office space.

This growth makes Denver an exciting place to be but also puts increasing strain on urban infrastructure and services. Roads and public right-of-ways (ROW) are in ever-more demand, needing to serve a greater number of people and

accommodate a wide variety of uses, from bike lanes to scooter parking, in addition to serving their traditional roles of vehicle and stormwater conveyance. Infill, increased building footprints, new roads and more sidewalks mean more impervious areas which means more runoff. More runoff means greater stormwater challenges. Denver is currently covered in 49 percent impervious area and a recent study from University of Colorado/Boulder estimates that impervious cover will increase to 64–67 percent coverage by 2040.

Like many cities, these issues are only exacerbated by global trends.

In Denver, climate change means increasing temperatures and swings in extreme precipitation from major downpours to long periods of drought conditions. This further complicates stormwater management while making the case for more alternatives to conventional “gray” infrastructure to mitigate higher temperatures and intercept stormwater.

One of the many ways the City and County of Denver is tackling these mounting challenges is through an integrative, data-driven approach to planning, funding and implementing a new green infrastructure (GI) program. Leading the charge on this is the Green Infrastructure Group (GI Group), a division housed within the Public Work’s Executive Director’s Office of Policy, Legislative Affairs and Special Initiatives. The GI Group is responsible for protecting and enhancing Denver’s urban watersheds by

18 | Solutions | January 2019 | www.thesolutionsjournal.com

designing and implementing a robust, citywide green infrastructure program. The GI Group pursues a multi-pronged approach to growing green infrastructure in Denver that includes a focus on planning, monitoring, guidelines and policies.

The GI program also focuses on prioritizing and implementing multifunctional projects that meet the needs of numerous agencies, departments and infrastructure drivers in Denver.

In this context, green infrastructure (GI) specifically refers to natural and engineered systems that mimic natural processes to manage and treat stormwater runoff. The use of green infrastructure also provides a host of other citywide benefits including climate resiliency, urban heat mitigation and increased community livability.

While the term green infrastructure can apply to more naturally occurring systems such as forests and floodplains, Denver’s GI Group focuses on implementation of built, structural controls that mimic larger systems and mitigate the impacts of urbanization. These engineered practices can be applied on a large regional-scale or applied using a site-scale approach.

The original driver for establishing Denver’s GI program was to assist in meeting the city’s water quality requirements, as dictated by Denver’s municipal separated storm sewer system (MS4) permit. MS4 refers to Denver’s stormwater conveyance system, which is separated from the sanitary sewer system and discharges to Denver’s local waterbodies.

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Ashlee Grace

Photo of the newly constructed 33rd Street outfall in the River North neighborhood in Denver which includes green infrastructure components.

Discharges from this system are regulated through the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), established by the Clean Water Act, which establishes pollutant regulations that are administered by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) MS4 permit program.

Prior to 2013, Denver relied almost exclusively upon a comprehensive maintenance program to reduce pollutant loads and meet the MS4 permit requirements. The city’s existing maintenance program made progress in reducing E. coli levels and loads in dry weather discharges from several of the focus basins; however maintenance

alone was not enough to ensure full compliance with the permit. It became clear that Denver needed a more innovative approach to providing water quality treatment at all scales. In 2013, Denver took a step to build a more robust and sustainable stormwater program by hiring a water quality project manager with experience in and focus on green infrastructure. In the following years, a planner and landscape architect were also brought on board. While the program hopes to continue expanding its staff numbers and capacity, the team of three with their diverse backgrounds and skillsets have begun the complex task of establishing the City and County of Denver’s first ever GI program.

In the absence of a secure funding stream in initial years, the GI program conducted an effort called the Scorecard Analysis (“the Scorecard”) in which a methodology was established to prioritize the 31 major stormwater quality drainage basins that make up the city’s stormwater system. Each basin was scored based on primary and secondary criteria to prioritize basins in need of investment and action.

Primary criteria accounted for the majority of the scoring and included water quality criteria such as outfalls of concerns related to the MS4 permit (outfalls where regulated pollutants are an issue), estimated pollutant loads based on land use, existing treatment and amount of impervious area within the ROW. Secondary criteria included urban heat island indicators, poor air quality, lack of tree canopy and socioeconomic factors, all basin attributes that could be improved through GI implementation. One of the outcomes of the Scorecard was a map that indicated six high-priority basins and five medium-high priority basins for GI improvements.

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Idea Lab Noteworthy

Ashlee Grace

Concrete being poured in the first streetside stormwater planter along Brighton Boulevard. Once construction is complete, Brighton Boulevard will feature over 100 green infrastructure facilities, making it Denver’s first green infrastructure corridor.

The Scorecard serves as the foundation for Denver’s 2018 Green Infrastructure Implementation Strategy, a data-driven plan that details GI projects in Denver’s priority basins. The projects in the plan include site, sub-regional and regional scale opportunities to implement GI, most of which indicate water quality treatment potential and have a project partner identified. The plan also identifies potential green streets in each high and medium-high priority basin. These are street opportunities where green infrastructure is likely feasible and would be highly beneficial. Green streets were identified using a criteria-based analysis coupled with field surveys. Green streets were further prioritized based on input from other agencies and departments that have complementary efforts on the same streets. Similarly, park opportunities were identified for each basin. The Department of Parks and Recreation created its own

methodology for analyzing which parks are potentially compatible with some sort of stormwater facility. Both processes, prioritizing green streets and identifying potential park opportunities, served dual purposes: green infrastructure planning and relationship building across departments and agencies.

Because green infrastructure involves above-ground improvements often in park settings or within the public-right-of-way, it is associated with many other benefits beyond stormwater management. Research studies demonstrate that GI improves water quality, can mitigate peak flows and provide needed detention, reduces the urban heat island effect, lowers cooling costs for nearby buildings, absorbs local carbon emissions, improves air quality and is associated with numerous public health benefits.

Thoughtfully designed GI can create safer pedestrian and cyclist environments and contribute to placemaking.

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These, along with the aesthetic value of GI, can combine to increase property values, thus having an important economic benefit as well. Due to the fact that GI meets multiple city goals, the GI program intentionally seeks to align projects with other city efforts including major corridor projects, bike projects, or stormwater pipe projects.

Syncing up implementation not only achieves major cost efficiencies but also makes the case for additional sources of funding. Every public GI project in construction or completed in Denver since the GI program began includes at least one other funding partner.

Beyond data-driven planning and cost-savvy approaches to implementing multi-functional projects, Denver’s GI team also provides key tools and resources that make it easier to plan for, design and construct GI. A main aspiration of the program and one that is already beginning to occur, is making GI a standard scope consideration and budget item in plans and projects across the city, regardless of origin. To this end, program staff have developed core messaging that continues to be presented to city planners, engineers, project managers, City Council Members and the public. Evidence that the program’s work is already paying off is the inclusion of GI in plans that make up the Denveright initiative. This multifaceted planning initiative includes an update to Denver’s Comprehensive Plan, Blueprint Denver (the City’s land use and transportation plan), Denver Moves Transit and Pedestrian and Trails plans, and Gameplan (Denver Parks and Recreations Master Plan). GI has also been identified as a specific task item in the planning department’s new approach to neighborhood plans.

Idea Lab Noteworthy Another key function the GI team plays in moving Denver towards more widespread implementation of GI is providing design guidance and resources. In 2015, the GI team began development of the Ultra-Urban Green Infrastructure Guidelines (UUGIG) with the goal of helping developers and other city agencies implement a range of urban green infrastructure strategies that are suitable for tight urban spaces found throughout Denver. Prior to this document, there were limited resources Denver practitioners could turn to for design guidance on GI in urban areas. As a result, projects that sought to implement green infrastructure had a challenging time engaging local professionals that had the experience and skill-set to design these best management practices (BMPs) in a way that could be reviewed and approved by local agencies. Recognizing this as a challenge shared by both the private design community and the approving agencies, the City of Denver partnered with the EPA and the Urban Drainage and Flood Control District (UDFCD) (the regional flood control district) to develop the UUGIG, intended for use by both the public and private sector. Chosen for their suitability in Denver’s ultra-urban environment including the ROW (source of some of the most polluted stormwater runoff), the guidelines include planning and engineering criteria for site-scale GI and recommendations on siting/urban design, aesthetics, planting/vegetation and maintenance.

Since the adoption of the UUGIG in 2017, there have been several private and public projects that utilized the guidelines for the development of site-scale water quality treatment.

There are more than 100 streetside stormwater planters completed or

under construction in local transportation and wastewater projects. The guidelines established a baseline for consistent evaluation and feedback from reviewing agencies for private developers and public capital projects.

A handful of potential revisions have already been identified based on contractor and designer feedback and plan to continue updating the UUGIG in the future to adapt to changing needs. Importantly, the city’s adoption of these guidelines sent a clear signal to the engineering and design community that green infrastructure is a practice that will be expected on more and more projects throughout the city. The GI team not only intends to improve upon the UUGIG as lessons are learned but use it as a model for the development of more guidance documents moving forward.

In terms of policy, the GI program relies heavily on research and best practices from across the country to inform any GI or water quality related policy. The GI team is currently finalizing a project with the Community Engagement, Design and Research Center (CeDAR) program at the University of Colorado/Boulder to develop an impervious forecasting model. This model looks at the anticipated impervious area growth based on four different development scenarios and the impact each scenario will have on water quality. The study makes the important link between types of land uses and their contribution to impervious area. This work is already informing policy discussions related to water quality thresholds and other mechanisms for limiting impervious area growth.

Clearly there is much left for Denver’s Green Infrastructure program to tackle. Densification, climate change, limited resources and

complex urban challenges all make a strong case for Denver to continue expanding its green infrastructure program. The plans, projects and policies discussed are just the beginning of what Denver hopes will be an effective program. For Denver to truly be successful in building a more sustainable and resilient city, all Denver stakeholders will need to involved in understanding and working towards a comprehensive green infrastructure solution.

Acknowledgements The author would like to thank Sarah Anderson and Brian Wethington for their contributions to the article and all they have done to make Denver’s growing green infrastructure program successful.

References 1. U.S. News and World Report. U.S. News Unveils the 2018 Best Places to Live [online] (2018). https://www.usnews.com/info/blogs/press-room/ articles/2018-04-10/us-news-unveils-the-2018-bestplaces-to-live 2. Colorado Department of Local Affairs: County Data Lookup [online]. https://demography.dola.colorado. gov/population/data/profile-county/ 3. McClung, Kelcey. Home-resale price growth still rising in metro Denver, report says. Denver Business Journal [online] (2018). https://www.bizjournals. com/denver/news/2018/04/24/home-resale-pricegrowth-still-rising-in-metro.html 4. State of Downtown Denver Report. (Downtown Denver Partnership, Denver, CO, 2018). [online] https://www.downtowndenver.com/wp-content/ uploads/StateofDowntownDenver_Final_Web_ Pages.pdf 5. Environmental Protection Agency: Clean Water Act (CWA) Compliance Monitoring. [online]. https:// www.epa.gov/compliance/clean-water-act-cwacompliance-monitoring 6. Green Infrastructure Implementation Strategy, 9-13.

(City and County of Denver Public Works, Denver, CO 2018).

7. Ultra-Urban Green Infrastructure [online]. https:// www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/ wastewater-management/stormwater-quality/ultraurban-green-infrastructure.html

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Elkin, G. (2019). Partnering Across International Boundaries for Water Security Through Technology and Startup Support. Solutions 10(1): 22–25. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/partnering-across-international-boundaries-for-water-security-through-technology-and-startup-support

Idea Lab Noteworthy Partnering Across International Boundaries for Water Security through Technology and Startup Support

by Gili Elkin

Owned by Kando, used with their permission

Logging water quality data in an urban setting

T

he State of Colorado was one of the last areas in the United States settled by Europeans. Denver, its largest city, had but a handful of permanent residents as recently as the 1850’s. In contrast, Israel and surrounding areas include some of the oldest human habitations in the world; some cities in the region trace their history back 6,000 years.

These two areas, separated by thousands of miles, may have little history in common, but they do share something else: a climate of limited rainfall.

Both face significant water challenges.

They need to collect as much fresh water as possible and keep it as clean as possible. Two recent alliances, the

Israel – Colorado Innovation Fund and the Israel – US Water Initiative, are demonstrating how collaboration around innovative technologies can allow communities to transcend large gaps in space and culture to solve common problems.

Although 60 percent of Israel is a desert and the rest is semi-arid, Israel exports water to its neighbors. This is not the mystifying result of Moses hitting the rock but rather the result of constant innovation that started long before Israel was established in 1948.

Jewish leaders led by David Ben Gurion, who later became the first Prime Minister of Israel, were determined to prove wrong the British White Paper

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that justified banning Jewish immigration (to the area that later became the State of Israel) in part by claiming that there would not be enough water in the area to meet the demand of a growing population. This determination to innovate combined with the approach to plan water for the greater good led to the beginning of operation of the Israel National Water Carrier in 1964.

Education of the public has also been a big factor contributing to the success of Israel conserving water. It starts with the Israeli nursery rhyme: “Drip Drop Clap your Hands.” (Note the contrast to the popular US nursery rhyme: “Rain Rain Go Away.”) It is demonstrated throughout Israel with signs stating that “Every Drop Counts,” through public TV commercials and through the willingness of the public to pay high prices for water.

The high pricing of water (which captures all stages of water management from pumping through treatment and distribution) incentivized farmers to use crops that grow in water-stressed environments and salty water and use water-conserving technologies. This in turn incentivized entrepreneurs to develop more technologies that conserve water.

In addition, the Israeli government’s support of entrepreneurs mitigates some risks involved in innovation. For example, the Israeli Innovation Authority provides around USD$500M US in grants every year for startups. The government also shares the risks of deploying innovative technologies with Israeli water utilities by sponsoring up to 70 percent of projects of water utilities when a new technology is deployed. Separating water from politics has led to the establishment of a technocratic regulatory National Water Authority that oversees the water budget and plans water from the

Idea Lab Noteworthy time it touches the ground until the time it is used. Since water in Israel belongs to the public, its use is planned for decades ahead and assumes water innovation that does not yet exist.

Israel has thus become a leader in water innovation. Five desalination plants provide Israel with around 80 percent of its water for consumption.

the cause of Israeli – American cooperation on water technology innovation while helping Israeli entrepreneurs overcome some of their challenges penetrating to the US. The ICI Fund is a private venture capital fund backed by experienced investors. Its objective is to bring comparable innovation by connecting groundbreaking Israeli

Innosphere will support the growth of Israeli startups in Colorado by opening doors to corporate partners with whom we have long-standing relationships, helping the Israeli companies create a US presence, and by making sure the companies can provide services in a way that meets and exceeds US corporate standards.

The country treats around 95 percent of wastewater and reuses around 86 percent of that for agricultural uses.

Other innovations include use of drip irrigation (that was invented in Israel) in around 75 percent of Israel’s irrigated fields; cloud seeding to capture the rain and reuse it; and leading drip detection technologies, smart management of water and wastewater technologies and leading cyber security technologies for water and wastewater utilities. Because of Israel’s leadership in water management and innovation, many countries consult with the Israeli government on how to solve water crises.

Despite successful innovation, however, Israeli entrepreneurs face challenges penetrating the US market for many reasons such as time zone differences, high travel costs and big business culture gap.

The Israel – Colorado Innovation Fund (ICI Fund) is an effort to advance

startups with Colorado, and eventually the rest of the US. In October 2017 the ICI Fund was formally registered in Colorado and by 2021 the goal is to invest in around ten Israeli startups in the Water, Energy and Transportation sectors and connect them with the US market, through Colorado.

Former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper supported the ICI Fund and its vision of attracting Israeli innovation in water and cyber security. The Israel Innovation Authority supports the ICI Fund because the Fund’s vision is aligned with the Israeli government’s vision of helping Israeli startups successfully penetrate the US market. Israeli startups supported by the ICI Fund may apply for additional grant money from the Israeli Innovation Authority.

The ICI Fund partners with Colorado’s leading technology incubator, Innosphere. Innosphere is

a long-standing non-profit technology incubator headquartered in Fort Collins with multiple offices across Colorado. Innosphere supports approximately 40 high-tech startups per year, working closely with founders and CEOs to help them achieve key business milestones. Innosphere accelerates the success of high-impact science and technology-based startup and scaleup companies by ensuring that companies are investor-ready, making introductions to Innosphere’s long-standing corporate partners, exit planning, and connecting entrepreneurs with experienced advisors, local talent and investors.

Innosphere is led by CEO, Mike Freeman, also a General Partner in the ICI Fund. Every Israeli startup selected for investment by the ICI Fund is supported by Innosphere. “The potential of bringing promising Israeli technologies to Colorado is huge. It will attract global corporations to Colorado and will strengthen our startup ecosystem,” said Freeman. “Innosphere will support the growth of Israeli startups in Colorado by opening doors to corporate partners with whom we have long-standing relationships, helping the Israeli companies create a US presence, and by making sure the companies can provide services in a way that meets and exceeds US corporate standards.”

In parallel with the challenges faced

by Israeli entrepreneurs penetrating to the US market, many US wastewater and water utilities face challenges deploying new technologies. There are roughly 50,000 such utilities scattered all over the US. Many seem disconnected from each other, do not easily transfer information about technology needs and solutions, seem risk-averse, and often lack human resources and budget to screen and vet technologies.

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Idea Lab Noteworthy Municipalities that are regulated by the state face many regulatory barriers as well. This allows continuance of an unadvanced (technology-wise) status quo.

This gap between need and available resources incentivized the formation of the Israel – US Water Initiative, a platform that aims to duplicate the water ecosystem in Israel. While initiated and centralized in Colorado, this initiative is available throughout the US and Canada. The goal of the Israel – US Water Initiative is to connect informally US entities that are interested in water innovation and innovative water solutions originating and built in Israel’s innovation culture.

The Israel – US Water Initiative is supported by Oded Distel, Director of Israel Newtech at the Israel Ministry of Economy, Israel Shamay, Head of the Americas Operations, Israel Innovation Authority and Danny Lacker, Head of Water Security, Israel National Water Authority. This reflects the alignment of the Initiative with the Israeli government’s policy of helping other countries overcome water scarcity. Through this Israel – US Water Initiative, US entities can learn about promising Israeli companies with innovative solutions for the water industry. US entities are also able to receive matching funds from the Israel Innovation Authority for pilots with Israeli innovative technologies. The Israel – US Water Initiative is also supported by the State of Colorado (previous Governor, John Hickenlooper), State of Maryland (Governor Larry Hogan) and in discussion with other governors, including Arizona Governor, Doug Ducey). The goal of these governors is to strengthen the business ties with Israel in the water industry and import

innovative water technologies to their states.

The Israel – US Water Initiative has an Advisory Committee composed of members of organizations that are leaders in innovation in the water industry and advanced in their approach to water. These include Dean Amhaus, (President & CEO, The Water Council, Wisconsin), John Coleman (Board Member, East Bay Municipal Utility District, California), Chris Dermody (CIO, Denver Water, Colorado), Kelly DiNatale (President of DiNatale Water Consultants, Colorado), Thomas Kuczynski (CIO, DC Water, Washington D.C), Bob Lembke (Chair) (President, United Water and Sanitation District, Colorado), Will Sarni, (CEO, Water Foundry, Colorado) and the Israeli government representatives mentioned above.

Many US utilities have begun deploying innovative technologies and some are very advanced and innovative in their approach. A clear demonstration of that is the fact that approximately 60 US advanced utilities and entities have already joined the Water Initiative, eager to learn about innovative technologies coming out of Israel. These include utilities in Colorado, Maryland, California, Arizona, DC, Nevada, Texas, Ohio and Oregon. The Initiative hopes to grow to become the central node for water innovation in the US. One potential focus of future growth is likely to be asset management and renewal and replacement of water and wastewater infrastructure.

According to a recent study by American Water Works Association (AWWA), for the fifth year in a row water utilities have identified such renewal and replacement as their greatest area of concern.1 In addition,

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pollution was ranked as having the largest potential negative impact at macro-scale on the water industry.

AWWA is the largest and oldest water association in the US, established in 1881, serving over 50,000 members and led by David LaFrance.

AWWA supports the Israel – US Water Initiative. Doing so is aligned with AWWA’s vision of a “Better World Through Better Water” and its innovation strategy to help utilities by connecting them with innovative technologies.

The US water and wastewater utilities that are part of the Israel – US Water Initiative leverage the screening and vetting of Israeli companies done by the ICI Fund. As the success of the fund is contingent on the return on investment for the private investors, the ICI Fund’s process of screening and vetting Israeli startups is rigorous. The ICI Fund screens hundreds of startups before selecting one for investment—a process that can take several months.

The criteria for selecting an Israeli startup include strength of technology, team, business plan, customers’ feedback, and market need. The ICI Fund consults with experts and potential US clients about the examined technology and the need for it in the US market.

The first Israeli startup that the ICI Fund supports is KANDO, a company providing smart water management solutions. KANDO, an Israeli company, was established with the goal of leading a significant improvement in the quality of effluent discharged to the environment and the quality of wastewater for reuse.

Wastewater is collected in cities through a complex network composed primarily of underground pipelines.

The wastewater collection system’s lifetime depends on the quality of the wastewater that passes through

Idea Lab Noteworthy

Owned by Kando, used with their permission

Kando technology used in the field

it. Pollution events damage the wastewater network, the treatment plants and the environment. These events are invisible. They reduce the lifetime of the infrastructure but do so silently. Only when wastewater overflows streets or is spilled into rivers or oceans is the damage noticed.

Such a crisis could result in poorlytreated effluent being discharged to the environment, and potentially to a permit violation.

KANDO’s technology identifies pollution along the wastewater network and could help prevent the crisis.

KANDO’s cloud-based SaaS (Software as a Service) IoT (internet of things) solution is comprised of monitoring sensors, wireless communication, software and big data analytical tools.

These tools enable customers to track and anticipate events across the wastewater network.

KANDO’s system collects and analyzes data from the wastewater network 24/7 and, based on AI (artificial

intelligence) and machine learning tools, provides a clear view of wastewater quality at every given point of the collection system and information about events (pollution, corrosion and other) in the wastewater network.

Depending on the utility’s needs, KANDO’s technology can indicate events and their exact sources based on indicative parameters measured by sensors in the wastewater network.

KANDO’s technology is used by some of the largest cities in Israel such as Haifa (an industrial port city) where KANDO is installed at the Mei-Carmel utility. KANDO’s technology has also already been introduced to several US wastewater utilities outside of Colorado and in Colorado that all expressed keen interest in learning more about the technology and some are moving forward to deployment.

KANDO’s technology was selected by a leading US engineering firm for deployment in California (already deployed) and Texas.

The ICI Fund hopes to help KANDO expand in Colorado to help address that state’s critical water needs. When, as in Israel and Colorado, water is scarce to begin with, there is a greater premium placed on water quality. KANDO’s technology could help Colorado protect the quality of its limited water resources by preventing disruption of wastewater treatment systems. In this way technology developed by one of the world’s oldest communities can help one of the world’s newest communities address a common resource problem.

Acknowledgements The author greatly appreciates the assistance that Jenny Gelman, Barb Martin and Paula MacIlwaine provided in the preparation of this article.

References 1. State of the Water Industry Report https://www.awwa.org/Portals/0/files/resources/ water%20utility%20management/sotwi/2018_ SOTWI_Report_Final_v3.pdf

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Khuntia, J., X. Ning, and E. Cooperman. (2019). Strange Bedfellows: How Municipal Officials are Collaborating with Local Academics to Address the Effect of a Trade War on Sustainability. Solutions 10(1): 26–30. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/strange-bedfellows-how-municipal-officials-arecollaborating-with-local-academics-to-address-the-effect-of-a-trade-war-on-sustainability

Perspectives Strange Bedfellows: How Municipal Officials are Collaborating with Local Academics to Address the Effect of a Trade War on Sustainability

by Jiban Khuntia, Xue Ning, and Elizabeth Cooperman

M

unicipal government officials and local academics often work in separate worlds. Local officials often spend much of their time ensuring that the daily needs of local residents are efficiently met. Roads need to be paved; garbage needs to be picked up; clean water needs to be delivered; parks need to be maintained.

Academics, in contrast, often deal with theoretical and global challenges and thought leadership around issues. In this regard Denver, Colorado is no different than other cities. Its combined city and county government attend to the infrastructure and services that all cities provide to their residents. It is also home to several academic institutions, including the Business School at the University of Colorado (CU) Denver. Most of the time city officials go about the business of governing, while CU faculty go about the business of conducting basic research or training the business leaders of the future.

Denver, however, is a city that prides itself on collaboration. One notable example of this collaboration is the relationship the CU Denver Business School has formed with the Sustainability Community of Colorado through the school’s Managing for Sustainability Program and Managing for Sustainability Advisory Council. The Advisory Council consists of representatives from the sustainability departments of numerous Colorado corporations and government entities, including members of the Denver’s Office of Sustainability. Council members provide advice and feedback to business school faculty on academic offerings, particularly for its graduate program,

Business School, University of Colorado, Denver

The Sustainability Superhero image was designed to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Managing for Sustainability (M4S) program at the University of Colorado Business School.

and how those offering might better meet the needs of local businesses and governments. The Business School’s faculty in turn provide research topics of interest to business and government leaders and provide graduate students as interns to help these leaders with specific assignments in sustainability, which also provides valuable experience for students.

The Managing for Sustainability Advisory Council of CU Denver Business School was established ten years ago when sustainability was in its infancy to connect people from business, government, and non-profit sectors to advise and support the Business School on the Managing for Sustainability (M4S) program development. CU Denver Business School

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started its M4S program, and the advisory council had its first meeting to discuss the direction and content of the M4S program. Since then, many of the same members have served on the advisory council. The program and council have significantly grown during the last decade. This year (2018), the tenth anniversary of the M4S program, there are currently 42 sustainability leaders in the advisory council, alongside Business School faculty. The advisory council includes members from organizations such as B Lab Colorado, the City of Denver, CBRE, DaVita, Prologis, AT&T, and Xcel Energy, among many others, as well as alumni and leaders in the sustainability circle in Colorado. The members have meetings regularly to

Perspectives share sustainability best practices, suggest the program development plan, and help the curriculum contents. Among the members of the Advisory Council is a representative of the Denver Office of Sustainability (OOS). OOS was created by Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock in 2012, with a mission to work with all city agencies to ensure that the city’s basic resources would be available and affordable to everyone both today and tomorrow. OOS’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Jerry Tinianow, has served on the Advisory Council since his appointment.

In 2018 Tinianow approached Dr. Jiban Khuntia, a member of the CU Denver Business School faculty and a participant in the Managing for Sustainability Advisory Council, with a question: Could trade wars actually be good for sustainability – or at least could they be leveraged to obtain some pro-sustainability results? This question had currency because U.S. President Donald Trump had begun initiating trade wars with many different trading partners – China, Mexico, Canada, and the European Union, among others.

Denver is a city that sees itself playing an ever-larger role on the international stage. Its rapid economic growth, strong cadre of cutting-edge technology businesses, and attractive location near spectacular scenic and recreational resources are attracting interest and investment on a global scale. Its airport, fifth- busiest in the U.S., had grown to be among a handful therein with over 200 non-stop destinations. As a growing international player Denver had to be concerned about the effect of trade wars, and as a city with a strong commitment to sustainability, it had to worry more specifically about whether trade wars would help or hurt the economy and sustainability.

This article focuses on a recent collaboration that illustrates how this partnership works. This joint project with Denver Office of Sustainability to evaluate whether the recent restrictive global trade policies and tariffs on many countries’ imports imposed under the Trump Administration that have been associated with strong reactions from countries including tariffs on U.S. goods might affect worldwide sustainability initiatives.

The sustainability community has generally opposed many of the initiatives of the Trump Administration including a pro-coal industry and anti-environment agenda. This opposition could affect how the community views the Administration’s new trade policies and potential trade wars that are occurring in reaction to these. The advantage of collaboration between municipal sustainability officials and academics is that rigorous academic rationale can be applied to analyze the pros and cons of the new policies for the effects on sustainability in Colorado and the U.S.

Trade Wars and Sustainability A trade war occurs when one country (Country A) raises tariffs on another country’s (Country B) imports in retaliation for Country B raising tariffs on Country A’s imports. A tariff is a tax imposed on imported goods and services. It is commonly argued that a trade war is a side effect of protectionism. Trade wars can commence if one country perceives another country’s trading practices to be unfair or when domestic trade unions pressure politicians to make imported goods less attractive to consumers. Trade wars are also a result of a misunderstanding of the widespread benefits of free trade—that is a policy to eliminate discrimination against imports and exports. Buyers and sellers from different economies may voluntarily trade

without a government applying tariffs, quotas, subsidies or prohibitions on goods and services. Free trade is the opposite of trade protectionism or economic isolationism.

A trade war that begins in one sector can grow to affect other sectors.

Likewise, a trade war that begins between two countries can affect other countries not initially involved in the trade war. As noted above a trade war can result from a protectionist penchant. Protectionism represents government actions and policies that restrict international trade, generally with the intent of protecting local businesses and jobs from foreign competition. A trade war is distinct from other actions (e.g., sanctions) that have detrimental effects on the trading relationship between two countries in that its goals are related specifically to trade.

In 2018, the Trump Administration initiated strong reactions from countries that received large tariffs on their goods a large, precipitating a trade war, which has unfolded in an unprecedented way.

For instance, on January 22, 2018, the Trump Administration placed a 30 percent tariff on foreign solar panels.

On March 1, the U.S. also announced an increase in its tariffs for steel and aluminum products. The Trump Administration also listed USD$50 billion worth of Chinese imports to be subject to 25 percent tariffs on April 3, 2018, followed by an additional USD$100 billion in response to China’s plan to retaliate against the initial round on April 5. Further, on July 6, a 25 percent tariff on USD$34 billion was initiated. On this same day, China retaliated and implemented the same size tariff on the same amount in American goods as a swift reaction. On July 10th, the U.S. administration announced that it would impose tariffs on an additional USD$200 billion of Chinese goods.

This round of tariffs went into effect on

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Perspectives September 24th, with full implementation by January 1st, 2019.

President Trump has claimed that “trade wars are good, and easy to win.”

However, historically we know that nobody “wins” in a trade war—especially in the long run. For example, during the great depression, the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 attempted to protect farmers through tariffs. But other countries responded with tariffs on goods shipped and sold abroad.

This trade war contributed to the great depression, which led to numerous bank failures, and unemployment worldwide.

Sustainability proponents might be expected to reject out of hand any of the Trump Administration’s initiatives. President Trump had established himself as a staunch opponent of most sustainability initiatives, particularly in the areas of climate change, clean energy and public lands protection.

President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement in 2017, and the Trump administration has proposed greater support for the coal industry and nuclear power plants. Other examples include a proposal to repeal the Obama Clean Power Plan, impose tariffs on imported solar panels, eliminate the Energy Star energy-efficient labeling program, and overturn other previous clean-energy policies, as well as other anti-environment initiatives.

Despite the temptation simply to oppose anything President Trump supports; sustainability advocates need to be aware of the ancient idiom that once in a while even a blind pig finds an acorn. Trade wars undercut globalization, and globalization has been seen by many sustainability advocates as undercutting sustainability. By starting trade wars, the possibility may exist that President Trump may inadvertently have discovered a sustainability acorn.

Defining sustainability is always confusing as multiple definitions and perspectives exist, from environmental sustainability to firm viability. The policy imperative of sustainability as a concept originated in the Brundtland Report of 1987.1 In the realm of the tension between the aspirations of mankind towards a better life on the one hand and the limitations imposed by nature on the other hand, sustainable development has to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. The concept of sustainability is future-oriented and has a long-term perspective. Subsequently, the concept has been re-interpreted as encompassing three dimensions, namely social, economic and environmental, and the United Nation’s Agenda for Development reflects that: “Development is a multidimensional undertaking to achieve a higher quality of life for all people. Economic development, social development, and environmental protection are interdependent and mutually reinforcing components of sustainable development.” A much-accepted perspective is the triple bottom line analysis to favor programs that minimize consumption of non- renewable resources, reduce health and other risks to humans, promote equity and provide economic opportunity (For detailed discussions around the triple bottom aim perspective to sustainability, see2,3 amongst other studies).

Often this involves balancing some of these values against the others and balancing the future against the past, but the balance is always struck mindfully with an effort to achieve as much concurrently as possible.

With globalization and free trade, how to balance the three dimensions and achieve sustainability becomes a global issue.

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Critics of globalization can argue that many of its objective features run against the environmental and social aspects of sustainability. Globalization is often associated with evils that cut against sustainability. It favors production where it can be done at the lowest cost while preserving a modicum of quality. Costs are often contained by minimizing charges for externalities and by abusing workers through low wages, long hours, and unhealthy working conditions (including child labor). Some proponents would point to the positive influences of a trade war on sustainability through reduced consumption, reduced emissions and pollutants, and similar effects. Indeed, the pollution haven hypothesis posits that, when large industrialized nations seek to set up factories or offices abroad, they will often look for the cheapest option in terms of resources and labor that offers the land and material access they require. However, this often comes at the cost of environmentally sound practices. Developing nations with cheap resources and labor tend to have less stringent environmental regulations, and conversely, nations with stricter environmental regulations become more expensive for companies as a result of the costs associated with meeting these standards. Thus, companies that choose to physically invest in foreign countries tend to relocate to the countries with the lowest environmental standards or weakest enforcement.4 Also, the plausible positive impacts of a trade war on sustainability may be through direct reduced consumption, while incomes go low and prices may increase. The consumption of energy, non-renewable resources such as production materials will also be reduced.

Because of less production, there will be reduced environmental damage and decreased emissions, including greenhouse gas (GHG) and other pollutants. The local economy and society

Perspectives will become more resilient as self-sufficiency ability will be improved. The labor issues criticized by opponents of globalization may get relief (however, we should note that the labor issue is very complicated and is not the focus of this article) and thus a trade war may bring reduced imbalance and inequities. In addition, trade wars deter the comparative advantage from free trade, thus the pollution haven may not exist in developing countries, leading to reduced economic displacement and environmental degradation.

Furthermore, developed countries generally have better environmental technologies and policies. With the production center relocation, we anticipate less environmental damage and fewer emissions for the same amount of production. Overall, sustainability positives from a trade war may include reduced consumption, with related reductions in energy usage, consumption of non-renewable resources, and release of greenhouse gases and other pollutants; reduced competition from abroad, preventing local jobs from disappearing; and push to communities to develop greater self-sufficiency.

This is not to say that President Trump’s trade wars automatically promote sustainability. Trade wars are complex, and notwithstanding the President’s belief that they are “easy to win,” they can produce unpredictable outcomes. As abovementioned, the Smoot-Hawley Act of 1930 was meant to resolve the Great Depression and instead worsened the situation.

An example of this uncertainty is President Trump’s action in early 2018 to raise tariffs on imported solar panels. In response to a complaint filed last year by Suniva, an American solar panels company, President Trump signed tariffs as much as 30 percent on imported solar panels in January 2018, with the aim to protect American manufacturers and create jobs.

Business School, University of Colorado, Denver

Business School, University of Colorado at Denver

The higher tariffs on imported solar panels actually predated the announced start of President Trump’s trade wars. They were ostensibly undertaken to provide temporary protection for the domestic U.S. solar panel industry so that it could regain market share. But the tariffs raised the cost of solar installations in the U.S., particularly when paired with President Trump’s new tariffs on imported steel, which were part of his trade war. Some feared that this one-two punch could trigger the death knell of the U.S. solar industry.5 Later evidence, however, suggests that the effects have not nearly matched up to the early fears.6,7 Solar tariffs are merely one example of how actions in a trade war could help or hurt sustainability. Another area of recent interest is the effect of decisions by China and other countries to bar or limit imports of recyclable items like plastics and newsprint.

In July 2017, China initiated the campaign against foreign garbage such as paper and waste plastic, creating

turmoil in the global recycling industry. According to the US Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), the ban would disrupt exported scrap worth a total of USD$5.6 billion from the U.S. to China in 2016 and affect about 150,000 jobs.8

Denver’s Case and Future Government-University Collaboration on Sustainability Denver has a strong interest in both the solar industry and the recycling industry. With over 300 days of sunshine every year, Denver is one of the best locations on the planet for solar power; it is no surprise that in 2013 Denver was named America’s first “Solar-Friendly Community” by the Colorado Solar Energy Industry Association. In contrast to its rapid ascent in the solar world, Denver had struggled with waste diversion. While it has increased diversion from the landfill from 14 percent of household waste in 2012 to 22 percent in 2018, it still lags well behind the national average of 35 percent.

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Perspectives

Business School, University of Colorado, Denver

Discussion among M4S advisory council members during the M4S advisory council meeting in May 2018

Since Denver’s Office of Sustainability has to care about whether a Trump-driven trade war will help or hurt the economy and sustainability in Colorado, CU Denver’s Managing for Sustainability Advisory Council provided the perfect vehicle for Denver to tap into the research expertise at the business school. In collaboration with the co-authors of this article, DOS can get the guidance it needs to decide how the city should react to the President’s trade initiatives. Plausible areas of research may emerge from this collaboration. For example, collaborative research may guide us to ask: What are the plausible theoretical explanations for the trade war and its sustainability impact?

How do we manage and allocate

sustainability resources to offset the effects of a trade war on local sustainability? When one or more optimality conditions in a trade war and sustainability relationship cannot be satisfied, what is the new-best solution9—and what may those solutions be from a local economic viewpoint? As the largest city in a growing “purple” state, Denver’s positions matter, and guidance is needed.

Developing markets for virtue. California management review 49, 132-157 (2007).

4 Levinson, A. & Taylor, M. S. Unmasking the pollution haven effect. International economic review 49, 223-254 (2008).

5 Penn, I. Trump’s Solar Tariffs Cause a Scramble in the Industry, <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/03/ business/energy-environment/solar-industry-tariffs. html> (2018).

6 Gearino, D. How Much Damage are Trump’s Solar Tariffs Doing to the U.S. Industry?, <https:// insideclimatenews.org/news/20082018/trump-solarpanels-tariffs-clean-energy-economy-jobs-unitedstates-market> (2018).

7 Rhodes, J. Trump’s Solar Tariffs Go Into Effect

Reference 1 Brundtland, G. H. What is sustainable development.

Our common future, 8-9 (1987).

2 Elkington, J. Partnerships from cannibals with forks: The triple bottom line of 21st-century business.

Environmental Quality Management 8, 37-51 (1998).

3 Berger, I. E., Cunningham, P. H. & Drumwright, M.

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E. Mainstreaming corporate social responsibility:

Today. So What?, <https://www.forbes.com/sites/ joshuarhodes/2018/02/07/trump-solar-paneltariff/#5401ace8376d> (2018).

8 Reuters. The US wants China to reverse its decision to bar foreign garbage, <https://www.pri.org/ stories/2018-03-23/us-wants-china-reverse-itsdecision-bar-foreign-garbage> (2018).

9 Lipsey, R. G. & Lancaster, K. The general theory of second best. The review of economic studies 24, 11-32 (1956).

Fyfe, A. (2019). ICLEI and USDN: The New Era of Intercity Collaboration. Solutions 10(1): 31–35. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/iclei-and-usdn-the-new-era-of-intercity-collaboration

Perspectives ICLEI and USDN: The New Era of Intercity Collaboration

by Angie Fyfe

A

rriving early one morning at Denver Union Station, the city’s passenger rail terminal and local transportation hub, I was greeted by a disappointingly long chain of open railcars brimming with coal. It’s been over 30 years since the 1988 hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resource when Congress was alerted by preeminent climate scientist, Dr. James Hansen, of the irrefutable connection between anthropogenic climate change and the need for immediate action to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, the coal cars continue to roll.

That 1988 hearing was convened by then Colorado Senator Tim Wirth.

While the federal government failed to act, major international and local climate bodies were established, including the International Council on Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI)1 in 1990, and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992.

ICLEI’s Initial efforts, powered by founder, Jeb Brugmann, focused on consciousness-raising and elevating local governments’ role to drive global climate change and sustainable development solutions. With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ICLEI created the first of its kind Cities for Climate Protection (CCP) program, which included technical and political support for local government action plan development and an initial group of supporting programs: Climate Wise, Transportation Partners, Heat Island, and Waste Partners.

The City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada was named the ICLEI World Secretariat. The National League of

Angie Fyfe

Coal cars in back of Denver Union Station

Cities, and cities of Tucson, Saint Paul, and Berkeley became the pioneering ICLEI governance committee members.

Supported by ICLEI, Toronto adopted the world’s first greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction target and

Portland, Oregon and Saint Paul, Minnesota adopted the first U.S. Climate Action Plans in 1992. By 1994, ICLEI member Santa Monica had emerged as the local government leader in the U.S. sustainability movement.

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Perspectives

ICLEI’s General Executive Committee at the ICLEI World Congress in Montreal, June 2018

By 1996, ICLEI membership and CCP participation included 47 U.S. local governments, growing to more than 600 at its peak in 2011. ICLEI pioneered local climate action, being the first and still largest network of U.S. cities and regions devoted to building a sustainable future through domestic and international dialogues, education, capacity building, and evidence-based action.

ICLEI’s U.S. launch spawned a global network of 1,500+ cities, towns and regions committed to building a sustainable future, impacting more than 25 percent of the global urban population. Local and regional

governments across the ICLEI network work alongside a diverse team of global experts in 22 offices active across 124 countries. Together, the network addresses the local impacts of global change, from climate change to urbanization through five pathways: low to no carbon; nature-based, resilient, circular, and equitable.

Unique to ICLEI is its support of any local government that seeks to participate. New York City is the largest U.S. based member and Yountville California (population 3,010) its smallest. ICLEI’s U.S. headquarters is proudly located in Denver and

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supported by expert staff based on the east and west coasts.

Supported by global biodiversity, renewable energy, mobility, resilience, and advocacy experts and programming at the ICLEI World Secretariat (now based in Bonn Germany) ICLEI USA primarily engages with U.S. cities through its GHG accounting protocols, emissions management and climate adaptation software applications and via technical support and peer learning.

Since Rio 1992, ICLEI has represented local governments in the area of global advocacy. As of Conference of Parties (COP) 1, ICLEI has served

Perspectives

Owned by ICLEI

as the focal point for the UNFCCC Local Governments and Municipal Authorities working group. As such, it is the conduit for cities and regions and networks representing this constituency at the UNFCCC. Admitted as an observer by the COP, focal points provide for the exchange of official information between their constituents and the UNFCCC secretariat; ensure the effective and appropriate participation at intergovernmental meetings; coordinate observer interaction at sessions including convening constituency meetings; identify speakers and representation at official functions;

and provides logistical support to constituents during sessions.

ICLEI USA regularly hosts delegations of local elected officials and staff at the COPs, including a delegation who inspired the development of the Paris Agreement at COP21 in 2015 and a delegation to build confidence in continued U.S. city and region action at COP23 in 2017.

In addition to climate, ICLEI also represents cities and regions at the Biodiversity COPs (Convention on Biological Diversity) and at UN HABITAT conferences, the most recent of which launched the New Urban Agenda.

ICLEI’s theory of change remains “local action—global change.” In a sense, this approach turns the wellknown adage “Think Globally, Act Locally” on its head—“Act Locally, Coordinate Globally.” To coordinate globally in an effective way, however, ICLEI needs strong and productive local partners. The City and County of Denver is one such partner.

Inspired by Colorado leaders like Wirth, Denver became one of ICLEI’s first member cities in 1992. Over the past quarter century, it has developed an admirable record of local action and international, intercity collaboration.

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Perspectives Denver was one of the first U.S. cities to establish a comprehensive city sustainability plan and implementation program, Greenprint Denver, and to establish and hire a fulltime sustainability director in 2006.

• Greenprint built strong community connections with academics, businesses, state government, and its neighbor in Golden, Colorado, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

• Denver’s early action helped to build public support for Colorado Amendment 37—the first ever voter-approved Renewable Energy Standard, passed in 2004. At that time, renewable energy made up just two percent of the state’s electricity mix. Amendment 37 required 3 percent of retail electricity sales in the year 2007 to be from renewable sources, with an increase to 10 percent by 2015. The state legislature expanded the portfolio requirements three times, and the state is on track to meet the 2020 requirement for investor-owned utilities to generate 30 percent of their electricity from renewable energy.

• The City’s first Climate Action Plan, released in 2007, set a goal to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 10 percent per capita below 1990 levels by 2020. By 2010, the City had exceeded its target.

• Meeting a per capita goal was impressive, but Denver was growing rapidly, and the climate is affected by total GHG emissions, not just per capita emissions.

Increasing its ambition, in 2013 Denver set a goal of reducing total GHG emissions below its 1990 level by 2020. Denver is now on track to meet that goal.

• Denver continued to set more ambitious science-based targets.

In 2015 Denver set a goal of an

80 percent reduction in total GHG emissions by 2050. In 2018 it executed a memorandum of understanding with its electric utility provider to explore ambitious renewable energy deployment and carbon reduction goals. Later that year it released an updated climate action plan with interim goals of running city government operations on 100 percent renewable electricity in 2025 and the entire community on 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030.

Denver’s strong example has been mirrored by those of other cities across ICLEI’s international network.

Examples from network participants in ICLEI’s Urban Transitions Alliance include2 the post-industrial transformations of Gelsenkirchen (Germany) from a coal to solar city, Huairou District (Beijing) from concrete manufacturing community to mixed use through the application of adaptive reuse, and Katowice (Poland) from heavy industry to creative economy.

With the maturity of the local sustainability practice, originated at ICLEI and developed in partnership with Denver and others, a new capacity-building strategy emerged.

The strategy involved the creation of ICLEI-like organizations targeting sustainability practitioners.

Once such organization is the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN), which includes cities in the U.S. and Canada. USDN was established in 2008 by and for local government sustainability professionals in these parts of North America as an exclusive place to learn from each other. The smaller geographic scale made it possible for local governments to convene more frequently and to communicate more readily.

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Denver hosted an early USDN meetup and has participated in a number of its working groups and collaborative projects. In 2018 Denver hosted the annual conference of USDN, which in its ten years had grown from a handful of cities to over 150. In addition to Denver, the networks have considerable synergies across their membership rosters. Portland, New York, Fort Collins, Atlanta, and Palo Alto are just a few of the many locations active in each network.

Organizations like USDN have been strong allies of ICLEI, but not every nation and region is fortunate enough to have such an organization available. ICLEI continues to play an unique and pivotal role because of its international scope and decades of experience in enhancing sustainability capacity of cities across multiple continents, political systems and cultures through protocols, methodologies, and software application development and deployment.

Providing peer-capacity-building among established sustainability directors continues to build the expertise of those Directors and allows ICLEI to continue to focus on international collaborations and engagement of elected officials. It also offers ICLEI the opportunity to build capacity in a host of cities, towns, and counties new to the practice of climate and sustainability as well as building out new innovations for established cities.

One of the ways in which the networks work together is towards operationalizing the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCom) in the U.S. ICLEI is a founding partner of the GCom and has engaged political leaders and practitioners in its activities since 2014. ICLEI USA Board member Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto is the North American representative to the GCom Board of Directors. Together with other

Perspectives stakeholders, ICLEI USA and USDN will tap their networks and experience to establish the GCom activities for U.S. local governments.

Meanwhile, ICLEI’s strongest long-term local partners continue to play crucial roles in addressing anthropogenic climate change.

Denver, for example, is a pilot city in one of the recent ICLEI innovations, the GHG Contribution Analysis toolkit, a new methodology that allows local communities to understand the Drivers of Change in their emissions’ management results and better communicate the impact of local climate actions. The analysis of the changes in Denver’s emissions between 2005 and 2015 demonstrates the importance of Colorado’s renewable energy standard and increased efficiency in commercial and residential buildings and vehicles. Not surprisingly, Denver has strengthened its relationship with its investor-owned electric utility and has emphasized building energy efficiency and electrification of transportation in its climate programs.

The Rio Summit spawned the era of local climate action. While as a nation, the United States has had its periods of action and inaction in the past decades, state and local governments continuously forge ahead. Long-term collaboration among such governments worldwide provides a bulwark against the vagaries of nation-level politics.

At the UNFCCC’s 23rd Conference of the Parties (COP23) in Bonn Germany last year, California Governor Jerry Brown and UN Special Envoy for Cities & Climate Change Michael Bloomberg released a report to map current non-federal climate policies and actions and identify areas to increase near-term action towards the Paris Agreement global climate goals to hold warming to 1.5 to 2.0 degrees Celsius by end of the century.

The report’s second phase to be released late in 2018 was expected to aggregate and quantify potential U.S. non-federal action and relate these actions to the U.S. emission target set for the Paris Agreement: an economywide GHG emissions reduction of 26-28 per cent below 2005 level in 2025 and to make best efforts to reduce its emissions by 28 percent.

The report offers a narrative of broad support for climate action— leaders committed to adhere to the Paris Agreement targets in spite of federal action against it—and widespread activity in non-federal entities.

At the request of the parties on the occasion of the Paris Agreement decision, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a special report October 2018 regarding the impacts of warming of 1.5°C and related global GHG emission pathways. The report seeks to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty.

The IPCC report considered six conditions necessary to achieve 1.5°C without overshooting this level of warming; (1) Physics and chemistry (2) Technology (3) Investment (4) Lifestyle (5) Political support (6) Institutional capacity. The authors concluded that conditions one through four are feasible, yet the status of conditions five and six remains uncertain. The report further links the climate mitigation and adaptation to the Sustainable Development Goals and provides three pathways to achieve 1.5°C. The report is a named input to the Talanoa Dialogue, which COP24 negotiators participated in in Poland.

Talanoa Dialogues, established by the COP23 presidency, Fiji, is a Pacific Islands approach to facilitated stakeholder engagement. Throughout 2018 ICLEI led the Cities and Regions

Talanoa Dialogues. More than 45 countries hosted Talanoas, with Denver hosting one of just three to take place in the U.S. The Denver Talanoa Dialogue brought together key actors from across Colorado’s climate and sustainability movement who shared inspirational and thought-provoking stories on what is needed to build political support and institutional capacity to fast-track Colorado towards a resilient, net-zero emissions world and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.

Ultimately, the Denver Talanoa Dialogue contributed to the development of high-level messages presented at the political phase of the Talanoa Dialogue during COP24.

This is good news. As we’ve seen in the Talanoa Dialogue and Contribution Analysis results—cities are making progress, but they cannot stop the coal trains from rolling on their own.

Reference 1. The name was legally changed to ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability in 2003.

2. Shabecoff, P. Global Warming Has Begun, Expert Tells Senate. The New York Times (June 24, 1988).

3. Broehl, J. Colorado Voters Pass Renewable Energy Standard, Renewable Energy World (November 3, 2004) 4. City and County of Denver Climate Action (online) https://www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/ en/environmental-health/environmental-quality/ climate.html 5. America’s Pledge, Phase 1 Report States, Cities, and Businesses in the United States Are Stepping Up on Climate Action (Copyright © November 2017 Bloomberg Philanthropies).

6. UNFCCC U.S.A. First NDC Submission (online) http://www4.unfccc.int/ndcregistry/ PublishedDocuments/United%20States%20of%20 America%20First/U.S.A.%20First%20NDC%20 Submission.pdf 7. ICLEI—Local Governments for Sustainability, 2018.

Urban Transition Insights from Industrial Legacy Cities. Bonn, Germany https://worldcongress2018. iclei.org/wp-content/uploads/Transition-briefingsheet_web.compressed.pdf

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Lovins, H. (2019). Regenerative Community Hubs: Creating a Finer Future in your Place. Solutions 10(1): 36–39. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/regenerative-community-hubs-creating-a-finer-future-in-your-place

Perspectives Regenerative Community Hubs: Creating a Finer Future in Your Place

by L. Hunter Lovins

H

ow do you create a finer future where you live? The Regenerative Communities Network, founded by Capital Institute’s John Fullerton and Stuart Cowan has an answer.

Hundreds of people and almost two dozen communities around the world are embodying Fullerton’s principle of “Regenerative Capitalism: How Universal Principles and Patterns Will Shape the New Economy,” in real places.

“Nature is sustainable because it is regenerative.” This observation by John Fullerton asks us to look beyond conventional sustainability efforts to underlying drivers. Nature has been regenerating itself for billions of years, but the concept only entered human discourse when Buckminster Fuller set out to critique capitalism by describing “the integrity of eternal regeneration,” as the organizing principle of the universe.

Bucky’s grasp of capitalism (and simple syntax) may leave a bit to be desired, but in fairness, economics was simpler back then, before algorithms and artificial intelligence drove trading regimes to imperil global prosperity. It was left to Fullerton, an apostate banker, to blend Bucky’s concepts of regeneration with a sophisticated understanding of economics and finance.

Fullerton left a comfortable position as Managing Director at JP Morgan to enter a decade of deep study and awakening. Like Bucky, he determined that the essence of the evolutionary process and natural systems is regeneration. He framed eight principles drawn from living systems to suggest that we organize society

From Theory to Practice: T OHubs WA R D S A A Global Network of Bioregional

Nourish/support REGEN E R AT I Vto E accelerate WORLD

Attract centers, cultivate leadership, name it

measurable regenerative outcomes Connect hubs in digital community of practice Illuminate to build a movement Redefine policy agenda to support emergence of regenerative economies Capital Institute

Capital Institute’s Theory of Change

very differently. His articulation of an economy aligned with nature’s principles and the laws of physics rests on the patterns and principles that the living and non-living universe uses to build stable, healthy and sustainable systems.

This concept spread slowly before exploding in 2017. Now, dozens of conferences consider various aspects of regenerative agriculture, regenerative organizations, regenerative society, and even regenerative marketing (whatever that means). Urban developer John Knott uses the principle of regenerative development to craft delightful urban spaces that foster community. Others apply the concept to guide successful businesses.

Fullerton defines Regenerative Economics as “the application of nature’s laws and patterns of systemic health, self-organization, self-renewal and regenerative vitality to socioeconomic systems.” It draws from the best thinking in evolutionary biology, ecological economics, positive

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psychology, economic democracy, and the emerging discipline of Humanistic Management to offer a new story of who we are as human beings, and how we can craft a Finer Future.

The eight principles of Regenerative Capitalism are: 1. Right Relationship: This principle holds the continuation of life sacred and recognizes that the human economy is embedded in human culture, which is itself embedded in the biosphere. All systems—from molecular scale all the way to cosmic scale—are nested, interconnected, and defined by overarching relationships of mutualism, within which day-today exchanges take place.

2. Innovative, Adaptive and Responsive: Drawing on the innate ability of human beings to innovate and “create anew” across all sectors of society. Humans are innately creative and entrepreneurial. Even in failure, we “begin again.”

Perspectives 3. Views Wealth Holistically: True wealth is not money in the bank. It is defined in terms of the well-being of the “whole,” achieved through the harmonization of the multiple forms of capital, with systemic health only as strong as the weakest link. Well-being depends on belonging, on community and on an array of community stewarded assets.

4. Empowered Participation: All participants in a system must be empowered to participate in and contribute to the health of the whole. As people, we long to be part of something bigger than ourselves.

Therefore, beyond whatever moral beliefs one may hold, financial and non-financial wealth must be equitably (although not necessarily equally) distributed in the context of an expanded understanding of systemic health.

5. Robust Circulatory Flow: Like the metabolism of any healthy system, resources (material and non-material) must circulate up and down the system efficiently and effectively.

6. “Edge Effect” Abundance: In nature the most abundant ecosystems are where two come together: where a river meets the ocean in an estuary, because there is diversity. Similarly, creative collaborations across sectors of the economy increase value-adding wealth creation through a diversity of relationships, exchanges, and resiliency.

7. Seeks Balance: This balances resilience, the long-run ability to learn and grow stronger from shocks, with efficiency, which while more dynamic, can create brittle concentrations of power. Living within planetary boundaries, without collapse, requires economic systems that are designed for a balance of efficiency

Active Hubs (7) Emerging Hubs (20)

T O WA R D S A R E G E N E R AT I V E W O R L D Emergence is how Life creates radical change and takes it to scale - Margaret Wheatley

Capital Institute

Active and emerging Hubs

and resilience and are built on patterns and principles that mirror those found in healthy, resilient natural systems.

8. Honors Community and Place: There can be a dynamic, global economy so long as it ensures that every place, every ecosystem has integrity. This principle nurtures healthy, stable communities and regions, both real and virtual, in a connected mosaic of place-centered economies.

The principles are not absolutes.

They provide a limited description of complex patterns that defy linear explanation. Importantly, they are integral and interconnected. They necessarily work together. But as a start, they guide us in creating conditions conducive to life.

Theory is the lens that allows us to see the world in new and different ways, but that world only becomes real when it is manifested in a community. The economic ideology of neoliberalism has very successfully embedded itself into essentially all of the world’s nations and now dominates global economic policy. But it is

not serving us well. The middle class is stagnating and ordinary people struggle to make ends meet. At the same time, we face ecological crises from climate change to species loss and toxic loading. Individuals feel powerless in the face of business-asusual economic models and global corporate dominance.

We need a new economy that delivers solutions to the crises, answers people’s fears and speaks to our aspirations. The answer, we believe, is to replace the neoliberal narrative of unfettered free markets and austerity with tangible examples of a regenerative economy that delivers shared prosperity on a healthy planet while leveraging the power of entrepreneurs to innovate.

An Emerging Solution at the Grassroots: Natural Capitalism Solutions (NCS), is a Colorado NGO that helps companies, communities and countries implement more regenerative processes profitably. In October 2018, NCS convened citizens, government officials NGOs and communities of faith to form the Upper South Platte

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Perspectives

Watershed view

Capital Institute

This is what a real map of America looks like

Regenerative Community Hub. One of seven inaugural Hubs created by the Regenerative Communities Network, the Colorado Hub is exploring what it will take to transform the economy of the Front Range from one dependent on extractive industries that pollute and damage natural and human capital to one based on industries that are inherently regenerative of all forms of capital. Similar Hubs are being created in Costa Rica, Australia, the US, and Europe, with more than 40 more groups seeking to become recognized as Regenerative Hubs.

To launch the Colorado Hub, John Fullerton, Hunter Lovins and others directed a two-day event featuring workshops on how to build a new narrative of an economy in service to life, how to transform industrial sectors including agriculture, and more.

Participants included representatives from the Alliance Center, B-Corp Colorado, Savory Institute, Rocky Mountain Farmers Union, CityCraft Ventures, the University of Colorado, Regis University, faith communities, local governments and others. These and many other groups have expressed interest in being partners in the effort.

Most economic efforts function within artificial political boundaries drawn on maps. Nature operates differently, bounded by watersheds. The Colorado Hub chose the watershed of the river that rises to the south of Denver and gathers streams from Boulder to Fort Collins before flowing east to join the Missouri River. The Upper South Platte Hub seeks to turn regenerative theory into practical application at the local level across the watershed. Its tangible successes will set examples for others to follow.

Based on the principles outlined in Regenerative Capitalism, the Hub is committed to transforming the economy of the Colorado Front Range into one that can better serve everyone, be more ecologically sustainable, and deliver wellbeing to all. It seeks to demonstrate that a regenerative economy is possible and preferable.

NCS is conducting the research to demonstrate that the existing extractive economy is a small contributor to Colorado prosperity, already dwarfed by such regenerative sectors as natural foods, outdoor industries, and clean tech. If you add in arts and culture, education, and cannabis, Colorado

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is already transforming itself. But its thinking is stuck in the 1880s.

For example, most people think that Colorado is prosperous because it is an extractive economy fueled by such industries as oil, gas, mining and conventional agriculture. Few people realize that outdoor recreation alone is a USD$28 billion industry in Colorado, one which, with 229,000 jobs, employs four times as many people as oil, gas and mining combined. Compared to conventional agriculture, at USD$1.6 billion, natural foods, with its epicenter in Boulder, is already a USD$2.5 billion dollar a year industry and growing, while production agriculture is declining year on year. The start-up economy of Colorado’s Front Range generates far more jobs than all of Colorado’s legacy industries. Arts and culture alone (USD$13.7 billion) contributed more value to Colorado’s economy than mining (USD$13.4 billion).

One challenge of using nature’s boundaries is finding accurate numbers to track such developments.

Few economic numbers are kept at a local level, let alone broken out by watersheds. For example, how big is the organic food industry in the watershed? in 2017, the U.S. food industry grew by only 1.1 percent, but the organic industry grew by 6.4 percent, now representing a USD$45 billion industry. Colorado is the 9th biggest organic market in the U.S. Dr. Edward Jaenicke of Penn State University studied 225 counties that are hotspots for organic production, finding that in organic hotspots, household incomes are higher by USD$2,000, and poverty levels lower by 1.35 percentage points.

But what does this mean for Colorado, let alone the Upper South Platte Watershed? We don’t yet know. The Hub will change that.

With the recent election of Jared Polis, a start-up entrepreneur and advocate of renewable energy and

Perspectives regenerative agriculture, to the Colorado governorship, citizens may be able to answer such questions.

Hunter Lovins was appointed to the new Governor’s transition team, which is exploring how to bring these principles into state government.

Mark Williams, an Iraqi war veteran, who runs a tech start-up, has agreed to lead the Hub efforts.

Beyond the Hub The South Platte Hub grew from the “Finer Future Forum,” a group of local influencers in the Denver/Boulder area convened to explore how the transition described above could prune away industries at risk of becoming stranded, like oil and gas, and create an economy in service to life. This culminated in the first Regenerative Future Summit. Almost 300 people from around the U.S., Europe and Asia gathered to set forth a theory of change, a strategy to implement this and frame the organizational structures necessary to achieve a regenerative economy.

At that meeting, several global groups merged to form the Wellbeing Economy Alliance (WEAll.) WEAll convened dozens of new economy groups from Europe, the Americas, Australia, Africa and Asia to craft a new narrative of a world that works for all, to consolidate the theory and practice of the New Economics movement, to guide the strategy of how to replace the neo-liberal narrative with regenerative thinking, and to build a global citizen’s movement to provide the power base to ensure the transition. NCS, as a founder of WEAll, is active at this global level. The South Platte Regenerative Community Hub is an on-the-ground manifestation of WEAll’s vision – a model that others around the world can emulate when translating international principles into local actions.

Onward: 2019 and Beyond The Hub is enabling people in the Upper South Platte watershed to imagine a finer future. Work is underway to include all of the groups in the region working for similar outcomes, but many are unaware of our shared agenda. Dr. Elizabeth Walsh of CU Denver is guiding a detailed mapping of the region to identify and engage groups already pursuing regenerative activity and enlist them into the transformation process. To make the regenerative economy into a movement, the Hub will host monthly meetings to enable citizens and groups interested in transforming the region’s economy to begin working together. It will develop training materials and webinars on what it will take to create a new economy for the region.

promote local leaders and bring in national and global thought leaders to expand the community’s concepts of what is possible. Story-telling efforts will document what is being done in local communities to shift the economy. It will interview local groups that are contributing to a more sustainable economy and spread this knowledge. A bi-weekly, public podcast will engage Hub member and other stakeholders as call-in participants. We will bring on young people to train them in this approach and to support the Hub efforts. We will refine the narrative and spread adoption of regenerative practices using traditional PR and a vigorous social media campaign. We are working with the other Regenerative Hubs around the world via monthly collaborations to share best practices and spread stories of success.

Individuals feel powerless in the face of business-as-usual economic models and global corporate dominance.

Dean Tim Keane is embedding regenerative concepts into the Anderson College of Business at Denver’s Regis University.

For example, the Hub will provide free sustainability training for small businesses (Sustainability for All) on how to cut their carbon footprint profitably. The Hub will make its extensive training materials available to the region. It will provide these and other programs to universities, community colleges, trade unions, Native American communities, military veterans, and other groups with the potential to provide non-extractive, “meaningful jobs” training.

Public events and workshops will maintain momentum. The Hub will

The Hub was born through volunteerism, dedication and seed funding provided by NCS. It now seeks philanthropic assistance to maintain the momentum and power its efforts forward in 2019 and beyond.

Regenerative Capitalism is, we believe, the best answer to neoliberalism. It sets forth the principles of a just economy that serves everyone. It is a place-based way to empower the industries that pump health into our ecosystem, agricultural soils, society, and the well-being of our citizens.

In a time of daunting reports of how humanity is damaging our common home, Regenerative Hubs bring a strategy for working together to create a finer future.

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 39

Hittle, J. and C. Parr. (2019). The National Western Center and the Sun Valley EcoDistrict: Infusing Large-Scale Urban Development Projects With Sustainability. Solutions 10(1): 40–47. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/the-national-western-center-and-the-sun-valley-ecodistrict-infusing-largescale-urban-development-projects-with-sustainability

Feature

The National Western Center and the Sun Valley EcoDistrict: Infusing Large-Scale Urban Development Projects with Sustainability

by Jocelyn Hittle and Chris Parr

S

ituated against the Rocky Mountains and connected to the western edge of the agricultural heartland of the U.S., Denver has long had a focus on the wise management of our natural resources. We see millions of tourists each year who are heading the mountains to hike, bike, ski, fish or just relax, and our metro area has grown significantly as many professionals realize the quality of life in the City.

This growth is not new, but is has accelerated, making our commitment to sustainability—particularly the social sustainability of affordability—increasingly challenging. The steps that the metro area is taking to continue this commitment in the face of change are guided in large part by the City’s 2020 Sustainability Goals.

These goals encompass targets for City and County operations and metro area communities. The sustainability goals range in focus from land use to water to affordable housing.

Several large-scale projects in Denver exemplify not only the change that is occurring, but also the metro area’s commitment to sustainability.

Two of these projects, the National

Western Center and the Sun Valley Ecodistrict, are leading the way on a number of innovative district-scale approaches. These two projects—one the redevelopment of a large, historic entertainment venue, and one a project focused on affordable housing—are connected to one another physically by the South Platte River and focus on similar themes of food, district energy, and community engagement.

The National Western Stock Show—Reimagined as a 21st Century Living Laboratory January 1906 marked the first official National Western Stock Show – a free event held in the Denver Union Stockyards, leveraging this site’s proximity to rail lines, and connecting rural communities to one another and to a growing city. During the following two years, the event was held under a massive 150- x 170-foot tent, but by 1909, the tent was replaced by the National Amphitheater, a building that still stands today. The nearby towns of Globeville and Elyria grew as well, populated by people who worked in the meatpacking plants, stockyards and smelters.

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Throughout the years, the Western Stock Show Association added events to its annual Stock Show line up: rodeos, horse shows, concerts, and educational programs – and new facilities to host these events.

Today, the National Western Stock Show runs for three weeks in January, hosting more than 700,000 attendees on a 120-acre site. Exhibitors show a variety of animals, including breeds of cows, horses, sheep, llamas, and pigs, and attendees preview hundreds of events and competitions, in addition to a Western- and agriculture-focused trade show. The National Western Stock Show creates more than USD$100 million in economic impact annually and draws visitors from across the United States and more than 40 countries.

In 2012, the Western Stock Show Association (WSSA) began re-envisioning existing facilities and programs in an effort to preserve its heritage, while looking to the future.

Colorado State University (CSU), the City and County of Denver, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and History Colorado joined WSSA to reimagine the space, with the goal of creating a year-round destination that

leverages the legacy and popularity of the National Western Stock Show, but expands the location into a global destination for food and agricultural history and innovation.

In 2015, Denver voters overwhelmingly approved USD$756 million funding for the project, and the Colorado General Assembly (its state legislature) passed a bi-partisan bill that funds the CSU facilities at the National Western Center.

Opportunity Presented Today

The redevelopment of the National Western Complex into a year-round venue with diverse offerings is a massive undertaking and a huge opportunity to implement and test sustainable innovation. The 250-acre project will be overseen by a unique partnership of local government, academic and non-profit entities, which offers an extraordinary opportunity to create a site that is known as a sustainability showcase, particularly for district-scale sustainability.

The site itself is complex, with three rail lines crossing the property, an elevated interstate highway towering over portions of the site, an above-ground 6-foot-tall wastewater pipe that blocks access to the South Platte River, as well as former and current industrial impacts, including a section of a capped Superfund hazardous waste site. The National Western Center is also flanked by three neighborhoods that have felt isolated and have lacked both public and private investment for decades. These historic neighborhoods grew adjacent to heavy industrial uses, and as a result of pollution and lack of access to healthy foods, residents suffer from health issues such as obesity and asthma.

The site is also full of opportunity.

The South Platte River acts as the western-most boundary, and the project’s improvements along the South Platte River will increase recreational options for residents and improve the river ecosystem with the goal of achieving

positive health and environmental outcomes for generations to come.

The addition of commuter rail on the site creates a direct transit stop from Denver’s downtown transit hub, Union Station, with connections to northern Colorado. The surrounding communities hold a rich history with food and agriculture that can be leveraged to tell a collective story of this part of the city.

The Challenge • Maximizing the opportunity of two large-scale developments in Denver—one that is a redevelopment of a historic event venue, and one that encompasses a low-income Denver neighborhood

green building, infrastructure, urban ecology disciplines, and they could also develop best practices for future redevelopment projects. The WSSA’s contribution of land and its rich history, as well as its ability to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors per year, mean that CSU, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, and History Colorado can offer creative place-based educational programming, paired with Western Stock Show Association agricultural educational outreach.

Regeneration

The Solutions • Collaboration among government, institutional, and private sector groups to create districts that showcase Denver’s collaborative spirit and advance the state of the art • District-energy that is truly innovative, relying on unconventional resources, like wastewater heat recovery, and management practices • Storm water approaches that reduce operating costs • A “One Water” plan to match water source to appropriate use • Using frameworks like The EcoDistricts to guide design and operations, as well as connect with other projects nationally

The partnerships that make up the NWC project also provide unique opportunities. In particular, CSU’s presence at the NWC provides a unique chance to use the site as a living laboratory, both during the redevelopment and long-term. CSU has a team of researchers currently developing immediate and extended research projects to help inform planning,

During the NWC Master Planning process in 2014, the NWC team set ambitious goals for sustainable practices as part of the site. CSU gathered experts in green building, energy, water, waste, health and ecology. This group worked to craft goals that explored “net zero” energy on the site, a “One Water” approach, “net zero” waste opportunities and positive impacts on the South Platte River, while simultaneously integrating educational opportunities into the design and infrastructure of the campus.

At the guidance of CSU’s Institute for the Built Environment, the NWC team took site sustainability to the next level, considering regenerative opportunities on the site. A regenerative model looks beyond merely sustaining the status quo, and asks questions like: “How can we improve the health of visitors and neighbors?” and “Can we generate more energy than we need?” rather than solely working to reduce negative impacts.

Taking a regenerative focus has led to additional creativity. The team recently completed a “One Water” strategy for the entire site, focusing on matching water uses with sources and priorities for water use on the site.

CSU breaks ground on a water building in late 2019 that will focus on water policy, education, research, and innovation. The facility will draw

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Image courtesy of the Mayor’s Office of the National Western Center

Reclaiming heat from Metro Wastewater Reclamation District’s wastewater pipes is one of the innovative ways the NWC project is reaching “net zero” energy

audiences from around the West and the world to discuss challenges and solutions in various aspects of water management, and creates an ideal space for a demonstration of greywater capture and use, research and demonstration of the use of recycled water for irrigation and other uses, and green roof best-practices in an arid climate.

While this CSU building is wellsuited for showcasing water activities, other areas of the site may provide ideal space for solar panels and other technology, which will also be key for achieving the NWC regeneration goals, including energy. The Master Plan goals include exploring “net zero” energy (meaning the site generates as much energy as it requires each year), as well as keeping greenhouse gas emissions levels static or decreasing as the site changes.

To set the stage for achieving net zero energy across the NWC

site, the project participated in Xcel Energy’s “Partners in Energy” program and a national “Zero Energy District Accelerator” program with the Department of Energy and the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL). (Xcel Energy is the investorowned utility serving the Denver area.) These technical teams, in collaboration with CSU faculty, determined that maximizing renewable energy and achieving “net zero” on the site is feasible. Achieving net-zero on the NWC campus will rely primarily on three factors: 1. Designing energy efficient buildings (all buildings will be LEED Gold or higher), 2. Tapping into enormously abundant thermal energy in an on-site main wastewater line called the “Delgany Interceptor”, and 3. Using the NWC’s large-scale roofs to generate solar energy.

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District heat recovery is particularly critical, innovative, and rare – only currently being used as a net zero approach in a few locations globally, including Vancouver, Oslo, Chicago, and Tokyo. Utilizing the thermal energy from the wastewater pipes to heat and cool the buildings at the National Western Center would decrease the NWC’s energy consumption by 60 percent annually and allow campus energy demand to be met with 100 percent renewable sources.

Although the project leverages onsite resources, the approach requires capital investment in district-scale infrastructure, so the Mayor’s Office of the National Western Center is working with private-sector partners to finalize a collaborative agreement to design, develop, and finance the effort.

“By utilizing resources already on-site, we’ll be able to minimize carbon emissions while developing a responsible and sustainable campus for future generations” Gretchen Hollrah, Executive Director of the Mayor’s Office of the National Western Center said.

An additional benefit of taking a creative approach to regeneration is collaboration. The City and County of Denver and the regional Metro Wastewater Reclamation District are exploring heat recovery from the Metro sewer pipe, which would pull heat from the pipe to heat the campus and lower the pipe’s effluent temperature, which in turn will improve the health of the South Platte river downstream and save Metro money.

“Investments in water pollution control over the past 50 years have greatly improved the health of our rivers and streams. Now as an industry, we’re beginning to evolve our view of wastewater by considering the possibilities of recovering resources from within it.” said Jim McQuarrie, director of Strategy and Innovation for the Metro Wastewater Reclamation District.

“There is potential to recover thermal energy embedded in millions

of gallons of wastewater generated upstream and conveyed through pipes that cross the NWC campus,” he said. “With heat pump technology, megawatts of thermal heat discharged from routine household activities such as washing dishes and taking showers can be intercepted and redirected into a heating loop and then distributed to heat campus buildings.”

Similarly, a collaboration with Denver Water, the independent entity that provides potable water in the Denver metro area, is identifying how best to use their reclaimed water on the site.

The regenerative approach also lends itself to consideration of resiliency. As design of the horizontal infrastructure and buildings progresses, design elements are being incorporated that improve the NWC’s resiliency to things like weather events and climate change. Perhaps even more important is the commitment to flexibility wherever possible in the design of the public spaces and the felicities themselves. This makes the site resilient to changes in technology, consumer or user preferences, market forces, regulation, and more.

This flexibility is paramount when considering how to be as regenerative as possible—a building that sits empty is not sustainable or efficient—and ensure we are maximizing the benefit of the public and private investment in the project.

Connection

The National Western Center presents another kind of opportunity—the chance to connect groups of people who might not otherwise convene.

There are over 700,000 people who come through the site just during the National Western Stock Show in January alone. These visitors come from Denver, but also from across the U.S. and around the world. Farmers and ranchers come to the Stock Show to do business, but also to learn from one another and socialize. Generations

of families have grown up attending this event and connecting with each other, in the Yards (and frequently in the Yards Bar and Cattlemen’s Club), essentially extending the festive spirit of the holiday season through January.

With the expansion of the types of facilities and activities at the NWC, particularly with CSU’s focus on showcasing 21st-century food production, we have the chance to have a conversation that brings the NWSS attendees and others together to talk constructively about challenges to sustainable food production, rural economic development, and the ties between our urban cores and rural communities. We have the chance to capture the imagination of children from Denver, who never saw a career for themselves in food, but are now inspired to follow an educational and career path that works on solving global food production challenges through technology. We also have the chance to tell the story of how food is produced, and hear from the producers themselves, helping to bridge the gap between rural and urban, between producer and consumer.

City and County of Denver Goals

As the National Western Center moves into detailed design and construction, the impact of many of the goals outlined in the Master Plan will become increasingly clear. These goals were drafted with the City and County of Denver 2020 Sustainability goals in mind, and with collaboration from staff of its Office of Sustainability, particularly since most of the facilities will be owned by the City. For example, the One Water strategy that is in development will help the City and County to meet its Water Quality goals around the health of the urban waterways, particularly with respect to the South Platte River. Similarly, the LEED strategy that is currently in development will help ensure that City buildings throughout the city hold energy consumption to below

2012 levels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help the City meet a new goal, recently announced by the Mayor, of getting to 100 percent renewable energy community-wide by 2030. In addition, the collaboration with the private sector will help enhance private investment and leverage the substantial public investment (USD$756M) in the NWC. Many of the goals that were outlined in the NWC Master Plan fall into the operations and programs category, so their implementation is still several years away. In the meantime, CSU and other NWC Partners are launching prototype programs that have an impact on the surrounding community. For example, CSU hosts a pet wellness clinic each year where veterinary students work with volunteer veterinarians to provide free wellness checks and exams to pets of local low-income families. The University of Colorado’s medical school is now also providing health screens for pet owners at the same time. This program is an example of what can be offered once new facilities are built, and fosters relationships while helping to fine-tune the services provided, ensuring facilities are designed to be efficient and tailored to intended uses.

What’s Next

One hallmark of the National Western Center project is collaboration—collaboration across the five founding partners, collaboration between rural and urban stakeholders, collaboration between agencies and utilities, collaboration across disciplines to address global challenges in water, energy, food, health and the environment—and the next steps at the NWC will enhance that collaboration even further by bringing in private sector partners to help achieve our goals.

This collaborative spirit is part of Denver’s culture and will continue to carry this project forward as we shift from construction to running programs and events.

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 43

Sun Valley EcoDistrict— Energizing a Neglected Denver Neighborhood The Sun Valley Neighborhood served as a key part of early Denver, connecting the area west of downtown to outlying settlements. It has been home to varied uses since the late 1800’s, with lower Colfax Avenue serving as a main street for this area and providing commercial services for working class families. It has been home to a distinct and vibrant culture over the last 120 years and today is still home to a strong and diverse community.

Though small in population, there are over 33 languages spoken in Sun Valley.

people, few of whom actually live in the neighborhood. In many ways the varied history of the area results in ’multiple Sun Valleys’ working against each other over time – sports venue, neighborhood, infrastructure and industry.”

This neighborhood is about to undergo a significant transformation, due to investments by the Denver Housing Authority (the local public housing authority) and the private sector. To understand better the opportunity and to synthesize a cohesive vision for the neighborhood, The City and County of Denver began the Decatur-Federal Station Area Plan process in 2010. Formal City Council

The redevelopment of the National Western Complex into a year-round venue with diverse offerings is a massive undertaking and a huge opportunity to implement and test sustainable innovation.

As described in the DecaturFederal Station Area Plan, which addresses a commuter rail station in the Sun Valley neighborhood, “today, people know this part of Denver as a sports venue – home of the Denver Broncos. The area is also frequented by users of the South Platte River Greenway Trail or the Lakewood Gulch trail – primarily bikers, joggers, or tourists experiencing the greenway trails or riding the heritage Platte River Trolley. Just south of the stadium parking lots and west of the South Platte River is the poorest and most isolated neighborhood in the city - remnants of a late 19th century working class neighborhood intertwined with public housing, heavy industry and government services.

Further south toward 6th Avenue is Sun Valley’s thriving light industrial district employing thousands of

adoption of the plan occurred in 2013.

This led to a series of planning efforts that looked to unlock the neighborhood physically while at the same time respecting the stakeholders and residents.

The Opportunity

This historically low-income community along the banks of the Platte River is one of the most geographically central neighborhoods in the metro Denver region. It is also home to some of the city’s most vulnerable residents, the majority of whom live in the Sun Valley Homes housing project. Today, 94 percent of the neighborhood’s housing market is subsidized, with only five percent owner-occupied.

Surrounding the residential portion of the neighborhood is light industrial and an infrastructure that disconnects residents from opportunities.

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With the initiation of neighborhood planning in 2010 and following the completion of the Station Area Plan in 2013, subsequent evaluation has been completed producing a Sun Valley General Development Plan and the Sun Valley Transformation Plan.

These efforts provide a foundation and roadmap for investment and physical revitalization over the next decade. The vision for what’s possible has been collectively championed by many stakeholders including the City, Denver Housing Authority (DHA), Sun Valley EcoDistrict Trust and, most importantly, by the residents who live there. The goals and impact of these planning efforts are neighborhood-wide or district-based in scale. The Sun Valley EcoDistrict Trust (SVED) was formed in 2016 to work across property owner lines to maximize the district scale impact and opportunities.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has provided a USD$30M Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Grant to jumpstart the revitalization and provide a path forward to de-concentrate poverty through mixed-income housing development as well as promote holistic neighborhood transformation. In 2013, the Denver Regional Transportation District (the regional transit agency) opened the DecaturFederal Light Rail Station in the neighborhood, providing convenient transit access to downtown and an entire neighborhood of opportunities.

As the metro Denver region faces challenges related to a shortage of affordable housing, low-wage job growth that is not keeping pace with rising rents and the displacement of low-income and minority families related to gentrification, Sun Valley has the potential to serve as a new model for how responsible, community focused redevelopment can result in economically-integrated neighborhoods that benefit residents, businesses and the entire city.

Image courtesy of the Mayor’s Office of the National Western Center

The National Western Center will provide new connections to surrounding neighborhoods via bridges over a restored S. Platte River, while hosting visitors from around the world at facilities that will showcase the state of the art in sustainable food production and connections to water resources.

The Vision

Sun Valley will be transformed from a high poverty, high vacancy district with large swaths of surface parking, to a next-generation neighborhood, home to thousands of new residents, hundreds of new jobs and new or enhanced neighborhood services, making it one of the City’s most vibrant mixed-use, transit-serving communities. As a highly leveraged area of investment, Sun Valley has the potential to add 4,500 mixed-income housing units in the immediate neighborhood and surrounding community, which will contribute to reenergizing and revitalizing West Denver in an equitable fashion, improving the livelihood of existing residents while preserving the area’s multicultural identity.

Through a community-based planning process, the neighborhood voice promotes a focus on youth, education, healthy food, jobs, cutting-edge district energy, intentional housing options, safety and cross sector systems integration. The core of the redevelopment is affordable, mixed-income housing.

The unit and bedroom totals of Sun Valley Homes, DHA’s public housing property, will be replaced 1-for-1 in mixed-income rental buildings to ensure deep affordability is not lost.

Sun Valley Homes residents have a right of first refusal to return as development is completed in phases. In addition, hundreds of units affordable to families up to 60 percent of the area median income will be created. This approach will result in significantly more affordable housing in Sun Valley than exists today. This approach positions Sun Valley to be an authentic, inclusive and responsible example of neighborhood-scale redevelopment.

With such significant level of redevelopment, new streets and infrastructure are required. This investment in infrastructure creates an opportunity to introduce forward thinking design.

District Energy and Infrastructure

District energy is a highly efficient solution to produce and distribute energy at a local scale, allowing for energy efficiency, reduced costs and reduced

carbon emissions when compared to conventional building-scale or in-building systems. Foundational considerations of Sun Valley’s district energy program will include: 1) Central plants to generate heating and cooling energy and distribute to buildings throughout the district; 2) Renewable energy that capitalizes on Denver’s higher than average days of sunshine per year with over 300,000 square feet of roof-mounted and ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) installations; 3) Off-site solar PV installations to develop larger MW production levels for the neighborhood and other stakeholders as a contracted off-taker; and 4) Centralized district storm water facilities to serve future development while reducing capital cost and operating costs by up to 20 percent.

Through some of the physical conditions found in Sun Valley, there are a few “no-build” zones for vertical structures that create opportunity for other creative options. Measures such geo-exchange and vaulted (below-grade) battery storage are on the drawing board to take advantage of

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these opportunities where more valuable land would make these options cost prohibitive.

The majority of these systems will be funded through private-sector partners. The proposed redevelopment program in Sun Valley provides enough residential units and commercial square footage to present a viable district-based energy approach and therefore can attract private investment for district energy.

Catalytic Partnerships

Additional catalytic partners have come alongside this effort to further the conversation on what it takes to achieve the highest level of district efficiency.

Enterprise Community Partners was one of the first entities to come alongside SVED to support efforts in exploring the feasibility of districtbased solutions. Their funding support helped launch many of the relationships and studies to date. Another core partner is The EcoDistricts, a non-profit organization with the mission to advance a new model of urban regeneration and community development rooted in a relentless commitment to authentic collaboration and social, economic and ecological innovation. The EcoDistricts helped provide a framework for Sun Valley to explore opportunities and establish district goals.

As with the National Western Center project, the U. S. Department of Energy Better Buildings Zero Energy District Accelerator program provides Sun Valley guidance to discuss both the building and district in unison with the goal of maximize energy efficiency and use renewable energy at a district scale. The Environmental Protection Agency has also stepped in with its Smart Growth program to advance the analysis around building and district energy efficiency with supporting engineering and cost analysis.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, located in nearby Golden, Colorado has been instrumental in supporting both of these programs

and actively works with SVED to move these efforts forward.

This core group of partners has provided support to understand and promote the opportunity of districtbased solutions.

Reflections on a District-Based Approach Several years ago, when projects incorporated energy efficiency and renewable measures as building based solutions, the industry would herald it as innovative, the lenders would celebrate what they financed, other project partners would claim a victory for real estate development best practices and as developers, all those involved would present at conferences for a year explaining in detail what we “accomplished”. During those years we were able to utilize industry incentives and programs that existed to push and encourage the incorporation of these measures. This lowered payback periods and made the arduous path somewhat less painless.

In recent years, the costs of these same measures have come down significantly and there has been a much broader normalization of efficient buildings. Currently, however, depending on the market, the overall (and unfortunate) high cost of construction has made space for the rebirth of an old hesitancy that sees energy efficiency as a premium cost.

In addition, the fact that the entire industry exploded out of the great recession in a race to build as fast as it could before the next slow-down has not fostered a broad platform for a patient innovation dialog. The good news is that lower cost deltas of efficient equipment help preserve a good portion of the efficient choices making efficiency a nearly normal practice today. Along the journey, many developers and design teams have been forever changed and remain resolutely committed to energy efficiency which further bolsters this normalization. Still,

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when the financing model is requesting solutions to the other half of the conversation—energy innovation over and above efficiency—weakness may appear.

This conversation gives an opening and lends support to the consideration of district-based solutions. If the scale is achievable there is a strong analytical argument to push innovation to a greater campus scale. This is not a new idea. Older cities were born this way.

College campuses still achieve this regularly.

The predicament is the coordination of land and facility owners in the absence of a singular ownership model.

Both the National Western Center and the Sun Valley EcoDistrict have seized on the opportunity to leverage single ownership or multi-owner coordination, to innovate (e.g., with wastewater heat recovery) rather than just achieve efficiency, and to showcase the outcomes as they emerge. Wherever district-scale approaches are possible, they should be diligently pursued, with the goal of lowering initial construction costs, lowering ongoing operating costs, streamlining systems and maintenance and, in concept and if done correctly, attracting developers.

The National Western Center and Sun Valley EcoDistrict are two of several district-scale developments in the Denver Metro Area, most of which are pursuing some form of innovation in their approach to energy and/or water.

These developments showcase the commitment that the Denver metropolitan area has to sustainability, to collaboration with the private sector (where technologies that enable innovation in energy, water, waste, stormwater, smart cities, etc. are generated and need piloting and deployment), and to tracking and evaluating success (particularly with a university as a collaborator).

These are the types of projects that make district-scale approaches a viable choice, that can not only normalize sustainable development, but also can reach beyond their district boundaries to inspire it.

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Image courtesy of the Mayor’s Office of the National Western Center

The redeveloped National Western Center will be a global destination for agricultural heritage and innovation, and will be one of the largest redevelopments in the U.S. www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 47

Morrissey, S. (2019). Sustainability at Denver International Airport. Solutions 10(1): 48–52. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/sustainability-at-denver-international-airport

Feature

Sustainability at Denver International Airport

by Scott Morrissey

Provided by Denver International Airport

DEN’s LEED Platinum Hotel and Transit Center project received the 2017 “Outstanding Sustainability Infrastructure Development” award at the Airports Going Green conference.

In Brief Like many large airports, Denver International Airport’s scale and breadth of activities present significant sustainability opportunities. By defining “Investing for Sustainability” as a key objective within its Strategic Plan, DEN provides a framework to consider the impact of all business decisions in a sustainability context and to demonstrate those values to the communities it serves. There are several operational aspects of running an airport such as aircraft deicing, power generation, and waste management that can be optimized by considering activities through a sustainability lens.

Sustainability is a key focus of the aviation industry and will be an important aspect of managing expected growth while maintaining local support for airport operations. DEN’s sustainability successes are both top-down and bottom-up, with significant support from the administration of Mayor Michael B. Hancock and DEN’s progressive leadership team.

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A

frequently heard cliché in the airport industry is that “an airport is like a small city.”

Denver International Airport (DEN), the fifth-busiest airport in the United States, is more like a medium-sized city with almost 200,000 passengers and employees using the facility each day. The parallels between a city and an airport are especially compelling as they relate to sustainability. Airports build facilities, use energy, generate waste, and set guidelines that influence the work of hundreds of business partners. An airport’s scale and function as a community gathering space provides unique opportunities for both leading by example and education through customer-facing activities such as recycling and composting, electric vehicle charging, and reusable water bottle filling stations. In all these areas and more, DEN acts with a focus on sustainability.

DEN opened in February 1995 as the first major airport built in the United States in decades, and many of the forward-thinking sustainability decisions during airport design helped set its present course of success. The current 53-square mile site northeast of downtown Denver was selected to accommodate airport growth that has ballooned from 32 million passengers in 1996 to over 61 million passengers in 2017 as Denver’s economy and cultural profile have expanded.1 At the same time, DEN’s contribution to the State of Colorado’s economic sustainability has continued to grow, totaling USD$26.3 billion in 2013.2 Denver was previously served by Stapleton International Airport, which has been transformed into a pedestrian-oriented new urbanist neighborhood that symbolically connects Denver’s former airport site to its new airport’s sustainable identity.

Sustainability Strategy DEN’s sustainability work starts with the airport-wide Strategic Plan. Among the seven top-level objectives identified as critical to achieving the mission of

becoming “America’s favorite connecting hub, where the Rocky Mountains meet the world” is a focus on “Investing for Sustainability.” This prominence within the Strategic Plan—alongside such typical airport goals as customer service, operational excellence, and financial performance—underlines DEN’s intention to consider sustainability in all airport decisions.

One of the ways that DEN operationalizes sustainability is through a new policy that was adopted in 2017

Key Concepts • Airports face many of the same sustainability considerations as large cities along with certain aviation industry-specific opportunities • Strategic plans and policies are critical tools to establish a shared definition of organizational sustainability and to share that vision with relevant stakeholders • Organizations should consider opportunities to influence the sustainable activities of partners even in areas where they lack direct control • A management system framework can be a helpful tool to consider sustainability impacts across a broad set of varied activities • Many large airports have established formal sustainability programs to improve existing operations and to prepare for expected growth

to formally define its sustainability values.3 The primary focus is the airport’s critical role in strengthening surrounding communities through responsible operations that consider social, environmental, and economic impacts. From connecting passengers to managing the impacts of aircraft noise, what sets DEN apart is the degree to which it prioritizes sustainability when making key decisions to maintain its “social license to operate.”

Key Sustainability Programs For as much time as people spend in airports, there are many unique and easily unnoticed aspects of transporting passengers that can impact sustainability. Take aircraft deicing— as a cold-weather airport, effective deicing is critical to maintaining airport safety, efficiency, and reliability during the winter months.

The main component of aircraft deicing fluid used in the United States is a chemical called propylene glycol.

While propylene glycol has low toxicity and is found in many household products, its high Biochemical Oxygen Demand means that it consumes oxygen while biodegrading and has the potential to negatively impact receiving waters and aquatic life. To mitigate these risks, DEN maintains an industry-leading stormwater management system that collects an average of 70 percent of the deicing fluid applied to aircraft during each winter season. This is even more impressive because Type IV “anti-icing” fluid applied during certain storm conditions is challenging to recover as it is engineered to adhere to the wing during aircraft ascent to prevent the build-up of snow and ice.

Once collected, DEN has an onsite glycol recycling plant that uses concentration and distillation systems to reclaim spent deicing fluid as 99 percent recycled propylene glycol to be sold back to industrial markets.

What could have been a significant environmental liability is recycled into a commodity that saves the airport millions of dollars annually, reduces capital infrastructure costs, and improves water quality for our downstream neighbors—a true triplebottom line success story!

Another aspect of air travel that is often overlooked by passengers is aircraft routing. Most people assume that when you get on a plane, you naturally fly a straight course to your destination. But for years, groundbased radar systems required aircraft

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Provided by Denver International Airport

Left: DEN has 30 water bottle filling stations across the facility to promote the use of reusable water bottles and help passengers stay hydrated.

Right: DEN has over 50 charging stations to support the transition to electric vehicle adoption.

to fly over specific waypoints, even if those waypoints took the plane off the most direct route.

Today, with the transition to satellite-based GPS navigation systems (referred to generally as “NextGen”), aircraft can fly significantly more precise routes. Working with the Federal Aviation Administration and regional partners, DEN was a leader in NextGen deployment as the first commercial airport to design a comprehensive plan that allows each NextGen procedure to reach its full potential.4 In addition to increased precision that dramatically reduces fuel burn and emissions (up to 900 pounds of fuel per trip), passengers experience the benefit of the time saved in the air. What’s more, a key part of NextGen allows for “Optimized Profile Descents”—rather than the traditional “stair-step” aircraft approaches that were required to maintain safety separations, arrivals into DEN can glide in on final approach without thrust, further reducing fuel burn

and noise impacts while creating a smoother trip for passengers.

DEN is well-known for its commitment to renewable energy. In 2008, it became one of the first airports to host a large-scale solar photovoltaic array, a highly visible two megawatt (MW) system on Peña Boulevard, the main access road to the airport. Since then, four other solar projects have been built on DEN property, totaling 11.6 MW of generation with a design capacity of over 18 million kilowatthours per year.

The last solar project DEN participated in may be the most exciting—partnering with Xcel Energy, Panasonic, and L.C. Fulenwider Inc. to build a 1.6 MW solar canopy over a DEN-owned parking lot at the Peña Station NEXT transit-oriented development site. This array, in conjunction with a one megawatt/two megawatthour battery energy storage system, is part of a microgrid demonstration project serving the development.

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DEN has worked to diversify its energy portfolio, including two recently constructed two megawatt “Community Solar Gardens.” DEN will be a major subscriber to these facilities that will also be open to individual and organizational subscribers from within the community. In addition, DEN is subscribing to four other offsite solar gardens and is participating in a new renewable energy purchasing program that will allow it to purchase additional emissions-free solar power directly from the local utility. In addition to the direct economic and sustainability benefits, these projects and programs will help support regional clean energy development.

In 2015, DEN became one of the first airports in North America to be certified to the international Airport Carbon Accreditation standard after completing a greenhouse gas emissions inventory that was verified by a third-party auditor, developing a carbon management program,

and demonstrating a year-over-year emissions reduction.5 In 2018, it was certified to the next level of the program based on continued reductions and its work to engage business partners in greenhouse gas emissions reduction activities.

Although DEN does not produce or sell food directly, the organic waste generated by its many food and beverage concessions represents a significant diversion opportunity.

Despite the airport’s efforts to promote waste reduction through expansive recycling and composting programs, airport security and access logistics have created challenges to diversion.

With the knowledge that 30–40 percent of all prepared food goes to waste, DEN created an airport-specific solution to work with business partners to address the problem.6 Starting with a small pilot project in 2015, DEN began strategically locating coolers at the main airport loading dock and on a passenger concourse to capture healthy, safe food that otherwise may have been landfilled.

Following a 2016 grant from the State of Colorado, the program expanded to restaurants on all three concourses, DEN’s on-site hotel, and airline flight kitchens. In 2017, 117,000 pounds of food were donated to Metro Caring, a leading Denver-based hunger-relief organization. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s food-recovery hierarchy ranks food donation only below source reduction as an environmentally preferable strategy (even higher than composting).7 DEN’s award-winning program facilitates a reduction in landfilled waste, reduces tipping fee costs, provides a tax benefit to donors, and supports food-insecure Denver families. It’s a notable example of the role large organizations like airports can play in the community—even without donating directly, working with business partners to identify champions and influence behavior can have significant sustainability benefits.

Continuous Improvement DEN opened in 1995 as one of the most sustainable airports in United States and works hard to maintain that reputation 24 years later through a commitment to continuous improvement and innovation.

In 2004, DEN became the first commercial-service airport in the United States to develop an ISO 14001-certified Environmental Management System (EMS) that covers all airport operations. This system allows DEN to be proactive about environmental management—rather than being unprepared for environmental challenges, it has thoughtfully

several aviation-focused sustainability groups that allow airports to discuss common issues and share best practices. While there is another common cliché that “if you’ve seen one airport, you’ve seen one airport,” many are collectively striving to reduce impacts and influence business partners to do the same. Different airports have unique priorities based on management goals, community priorities, or geographic requirements—including airports that are international leaders on climate change adaptation planning, sustainable aviation fuel development, and net-zero green building practices.

Working with the Federal Aviation Administration and regional partners, DEN was a leader in NextGen deployment as the first commercial airport to design a comprehensive plan that allows each NextGen procedure to reach its full potential.

considered the potential impacts of operations, strategically ranked the risks, and developed processes and plans to prevent pollution and quickly respond to issues when they occur. One of the hallmarks of a successful EMS is a focus on continuous improvement. This attitude permeates DEN’s sustainability program, as it works to strategically understand the operational aspects that can affect sustainability and identify opportunities to get better each year.

DEN is not alone when it comes to sustainability leadership in the aviation industry. Although other airports—especially those of comparable size in the same geographic area—are in some sense “competitors,” sustainability is an area in which friendly competition leads to collaboration and mutual support. DEN is active in

Future Growth DEN’s recent growth and future passenger projections come with a significant responsibility to proactively plan for continued industry leadership. One of the aspects that makes DEN unique is the opportunities afforded by its extensive land area. Although DEN is already one of the most-traveled airports in the world, its master plan envisions an expansion from the current six runways to a full build-out of 12 to improve its ability to serve passengers. That expansion has already begun as DEN embarks on a multi-year 39-gate expansion effort.

As with all DEN construction, the new gates will be designed and constructed to the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standard. These projects will join DEN’s existing high-performance building

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Provided by Denver International Airport

DEN hosts five solar photovoltaic arrays totaling 11.6 megawatts of generation.

portfolio that includes a LEED Silver Data Center, LEED Gold Concourse C West expansion, LEED Gold Fire Station 35, and the LEED Platinum airportowned Westin hotel, which sits directly above the “A Line” electric commuter rail that opened in 2016 and transports passengers to and from downtown Denver.

DEN is an active participant in the annual Sustainable Denver Summit and during the inaugural event in 2015, committed to reduce the airport’s scope one and two greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equal to the annual operating emissions of the new hotel. Based on a variety of lighting, HVAC, and controls projects and the general decarbonization of Denver’s electric grid, DEN achieved that goal ahead of schedule and has reduced overall greenhouse gas emissions more than 23 percent since 2013.

Beyond the growth in DEN’s aviation functions, its land mass also provides opportunities for commercial development. The airport is considering ambitious sustainability goals within the DEN Real Estate Strategic Development Plan to reduce long-term costs and environmental impacts, improve reliability and resiliency, and serve as a market differentiator that drives long-term land value.

Reference 1. Denver International Airport. Passenger Traffic Reports [online] https://www.flydenver.com/about/ financials/passenger_traffic 2. Denver International Airport. Study: Denver International Airport Grows to a $26.3 Billion Economic Engine for Colorado [online] https:// www.flydenver.com/sites/default/files/downloads/ DIAPR_131010y.pdf 3. Denver International Airport. Sustainability Policy [online] https://www.flydenver.com/sites/default/ files/environmental/den_SustainabilityPolicy.pdf 4. Denver International Airport. Denver’s Blue Skies Turn Green with New Departure and Arrival

Executive Support As part of the City and County of Denver, DEN actively participates in citywide programs conceived under the leadership of Mayor Michael B. Hancock and supported by DEN’s progressive leadership team. The combination of top-down and bottom-up support puts the airport in a unique position to promote sustainability as a key business value that will drive airport success long into the future.

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Procedures [online] https://www.flydenver.com/ sites/default/files/downloads/DIAPR_130620e.pdf 5. ACI Europe. Accredited Airports Across the World [online] https://www.airportcarbonaccreditation. org/airport/participants/north-america.html 6. United States Department of Agriculture Office of the Chief Economist. Frequently Asked Questions [online] https://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/faqs. htm 7. United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Food Recovery Hierarchy [online] https://www.epa. gov/sustainable-management-food/food-recoveryhierarchy

Wendt, J. (2019). Sustainability Finds a Home on the Range. Solutions 10(1): 53–58. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/sustainability-finds-a-home-on-the-range

Feature

Sustainability Finds a Home on the Range

In Brief

by Jarrett Wendt

C

ities around to world compete furiously to attract high-profile cutting-edge corporations. When cities place a high value on sustainability they are particularly interested in attracting companies that produce products and services that are essential to a sustainable future. Companies like that can be picky about where they land.

In 2014 the sustainable products and services division of Panasonic Corporation landed in Denver, Colorado. It remains there to this day.

The story of how this match occurred and why it continues to succeed can provide a template for what sustainability-oriented cities need to do to attract businesses that reflect their aspirations, and what sustainabilityoriented companies need to do to find the perfect home.

While traditionally known as a consumer electronics giant, making TV’s, refrigerators and cameras, who has been around 100 years (previously as Matsushita), today’s Panasonic has become a coveted B2B partner supplying expertise, services and advanced technology to globally leading companies. The USD$70B+ global behemoth employs a quarter of a million people around the world, but what may not be known is the company still retains its founder’s vision rooted in sustainability and looking out for its people and the environment around them.

Well-deserved recognition for Panasonic’s reputation as one of the most environmentally conscious companies in the world has come in many forms including: • For the twelfth consecutive year, Panasonic Corporation was named in 2016 to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI World), one of the world’s most renowned socially responsible investment (SRI) indexes.

• Panasonic Corporation has been listed for eighteen consecutive years in the FTSE4Good Index, one of the world’s leading socially responsible investment (SRI) indices.

• Panasonic Corporation has been a constituent of the MSCI ESG Leaders Indexes (formerly MSCI Global Sustainability Indexes), one of the world’s leading indexes for enterprises focusing on environmental, social and governance factors, for eight consecutive years.

• The company has been also named to the MSCI SRI Indexes (formerly MSCI Global SRI Indexes) for six consecutive years.

• Panasonic was awarded the Bronze Class distinction in the Sustainability Yearbook 2017

by RobecoSAM, one of the most highly recognized asset management companies focused on sustainability investments.

As sustainability-minded cities strive to attract like-minded new businesses to relocate or start new offices, city efforts will be more successful when they purposely set out to offer a collaborative working environment that lends itself to partnering opportunities with those new companies. This article is a telling story from the view of one those companies looking to find a home for its sustainable products and services division, how the city of Denver was chosen as the new location, and how each helped the other succeed to unlock new business models. Panasonic found a home for its new CityNOW division in Denver because of several traits that stood out from the more than 20 other cities being considered.

Those outstanding traits included: a cross-political environment, a strong leadership group that collectively understood the value of collaboration, and a shared vision across the major stakeholder groups. Moreover, it was clear that Denver had a laser focus on executing projects that had a direct and positive impact on the citizens of Colorado even at a time when Denver was contending with congestion, traffic, affordable housing, access to transit, equity, and the very many pains from the high growth being experienced. Jarrett Wendt, Vice President of Panasonic North America gives the background behind the company’s decision to relocate, how the city of Denver was chosen, and then describes the many successful sustainability projects made possible by that decision.

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Owned by Panasonic

Solar panels on top of parking spaces at Denver International Airport remote parking lot at Panasonic office building

A perfect example of what such sustainability leadership can produce can be found in Fujisawa, Japan. In 2007 this wonderful seaside community, thirty miles south of Tokyo, was home to a recently defunct Panasonic refrigeration factory. In typical Japanese fashion, turning a negative into a positive was the only option. The factory site was scraped clean and corporate leadership was tasked with leveraging multiple divisional capabilities to produce a community-of-the future at a single build site, across forty-seven acres, and with the aspirational goal of creating the most sustainable and resilient town in the world.

In order to achieve such lofty goals, it became immediately apparent that our approach had to be comprehensively different. Panasonic, having hundreds of factories across the globe, was no stranger to a traditional build

plan. We were also conversant in environmental building standards throughout the world. But Fujisawa as conceived presented an entirely different objective. It was not simply a single building, nor a small community of “eco-friendly” houses. No, it needed to become nearly fifty acres of the most advanced sustainability and resiliency objectives ever conceived.

As we began the difficult work of internal coordination, a more imminent challenge surfaced, aligning external stakeholders. Major utilities, finance companies, and real estate developers typically work at arm’s length, passing contracts and documents back and forth but not really working together. The challenge was in getting these key stakeholders, who would ultimately make Fujisawa a success, (including the Tokyo Gas, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Sumi Trust,

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Mitsui Fudosan Group, NTT East, Gakken, and of course, Fujisawa City) to come to the table and work as one team with the single combined goal of developing the world’s most sustainable and resilient smart town.

Those who have not been employed

by Panasonic, and in particular, have not traveled to Japan as a Panasonic employee, would find it difficult to describe the level of impact this company has on the island nation.

Kōnosuke Matsushita, the founder of Panasonic, was Steve Jobs and Elon Musk combined. Mr. Matsushita not only built the most significant company in Japan, but was a prolific inventor personally holding more than 100 patents. He authored the modern autonomous management system called the “Divisional System” in 1933 at the age of 38, allowing large companies to be successful at scale by educating,

then relying upon management rather than a single decision-maker. Mr. Matsushita had extraordinary vision beyond the times, insisting, religiously, that Panasonic be an ecologically minded, environmentally conscious, and human-centric company, as early as 1922. His achievement and connections made it easier to align stakeholders behind a project like Fujisawa in Japan than anywhere else in the world.

Back to 2007—Panasonic and Fujisawa City began to formulate a partnership and by 2010 had aligned the key stakeholders, internal and external, and begun the process of building the most sustainable and resilient town in the world. The silent achievement was the clarity of each critical stakeholder, not merely participating, but rather fully engaging and focusing on their specific task within the ecosystem.

Consortium-based thinking often results in more chaos than clarity, more positioning than execution, and in the end, more “business as usual” than transformational progress. The beauty of what was designed and executed by Panasonic at Fujisawa was that each of the stakeholders had perfect clarity of vision and purpose, perfect understanding of their role, and complete trust that Panasonic would deliver on the collective dream.

This trust was, without doubt, resting on the legacy of Mr. Matsushita.

In 2014, Fujisawa SST™ (Smart Sustainable Town) opened, with 400 families moving in over the first two years. The results were staggering with a 70 percent reduction of CO2, a 30 percent reduction in water usage, 30 percent energy returned to the grid, and a 25 percent home value increase juxtaposed to the house across the street. A collective use of solar, battery storage/micro-grid technology, build angles allowing every house took advantage of ocean breezes; the streets were lined with advanced LED lighting, smart street lights that brighten and dim automatically. Residents have access to multi-modal solutions

including mass transit, ride share, car on-demand services, and dedicated bicycle lanes—these all come together in a single residential community.

In the typical Fujisawa home, there is real time access to all energy and utility use via a dedicated channel allowing the homeowner immediate feedback on energy use, water consumption, solar efficiency and battery storage levels, as well as a real time summary of the community as a whole. In the US, our energy and water bills are sent after usage, thus disallowing any action in real time to increase conservation.

In Fujisawa SST™, having access to real time energy and utility information “nudges” residents in the right direction. The results are transformative.

an international HQ for our Smart City division was the decision, for we only had one chance to get this right.

If we failed to make an impact in the first city where we would put a Smart Sustainable Town outside of Japan, our new headquarters would essentially close the business before we had a business.

Relying upon all that was learned since 2007 from an execution perspective would not be enough. Clearly, we would be able to take advantage of our internal divisional expertise and bring in the expansive network of partnerships to a development, but what truly allowed the success of SST™? The answer was clear: The stakeholders, more specifically, our

We traveled to more than twenty US cities, but Denver, and Denver alone, resonated.

Fujisawa SST™ also delivers on resiliency. In the event of a disaster, the community can be self-contained for five days. Energy, water, food, and communication are on reserve, so they can be available to everyone. By 2019, Fujisawa SST™ will achieve its goal to be resilient for seven days in the face of an earthquake, tsunami, or any other event that would otherwise render the community helpless and exposed.

So how did the Fujisawa experience in Japan lead Panasonic to Denver?

The massive success of Fujisawa SST™ facilitated more Panasonic-led communities including, Tsunashima SST™, and Shioashiya SST™, each yielding the same sustainability and resiliency results, and being recognized globally as embodying thought and implementation leadership in the (now) Panasonic trademarked “Smart Sustainable Town™” space known as Smart Cities. In late 2014, Panasonic began considering how to leverage and scale this model globally. Selecting

process of aligning stakeholders. Our selection of a headquarters city would be predicated on the ability to bring together and align stakeholders, not money or tax incentives.

We traveled to more than twenty US cities (that shall forever remain nameless), but Denver, and Denver alone, resonated. Under the leadership of Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and Mayor Michael B. Hancock, Denver simply offered what other cities didn’t even discuss - a cross-political environment, and a strong leadership group that collectively understood the value of collaboration, and a shared vision.

Moreover, it was clear that Denver had a laser focus on executing projects that had a direct and positive impact on the citizens of Colorado. Its leadership also recognized the unique challenges Denver and Colorado were facing.

At the time, Denver was the fastest growing city in the US. As such it was contending with congestion, traffic,

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Key “Firsts” deployed at Pena Station NEXT in Denver that were enabled by the key stakeholders alignment, a mutual vision toward the future, and the unprecedented execution speed that results.

Deploying the country’s first statewide implementation of Connected Vehicle technology as part of a 5-year, USD$72M initial contract with the Colorado DOT. Deployed an award-winning USD$10M portfolio micro grid—the first micro grid approved by the Colorado PUC. Deployed Xcel Energy’s and the State of Colorado’s first smart streetlights.

Developing the country’s first Carbon Neutral District Energy Planning tool, which integrates 3D utility distribution grid modelling software with 3D commercial building energy efficiency software to minimize the development’s carbon footprint.

Deploying the country’s first instance of an autonomous electric shuttle operating between a rail stop and a bus station on city streets and truly addressing the first mile / last mile challenge.

affordable housing, access to transit, equity, and the very many pains that growth inevitably brings.

We quickly identified why Denver was so desirable. Aside from the obvious draws - nature, the mountains, an outdoor lifestyle, and an ever-evolving business community—Denver International Airport (DEN) was the fifth busiest in the US, having multiple non-stops to critical global locations, including to Tokyo-Narita. DEN’s CEO, Kim Day, was remarkably succinct in her vision for DEN. She wanted it to be the most innovative, intelligent, and travel-friendly airport in the world. It would connect both coasts, provide multiple non-stops around the world, and become a showcase for enjoying not only traveling, but the airport itself.

The local transit agency, RTD, had invested USD$1B in the A-Line, a train running from Union Station in the heart of downtown Denver to the airport. Fortuitously, we were looking at a 386 acre build site for our HQ at Peña Station, the last stop on the A-Line before the airport. The land was owned by the Fullenwider, Smith Family Trust. The Trust and DEN provided a forward-thinking mixture of partners who were united on the Mayor’s vision of an “Aerotropolis.” More than 75 percent of Panasonic’s North

American employees at our headquarters in Newark, NJ used mass transit to get to and from work. Despite the fact that folks west of the Mississippi River are less inclined to use mass transit, we aspired to create a true Transit Oriented Development (TOD) headquarters. Our project, which we call Peña Station NEXT, would provide a truly unique opportunity to offer readily available mass transit to our employees, one stop from a world-class airport, and five stops from downtown Denver. In a word, magic.

To realize our vision, we needed a strong electric utility partner.

Denver’s investor-owned utility, Xcel Energy, although headquartered in Minneapolis, has its largest install base in Colorado, and is the US leader in utilizing wind technology. In our initial meetings with David Eves, then President of Xcel’s Colorado region, it was clear they had invested meaningfully in being sustainability leaders, would continue to reinvest in modernizing their grid, and were committed at the highest level to implement solar and wind at scale. Additionally, Xcel was highly interested in exploring battery storage and micro-grid technology, solar gardens, and other emerging solutions to give Coloradan’s both clean energy and industry-leading innovation. Given

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our success in utilizing solar and battery storage at our SST’s™, Xcel represented, once more, how very unique Colorado would be in providing what we needed to realize our vision.

In addition to a strong utility partner, Panasonic needed a strong mobility partner. The staff at the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), led by Shailen Bhatt at the time, were proven innovators. Faced with the challenge of tremendous growth, stressed roadways, and a limited budget, CDOT’s leadership thought outside the conventional “building our way to reduce traffic” mode. That antiquated approach to managing roadways had long ago been debunked, but CDOT was among the very few DOT’s leading the way through innovative technology, exploring all available solutions to address the challenges facing Colorado’s roads. With Panasonic’s deep roots in automotive and roadway operations, this was a promising partnership worth exploring.

Adding to CDOT’s vision of a connected highway, Mayor Hancock outlined his own Mobility Action Plan for Denver. With the inclusion of dedicated bike lanes, equitable access to mass transit, simplified payment platforms for ease of travel throughout the city, and most importantly, the very same shared vision CDOT and RTD espoused, Denver would be open for business, keen for innovation, and poised to take action.

The Mayor’s team was an impressive group of leaders who (again) shared the Governor’s and Mayor’s notion that Colorado should remain politically agnostic when advancing innovation and progress that positively affect their constituents. Having traveled to many cities on our quest, our group could attest first hand that this was truly unique. Another unique feature in Denver was its annual “Sustainable Denver Summit”, described elsewhere in this issue, where regional engagements and partnerships come together

to pledge specific sustainability commitments and initiatives. As such, it is among the most impressive collaborative efforts that illustrate the unique stakeholder alignment Denver enjoys.

All of the above factors, and many more I’m unable to fit into this article, made Denver the only choice for Panasonic. In June 2015, Mayor Hancock outlined a Proclamation naming Panasonic as an official “Technology Partner” of Denver.

The Proclamation included specific mention of what Panasonic calls its “CityNOW Pillars”: Energy/Utilities, Smart Mobility, City Services/Security, Built Environment, and Health/ Well Being. Through our stakeholder alignment process (Pillar Process), co-chairs were assigned to each Pillar, and began work to implement projects and pilots of significance. Moreover, Peña Station NEXT was to be used as a place where we, the City and other partners could test and vet potential solutions to municipal sustainability challenges before implementing them elsewhere in Denver. This innovative P3 (Public-Private Partnership) model has allowed for transformative activity to occur with great alacrity.

Since the proclamation, the coalition of stakeholders has methodically implemented project after project starting with the first microgrid in Colorado history approved by the PUC (Public Utility Commission). The project consists of a 1MW/2MWh battery, an islanding switch, and 260kW PV on Panasonic’s rooftop. It works in conjunction with a 1.6MW solar carport which isn’t technically part of the microgrid as it is in ‘front of the meter’ yet contributes to making the development net carbon neutral. This particular project is worth explaining as it is the epitome of the success that stakeholder alignment unleashes.

The stakeholders in this project included Xcel, CCD, DEN, L.C. Fulenwider and Panasonic who all came to the table to make tradeoffs to do what was best for the development.

Owned by Panasonic

Portfolio microgrid battery — a product of Stakeholder alignment

The airport brought the land and steel structure it had already allocated for a covered parking lot. Xcel purchased the battery and the solar PV on top of the airport’s steel structure. And Panasonic brought its expertise in operation and maintenance as well as some of its own solar panels for the Panasonic roof array. Everyone brought their balance sheets which enabled flexibility in coming to final design approval. By having everyone aligned, the project of 15 separate contracts completed in 17 months. In the end, the airport now runs a parking lot with much desired covered spaces, Panasonic has reliable backup power with the ability to operate off-grid indefinitely when required, and Xcel can experiment with multiple value streams such as PV smoothing, energy arbitrage, peak demand reduction and voltage regulation. The work done and lessons learned on this project will greatly reduce costs on future microgrid deployment, make it easy to connect additional buildings to this microgrid and enable the possibility of having the entire community powered in a similar fashion.

Another note-worthy project we are just wrapping up is the Carbon Neutral District Energy Plan1 that creates a cost-effective integrated plan to achieve carbon neutrality across all

100 buildings in the development. Yet another partner was brought in, this time for their specialized expertise and access to lots of computing power.

The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) was selected to team with Xcel and integrate a 3D utility distribution model with a 3D commercial building energy efficiency model in order to make tradeoffs in the energy plan and achieve maximum energy savings while considering price inflection points and numerous built-environment options such as insulation thickness, window glazing options, and solar penetration/density.2 From a business perspective, the tool will give utilities like Xcel the data to file a ‘resiliency tariff’ so they can invest in PV, storage and other distributed assets and receive a guaranteed return on the CAPX investment. The vertical developers/tenants will pay a very small OPEX premium in exchange for greater resiliency and lower CAPX. And from a livability perspective, new residents will get the comfort and conveniences of a modern neighborhood while knowing they are not impacting the climate for future generations.

The same stakeholder-engaged pillar process was repeated across a multitude of traditional master planning projects producing many more advanced

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Fujisawa SST Japan

V2X Hero Statement

• 47 acres • Opened spring 2014 • Single-family homes, condos/townhomes, multigenerational living • 600+ families

-30%

-70% 30%

+25% Owned by Panasonic

A presentation on Fijisawa, Pansonic’s smart community in Japan

solutions such as smart, connected and safe street lights, electric vehicle charging, smart building controls, and local transit guidelines. The result is an infrastructure built to serve the future tenants in ways not imagined before and with greater sustainability and resiliency than parallel projects designed elsewhere.

The success of the Peña Station NEXT coalition has allowed Panasonic to expand beyond the local development. The visibility of the local success has resulted in the award of a 5 year state-wide deployment of Connected Vehicle Technology that is the first of its kind in the country.

It was announced December 4th, 2017 on Connected and Autonomous Day almost four years since the original meeting with Governor Hickenlooper and Mayor Hancock, showing further evidence of the true value and meaning of long-term partnerships. That deployment is closely being followed by another project being carried out with EasyMile North American in

the first deployment of autonomous shuttles connecting a bus stop to train stop on a city street. This first/last mile connection to transit rolling out December 13, 2018 will benefit Peña Station NEXT near term but eventually enable this same level of service at transit hubs around the world.

As the successes only continue to multiply, you might expect a company to revel in its recent success or boast about what it has done. Nothing could be further from the truth as Panasonic seeks additional partners amongst the next set of cities, utilities and real estate developers who want to bring their citizens and customers the efficiencies, quality of life, and long term value of a sustainable and resilient neighborhood. We could not have achieved what we have without the cooperative environment and open and honest conversations we can have with our city and our partners.

Cities wishing to attract progressive companies and retain existing ones can help themselves by creating a

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welcoming and cooperative environment themselves and providing an apolitical environment, strong leadership that collectively understands the value of collaboration, and a shared vision for how new businesses will contribute and participate.

Progressive, sustainably-minded companies looking to maximize success and accelerate initial engagement in the local community when relocating may do well to look a little deeper into the culture and leadership principles of both the local city government and key business and real estate partners.

Identifying unique teams like those in Denver helps give an added advantage and streamlines the ramping process for success in the new market.

References: 1. National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).

Developing a zero-energy, transit oriented campus in Denver, Colorado [online] (2018) https://www. nrel.gov/docs/fy17osti/68998.pdf 2. Pless, Shanti and Polly, Ben. Communities of the Future: Accelerating Zero Energy District Master Planning [Online] (2018)

Managan, K. and L. Dériaz. (2019). Energize Denver: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Large Buildings in Denver. Solutions 10(1): 59–63. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/energize-denver-improving-the-energy-efficiency-of-large-buildings-in-denver

Feature

Energize Denver: Improving the Energy Efficiency of Large Buildings in Denver

by Katrina Managan and Lauren Dériaz

City and County of Denver

Energize Denver team wins U.S. Green Building Council local leader award

In Brief Improving the energy efficiency of buildings in Denver is beneficial for the citizens who live and work here, and the building owners who aim to reduce operational costs and engage in lasting climate change benefits for their customers.

Energize Denver aims to improve the energy efficiency of large buildings in Denver, targeting reductions of 10 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. Achieving the overall 30 percent reduction goal in energy consumption by 2030 is possible if all buildings become as efficient as those currently performing at the 81st percentile (as determined by Energy Use Intensity, or EUI) of the building type. Buildings in Denver that have submitted two years of benchmarking data saw energy cost savings of USD$13.5 million dollars in 2017! These buildings cut energy use by 4.5 percent from 2016 to 2017. Benchmarking the energy use of large buildings is a cornerstone piece of the City of Denver’s climate action plan. The data collected is critical to our success, as this is an area where the City has a significant amount of influence, and clearly the data indicates our efforts are having the intended effect. The fact that we have been able to show this much energy savings in such a short time bodes well for our overall climate goals.

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 59

C

ommercial and multifamily buildings are responsible for 57 percent of Denver’s greenhouse gas emissions. Investing an estimated USD$340 million in improving building energy efficiency could result in 4,000 local jobs and USD$1.3 billion in energy savings over 10 years. Building energy efficiency is a key component of the City’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050 and to meet our 2020 Sustainability Goals.

To begin the process of unlocking the economic and emission reduction benefits of energy efficiency, in January of 2016 Denver set the interim goals of reducing the energy consumption of large buildings by 10 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. That means buildings need to reduce their energy consumption by 2-3 percent each year through 2030.

What follows is the story of the process we went through to put policies and programs in place that put us on track to meet those targets. Very early results are in, and our strategies appear to be working. Denver’s large buildings cut weather normalized energy usage by 4.5 percent from 2016 to 2017, which saved building owners USD$13.5 million dollars in energy costs in 2017!

overcome market barriers currently impeding cost-effective investments in energy efficiency by providing information that will better align the interests of different actors in the market. The task force proposed that all buildings over 25,000 square feet would be required to benchmark their energy performance annually using the free ENERGY STAR Portfolio

Key Concepts Energize Denver aims to improve the energy efficiency of large buildings in Denver, targeting reductions of 10 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030.

The energy used in large buildings is accounts for 57 percent of Denver’s greenhouse gas emissions.

• Denver buildings that have submitted two years of benchmarking data saw energy cost savings of USD$13.5 million dollars from 2016 to 2017!

These buildings cut energy use by 4.5 percent from one year to the next.

• Achieving the overall 30 percent reduction goal in energy consumption by 2030 is possible if all buildings become as efficient as those currently performing at the 81st percentile (as determined by Energy Use Intensity, or EUI) of the building type.

• In addition, Denver also would see an annual energy savings cost of about USD$88 million, measured in today’s energy prices.

Finding the Path to Achieve Our Goals To figure out how to reach our goals we formed the Energize Denver Task Force of stakeholders from our real estate and energy efficiency communities. The Energize Denver Task force met every three weeks from January through June of 2016 and at the end of that process they arrived at a consensus recommendation. The task force was made up of diverse stakeholders including brokers, building owners, building managers, our local utility, affordable housing experts, energy efficiency advocates and service firms.

The task force recommendations aimed to help Denver’s buildings

• Improving building energy efficiency will allow the building sector to help Denver meet its 80x50 climate goal.

Manager tool. Benchmarking the energy performance of buildings is the first step to understanding and reducing energy consumption, because you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

It is similar to the fuel economy ratings for cars or nutrition labels on food.

The task force also proposed that buildings that have not achieved a level of efficiency that puts them in the top quartile would be required to

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make periodic cost-effective, quickpayback, incremental improvements to their energy efficiency.

The Energize Denver benchmarking ordinance was passed by Denver City Council in December of 2016.

The ordinance requires all large commercial and multifamily buildings to annually assess and report their energy performance using the free ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager tool. This tool results in a 1-100 performance score (where 1 is the worst, 100 is the best, and 50 is the national average). The large real estate associations that typically might oppose such a policy, such as NAIOP Colorado, Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the Apartment Association of Metro Denver, were neutral or in support of benchmarking after their extensive involvement in the process.

The improvement requirements suggested by the task force did not move forward into law at that time, but two years later in late 2018 some similar requirements were put in place as part of Denver’s new Green Building Policy. More on that later in the article.

Implementation Benchmarking is the foundation of the City’s work to improve building energy efficiency, because as noted above you can’t manage what you don’t measure.

The Denver Department of Public Health and Environment hired Overlay Consulting to help implement the new ordinance. In 2017, all buildings 50,000 square feet or larger in Denver were required to benchmark. With several rounds of mailed compliance notices, ten training sessions for building owners, and thousands of calls and emails, the Energize Denver team saw a 90 percent compliance rate in the first year, which is best in class among other cities of similar size with benchmarking requirements. In 2018, all buildings 25,000 to 50,000 square feet were phased into the requirement. Due to the continued outreach and excellent customer service of the Energize Denver

team, the compliance rate for the newly added buildings was 86 percent percent while the compliance rate of previously benchmarked buildings (50,000 square feet or larger) increased to 94 percent.

Helping 3000 building owners learn how to use the free Portfolio Manager tool to find out their building’s ENREGY STAR score, and then report it to the City, was no small task. Generally, people were open to learning and found the tool useful, but teaching an entire sector to learn a new skill required outstanding trainings, call and email support, and data management systems enabling all of that support to be provided in a timely manner. Overlay Consulting ran our benchmarking help center, giving building owners easy access to benchmarking support.

About 25 US cities have required benchmarking, but Denver’s implementation strategy is cutting edge and innovative. Other cities with benchmarking and transparency requirements have seen 2-3 percent energy savings each year by covered buildings. Denver’s new way of implementing the ordinance was inspired by the successes and difficulties of these cities. Our data quality checks, data management system, scorecards, map, awards, case studies and tenant education programs are all improvements upon the very best ideas previously in place in other cities.

Denver, with Overlay Consulting’s help, automated the import, data quality checks, and compliance tracking for over 200 data points on each of 3000 buildings in the City. Every benchmarking report must pass over 40 data quality checks, which is critical for self-reported data to be reliable.

Over half of the report submitters received a follow-up call checking on possible data errors within 48 hours of submitting their report. Buildings were not passed into compliance until they passed all data quality checks.

Once buildings are in compliance, Denver sends building owners

City and County of Denver

Energize Denver map that the community can use to compare performance of reporting buildings — energizedenver.org

scorecards and publishes all the data in real time on an interactive map at www.energizedenver.com. As buildings pass into compliance, Denver tells great stories about buildings saving energy to build competition with their peers, gives awards to those who save the most energy, and runs programs to help educate building tenants and brokers about the energy performance scores.

Our map of benchmarking data at www.energizedenver.org includes energy performance information for each building that was required to benchmark. The map compares each building to similar buildings and allows building owners and property managers to view the energy performance of their peers. The benchmarking map has an average of 300 users per month with a typical time on the site of nearly 5 minutes. We had 1800 users of the map in its first two months. They had 3700 sessions total, with an average duration of 5 minutes per session.

Building owners and property managers receive individualized scorecards after complying. The scorecards include visual representations of their energy performance, comparisons to similar buildings, and estimated cost

savings for implementing energy efficiency measures. The 1300 scorecard emails were opened over 5,000 times.

Many were forwarded and re-opened.

The scorecards saw over 20 percent of the respondents clicking through from the email scorecard to see how their building compared to other similar buildings. All these stats indicate that they are a valuable tool for building owners and managers.

Energize Denver has also used the connections it has built with building owners and property managers through the benchmarking ordinance to share information about energy efficiency, the benefits it can bring to building owners and property managers, and the tools that can be used to become more energy efficient.

Energize Denver has written case studies featuring buildings that have made significant energy improvements.

For example, Prado Condominiums improved their ENERGY STAR® score from 27 to 67 and saw a 38 percent reduction in energy costs!

These case studies also highlight the energy efficiency measures that were implemented and their actual return on investment to allow other building owners and property managers to

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learn more about energy efficiency and how it can be applied to a building.

Finally, Energize Denver hosts events that highlight programs and incentives that can make energy efficiency more financially appealing for building owners and property managers. One event, hosted in 1720 S. Bellaire St., featured the building owner talking about how property assessed clean energy (PACE) is a great tool to finance energy efficiency projects. In 2016, 1720 S Bellaire St. already had an ENERGY STAR score of 91. However, the owners/ operators realized more energy savings could be achieved, and undertook an energy savings project using PACE financing that cut energy consumption by 30 percent.

To further recognize building owners and property managers that are taking steps towards energy efficiency, Energize Denver is comparing the energy benchmarking reports of buildings year over year to identify buildings that have realized the largest energy efficiency improvements. In 2018, Energize Denver is recognizing the top three buildings in Denver’s largest building categories: offices, apartments, and hotels.

Here are the winners that improved their energy efficiency the most from 2016 to 2017.

Offices: • 1st Place: Tamarac Plaza, 1, 7555 E Hampden Ave. Cut energy use by 35 percent.

• 2nd Place: Havana Gold, 4880 Havana St. ENERGY STAR score jumped from 26 to 43.

• 3rd Place: Market Center, 1624 Market St. ENERGY STAR score jumped from 78 to 96.

Apartments: • 1st Place: The Lodge, 4710 E. Mississippi Ave. Cut energy use by 31 percent.

• 2nd Place: 1000 S. Broadway, ENERGY STAR score jumped from 77 to 99.

City and County of Denver

Denver skyline at dusk

• 3rd Place: The Denver House, 1055 Logan St. ENERGY STAR score jumped from 86 to 96.

Hotels: • 1st Place: Hampton Inn and Suites, 1845 Sherman St. ENERGY STAR score jumped from 52 to 98.

• 2nd Place: Doubletree by Hilton, 3203 Quebec St. Increased ENERGY STAR score from 67 to 71.

• 3rd Place: Crown Plaza Denver, 1450 Glenarm Place. Cut electric use by 8 percent and natural gas by 13 percent.

For more details about how they won, visit www.denvergov.org/ EnergizeDenver > Resource Center.

What We’re Learning and Next Steps ENERGY STAR Scores and energy use intensity (EUI) data provided by building owners will be used to measure city-wide energy efficiency improvements over time. Energize Denver released a 2018 annual report summarizing the benchmarking ordinance’s second year. The largest building types, as measured by

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total square footage and number of buildings, are offices, apartments and condominiums. Denver buildings had an average ENERGY STAR® score of 66, 50 is the national average, 1 is the worst, and 100 is the best.

The annual report also analyzed what is necessary to achieve our goal to reduce energy consumption by commercial and multifamily buildings by 30 percent by 2030. Achieving the overall 30 percent reduction goal in energy consumption by 2030 is possible if all buildings become as efficient as those currently performing at the 81st percentile (as determined by Energy Use Intensity, or EUI) of the building type. The 81st percentile is an important metric, as it is the minimum percentile all buildings have to reach to save 30 percent. Improving building energy efficiency will allow the building sector to help Denver meet its 80x50 climate goal to reduce community GHG emissions 80 percent below the 2005 level, by 2050. In addition, Denver also would see an annual energy cost savings of about USD$88 million, measured in today’s energy prices. These energy cost savings can

outs. The owner gets an improved asset that rents at a premium. The tenant sees a portion of the reduced energy costs and increased productivity and sales—sufficient to cover any rent increase.

Denver also passed a new Green Building Policy in October of 2018.

Under this new policy when existing buildings over 25,000 square feet replace their roof they have to select from one of five compliance options:

ENERGY PERFORMANCE SCORECARD

Wellington Webb Municipal Office Building 201 W Colfax Avenue

Your ENERGY STAR Score

96

Time Frame: Jan - Dec 2017 Square Footage: 677,832 Year Built: 1980 Denver Building ID: 2659

HOW ARE YOU DOING?

1. A small green roof or green space anywhere on the site.

2. An on-site solar array.

3. LEED Silver or equivalent certification.

4. A financial contribution for off-site green space.

5. Enrollment in a flexible Energy Program to achieve emission reductions similar to those achieved by the on-site solar option.

YOU

This building used 5% more energy than last year

To achieve our City's Climate goals all buildings need to become 30% more energy efficient

Which could annually save this building $299,948

Click here to view similar buildings and select your own comparison criteria.

100 is the top ENERGY STAR score nationally, 1 is the worst and 50 is the national average. Energy use intensity (EUI) is the energy used per square foot in a building – lower energy use intensity is better.

Scores 75 or above are eligible for ENERGY STAR certification. To learn how, visit: www.energystar.gov/benchmark

IS THIS SCORECARD HELPFUL? TAKE OUR SHORT SURVEY. HOW YOUR BUILDING RANKS IN DENVER

2nd/22

1st/40

Municipal Buildings in Denver

Municipal Buildings in CBD

City and County of Denver

Sample score cards that building owners receive

be achieved with energy efficiency measures that provide a remarkable return on investment for owners and tenants.

The City’s new Energy Smart Leasing program kicks off in January of 2019 and aims to make Energy Smart Leasing the standard practice

in Denver by the end of 3 years.

Energy Smart Leasing makes benchmarking data actionable in leased space by encouraging tenants to ask about the ENERGY STAR score of a building before leasing space, to add energy efficient clauses to their leases, and to do energy efficient tenant fit

When buildings enroll in the Energy Program they will then have 5 years to comply. Compliance options include achieving an ENERGY STAR score of 85, improving EUI (energy use intensity) by 15 percent or achieving LEED Silver Certification.

For more details about Denver’s new Green Building Policy see the separate article on that subject in this issue.

Through an innovative combination of policies and programs Energize Denver has put Denver’s buildings on track to do their part to help Denver achieve an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Denver hopes its experience can provide a useful roadmap to cities seeking similar results.

Go to www.denvergov.org/ energizedenver for the latest Energize Denver annual report, details on benchmarking, energy smart leasing, the new energy program and our resource center full of case studies.

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 63

Managan, K. (2019). Transforming a Voter Initiated Green Roof Ordinance into Denver’s Ambitious New Green Building Policy. Solutions 10(1): 64–68. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/transforming-a-voter-initiated-green-roof-ordinance-into-denvers-ambitious-new-green-building-policy

Feature

Transforming a Voter Initiated Green Roof Ordinance into Denver’s Ambitious New Green Building Policy

by Katrina Managan

In Brief

Katrina Managan

Denver City Council votes unanimously to approve the new Green Builidings Policy

D

enver City Council adopted a new Green Building Policy on October 29th, 2018. The policy, among the most ambitious in the United States, will contribute to alleviating Denver’s substantial urban heat island, add green space to the city, provide water quality and storm water benefits, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

All new buildings over 25,000 square feet must now have a cool

roof as well as either a green roof, green space anywhere on the site, solar panels, energy efficiency features, LEED Gold Certification or a combination of these options.

When an existing building of this size replaces its roof it must install a cool roof as well as either a green roof, new green space anywhere on the site, solar panels, energy efficiency improvements or LEED Silver Certification.

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Denver has a groundbreaking new Green Building Policy. The policy, among the most ambitious in the United States, will contribute to alleviating Denver’s substantial urban heat island, add green space to the city, provide water quality and storm water benefits, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

All new buildings over 25,000 square feet must now have a cool roof as well as either a green roof, green space anywhere on the site, solar panels, energy efficiency features, LEED Gold Certification or a combination of these options.

When an existing building of this size replaces its roof it must install a cool roof as well as either a green roof, new green space anywhere on the site, solar panels, energy efficiency improvements or LEED Silver Certification. The following is the story behind Denver’s new Green Building Ordinance. What begin as a citizen-led ballot initiative requiring a limited range of green roofs and solar panels was broadened through a long stakeholder engagement process to have even more benefits, as well as more flexibility.

The following is the story behind Denver’s new Green Building Policy.

What began as a citizen-led ballot initiative requiring a limited range of green roofs and solar panels was broadened through a long stakeholder engagement process to have even more benefits, as well as more flexibility. Great cities and great places don’t happen by accident. They are planned wisely, which is what Denver sought to do here.

On November 7th, 2017 voters in the City and County of Denver approved a Green Roofs Ordinance. The ordinance was proposed by citizens who wanted to help the environment and improve their City. The ordinance took effect on January 1st, 2018. It required all new buildings over 25,000 square feet to install a green roof covering a portion of the roof, a green roof in combination with solar panels, or just solar panels covering the entire roof.

It required all existing buildings over 25,000 square feet to cover a portion of the roof in a combination of a green roof and solar panels when the roof was replaced.

There were several problems and unintended consequences associated with the original Green Roofs Ordinance, including the inability of many existing buildings to support the weight of a green roof, the cost to large single story retail buildings for which the original coverage requirement was particularly burdensome, legal challenges surrounding rainwater retention requirements, and uncertainty over whether green roofs alone were the best tactic in Denver’s arid climate.

Denver City Council had the authority to amend the green roof ordinance after six months, but the City’s mayoral administration felt it was important to take the time needed to convene a solid task force of diverse viewpoints, obtain the input of experts, and circulate draft proposals for public input before making a final recommendation to City Council.

Some people did not want Denver to touch the original green roofs ordinance passed last year and others wanted it repealed altogether. But it was clear that Denver needed a more functional solution.

The author led the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment’s process to review the Green Roofs Ordinance for the City.

The City formed the Green Roofs Review Task Force of stakeholders from academia, the real estate industry, government, and the creators of

Key Concepts Greener construction will be part of Denver’s future.

Denver’s new Green Buildings Policy was devised by a collaborative task force of individuals who represented proponents and opponents of the original voter initiated green roofs initiative. The result is an ambitious new ordinance that has the following benefits for Denver: • Reductions to the urban heat island with a “cool roofs” requirement on all buildings over 25,000 square feet.

• Significant new green space by 2050, which can be provided on the roof or on the ground.

• Significant greenhouse gas emission reductions from new and existing buildings through solar panels and energy efficiency features.

the original green roof ordinance. The Task Force’s mission was to recommend modifications, clarifications, and improvements to the Green Roof Ordinance through a collaborative, consensus-based process that honored the vote and the benefits that the ordinance would have achieved.

The task force met nine times from January 19, 2018, through June 7, 2018.

Each meeting was three hours long with many hours of work and small group discussions between meetings.

The task force circulated a draft proposal for public input during May 2018. In their final meeting, members reached consensus on a proposal they believed would take the ordinance in the right direction for Denver.

Good public policy is accomplished by having great people from diverse perspectives working on it. The Green Roofs Review Task Force was no exception. Two leaders on the task force were Brandon Rietheimer, of the Green Roofs Initiative, the lead proponent for the original ordinance, and Kathie Barstnar, Executive Director of NAIOP Colorado and lead opponent of the original ordinance.

After the task force reached consensus the two leaders co-authored an op-ed in The Denver Post, where they said, “After a democratic election, people on both sides of an issue can agree to work together to make public policy better. That’s where Denver is today with our city’s Green Roof Initiative, voted into law last November. One of us campaigned against the Green Roof ballot measure, certain that the proposal set goals that would be either unworkable or unaffordable for many. One of us initiated the campaign to add meaningful green space, reduce the heat island effect from buildings, improve water quality and increase the use of renewable energy. But we didn’t let those differences in perspective deter us from talking when the election ended; instead, through the Green Roof Review Task Force, we worked together to find a way forward that we both can support and that, we hope, those on both sides of the election can live with—one that respects the will of the voters, and provides solutions that can be implemented.”

Based on the Task Force’s consensus recommendations, City Council passed the new Green Building Policy on October 29th, 2018. Final rules implementing the ordinance should be adopted in February 2019.

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Katrina Managan

Conventional roofs in downtown Denver, prior to enactment of the city’s Green Buildings policy

While green roofs and solar panels are great options, this new and improved policy looks at development more holistically. It recognizes that the best, long-term approach to building a more sustainable city is to increase green space, improve water and storm water management, increase use of solar and other renewable energies, foster the design of far more energyefficient buildings, and embrace national standards of green building, like LEED and Enterprise Green Communities Certification.

Compared to the original ordinance approved by the voters, the new Green Buildings Policy has the following key features:

• A greater urban heat island reduction from having cool roofs on all buildings instead of black roofs partially covered in green.

Requiring cool roofs is good policy.

A cool roof is made of a highly reflective material (usually a reflective covering or reflective tiles/shingles) so it reflects more sunlight and absorbs less heat than a standard roof. Cool roofs are a simple way to reduce the urban heat island effect. A dark roof surface absorbs sunlight during the day, converts it to thermal energy, and then re-emits it mostly at night, preventing the city and its residents from cooling down at night. This

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is a major factor in why Denver is getting hotter, not just in the day but most significantly at night. Cool roofs can be installed at a minimal cost, and last as long or longer than dark roofs because the reflective surface sustains less sun damage.

• Green space allowed to be provided on the ground as well as on the roof, so not only will Denver have up to 3.5 million more square feet of green space by 2050, it will be more accessible for residents and wildlife to enjoy.

• The same greenhouse gas emission reductions as the old version, but with more design flexibility.

°° Using solar energy is a major piece of this policy, but property owners will have choices on whether to install solar, use community solar, purchase solar from Xcel, or use another equivalent renewable energy source altogether. Another option is to improve the building’s energy efficiency so much so that it achieves an equivalent reduction in emissions.

• Greater flexibility in building design and a lower overall cost of meeting requirements by about 20 percent. °° Some may consider the new policy to be too complex, but it’s because the task force wanted to make sure people have a range of options from which to choose what works best for them, from pursuing a recognized national

projects that choose a more expensive compliance path, there is usually a return on investment available.

• Additions of 25,000 square feet or more • Any existing building or 25,000 square feet or more that is replacing at least 5 percent of its roof or roof section

• Improved water and storm water management through onthe-ground spaces that can often filter and detain storm water even better than a green roof might.

Options for new buildings

New buildings must include a cool roof plus one of eight compliance options: 1. A green roof or green space anywhere on the site.

2. A financial contribution for off-site green space.

3. A combination of green space and solar panels.

4. A combination of green space and energy efficiency measures.

5. Solar panels covering 70 percent of the roof.

6. Designing a building that is at least 12 percent more energy efficient than current energy codes require.

7. LEED Gold or equivalent certification.

8. Enterprise Green Communities Certification.

Who does the new policy apply to?

Exempt • Parking garages • Temporary or air-supported structures • Greenhouses • Single-family homes, duplexes • Multifamily residential buildings that are three stories or less • Emergency roof replacements There are other exemptions based on technical feasibility, characterdefining features, and existing green roof or renewable energy systems.

We worked together to find a way forward that we both can support and that, we hope, those on both sides of the election can live with — one that respects the will of the voters, and provides solutions that can be implemented. standard like LEED Gold to designing tighter, smarter buildings that use significantly less energy overall.

Altogether, there are 8 different paths for new buildings and 5 for existing buildings. °° The task force calculated that total compliance costs are at least 20 percent lower for the green buildings ordinance than the green roofs ordinance, and many buildings will see only a small fraction of the original costs. For

Options for existing buildings

Cool roof only • Roof recovers on buildings of 25,000 square feet or more • Multifamily residential buildings (apartment and condo buildings) over 25,000 square feet that have 5 stories or fewer and are less than 62.5 feet in height Cool roof + compliance option • Six-story or more apartment and condo buildings that are over 25,000 square feet • All new commercial buildings that are 25,000 square feet or more

Roof replacements on existing buildings must include a cool roof plus one of five compliance options: 1. A green roof or green space anywhere on the site.

2. A financial contribution for off-site green space.

3. Onsite solar panels.

4. LEED Silver or equivalent certification.

5. Enrollment in an Energy Program to achieve emission reductions similar to those achieved by the onsite solar option. The program includes options to buy community solar or to improve the building’s energy efficiency in a way that makes the most sense for that building.

What counts as green space?

This will be outlined in the implementing Rules and Regulations, currently under development, but is

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likely to mean any area containing trees, groundcover, shrubs, urban agriculture, natural grass/turf, or vegetated roofs.

What is the financial contribution for offsite green space? (“Fee in Lieu”)

To opt out of providing green space, buildings would need to pay a fee of USD$50 per square foot of green space coverage required but not provided.

This amount was determined by a rate study that sought to account for the overall cost to the city for providing equivalent amounts of green space off site.

The rate study showed that the fee in lieu should be USD$50–90 per square foot for the city to have enough money to supply equivalent benefit.

While $50/square foot is higher than the $25/square foot amount from the voter-adopted ordinance, it is the lowest amount deemed feasible for providing the equivalent green space benefit.

Historic buildings

There are several ways for historic buildings to meet the Green Buildings Ordinance without compromising their unique character.

This includes purchasing renewable energy from the local investor-owned utility, Xcel Energy, instead of electricity generated from non-renewable sources, and enrolling in the new Energy Program. Notably, historic buildings are as, if not more, energy efficient than many other existing buildings.

Green Building Fund

The fee in lieu money goes into a Green Building Fund managed

by Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment (DDPHE).

The fund must be spent on the following purposes, with priority given to low-income areas, high-impact projects, and green spaces located near the buildings that paid into the fund:

Green Building Ordinance - Compliance Options for New Buildings Cool Roof Required* Plus ONE of the Following Options:

Green Roof / Green Space

Green Plus Solar or Energy Efficiency

Solar or Energy Efficiency

Anywhere on building or zone lot

Anywhere on building or zone lot, or off-site for solar

Anywhere on building or zone lot, or off-site

Green area equivalent to the lesser of: • 3% gross floor area • 18% of total roof area • Available roof space COMBINED WITH ONE OF THE FOLLOWING: 1) Onsite solar equiv. to the lesser of: • 7% of the floor area • 42% of total roof area 2) Offsite solar equivalent to the onsite solar plus a minimum 2.5% energy cost savings from energy efficiency above code 3) 5% energy cost savings from energy efficiency above code

Onsite solar or other renewable equiv. to your choice of: • 70% of the total roof area • 100% of annual average electricity used at the building • Proof that the building is Net Zero OR Offsite solar equiv. to your choice of: • 100% of building electricity use • Amount equivalent to required onsite solar plus minimum 6% energy cost savings from energy OR Minimum 12% energy cost savings from energy efficiency above code

Green area equivalent to the lesser of: • 10% of gross floor area of the building • 60% of the total roof area • Available roof space

Pay for Offsite Green Payment to Green Building Fund of: • $50.00 per square foot of green space coverage required but not provided

Certification One of the following: • LEED Certification, minimum gold • Enterprise Green Communities certification • National Green Building Standard ICC/ASHRAE 700 • Equivalent certification approved by the building official

* If the proposed roof is a character-defining roof, CPD may allow alternative roof materials

Green Building Ordinance - Compliance Options for Existing Buildings At Roof Replacement: Cool Roof Required* plus ONE of the Following Options:

Green Roof / Green Space

Solar

Certification

Energy Program

Anywhere on building or zone lot

Anywhere on building or zone lot

Onsite solar or other renewable equivalent to the least of: • 5% of the floor area • 42% of the total roof area • An area equal to an amount required to provide 100% of building electricity use

One of the following: • LEED Certification, minimum silver • Enterprise Green Communities certification • National Green Building Standard ICC/ASHRAE 700 • Equivalent certification approved by the building official

Enroll in a flexible energy program that includes various energy efficiency and renewable options designed to achieve similar greenhouse gas emission reductions as the on-site solar option.

• Comply with one of many pathways in the Energy Program within 5 years.

• Can enroll early to “bank” efficiency projects for next roof replacement

Green area equivalent to the least of: • 2% of floor area of the building • 18% of the total roof area • Available roof space

Pay for Offsite Green Payment to Green Building Fund of: • $50.00 per square foot of green space coverage required but not provided

* If the roof is a character-defining roof, CPD may allow alternative roof materials

Katrina Managan

Denver’s new Green Buildings Policy

• Green space acquisition and improvement (ecosystem protection and restoration, such as native plantings or native plantings as part of invasive species control) • Water quality improvements and green infrastructure • Urban forest protection and expansion • Installing green roofs in partnership with land owners/ developers • Driving rooftop solar or community solar adoption among low-income and affordable housing developments

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DDPHE will report on funding and its uses to City Council every 2 years and will establish a long-term management plan.

By working closely with both the creators of the original ordinance and real estate industry stakeholders, Denver is confident that it’s created a new and improved policy that can truly work for the community.

To read all about the new Green Building Policy go to www.denvergov. org/greenroofs. To learn all about the task force’s work and their final proposal click on “Learn more about the origins of Denver’s innovative green buildings ordinance.”

Sarni, W. (2019). Building a Sustainable and Resilient Urban Water Strategy. Solutions 10(1): 69–75. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/building-a-sustainable-and-resilient-urban-water-strategy

Feature

Building a Sustainable and Resilient Urban Water Strategy

by Will Sarni

In Brief

Will Sarni

Figure 1. Women fetching water as a daily routine.

C

urrently, approximately 4 billion people live in water-scarce and -stressed regions, with nearly 1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and almost 1 million deaths per year from water-borne diseases (Figure 1). The 2030 Water Resources Group projected1 that by 2030 the world faces a 40 percent “gap” between water supply and demand under business as usual practices (e.g., public policy and technology). In addition to water scarcity impacts, the world also faces the obstacles flooding poses to economic growth, business continuity, and social

well-being. For example, the Chennai flood in India in December 2015 was the worst flooding from rain storms in the last 100 years.2 Among a population of 7.6 million, hundreds of people were killed, millions were without safe drinking water, and business operations were severely disrupted.

Several global cities—from Johannesburg to Rio de Janeiro—are facing risks to their water supplies, and as a result are increasing their resiliency to changing hydrologic conditions. Research by CDP Water highlights the response of cities to these water risks, noting that the cities

Currently, an estimated 55 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas which is expected to increase to 68 percent by 2050. Projections show that urbanization, the gradual shift of the human population from rural to urban areas, combined with the overall growth of the world’s population could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas by 2050, with close to 90 percent of this increase taking place in Asia and Africa.20 As a result, a sustainable and resilient water strategy is needed for global cities to cope with increased demand for water and the impacts of climate change (e.g., scarcity and extreme weather events). Urban water strategies require innovation in public policy, technology, funding and financing and business models. In addition, a system thinking approach is needed which connects urban water management to watersheds, customers and other stakeholders to manage water to ensure economic development, business growth, ecosystem health and social well-being.

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 69

most concerned about their water supply are in Asia and Oceania (84 percent), with serious risks also identified in Africa (80 percent) and Latin America (75 percent). One hundred ninety-six cities reported the risks of water stress and scarcity (Figure 2), 132 reported a risk of declining water quality, and 103 reported a risk of flooding3 (Figure 3).

A recent study analyzed 70 surface water-supplied cities with populations exceeding 750,000 to determine the vulnerability of their water supplies—“the failure of an urban supply-basin to simultaneously meet demands from human, environmental, and agricultural users.”4 Using a 2010 baseline and a 2040 scenario analysis to reflect increased demand from urban population growth and projected agricultural demand under historically average climate conditions (the authors did not consider climate change, even though it can potentially exacerbate or reduce urban water supply vulnerability).

Their results indicate that, as of 2010, “36 percent of large cities are vulnerable as they compete for water with agricultural users.” The future brings more risks: The study found that by 2040, 44 percent of cities will be vulnerable due to increased agricultural and urban demands—unless they take additional measures. Of the vulnerable cities in 2040, the majority is river-supplied, with mean flows so low that the cities experience chronic water scarcity. In 2040, 13 of the 31 vulnerable cities would reduce their vulnerability by reallocating water to reduce environmental flows, and 15 would similarly benefit by transferring water from irrigated agriculture.

Even so, approximately half of these cities remain vulnerable under either potential remedy.

A 2016 report from the World Bank evaluated and presented the impacts from water scarcity on a regional and national scale.5 Among the conclusions:

Key Concepts • Currently, approximately 4 billion people live in water-scarce and -stressed regions, with nearly 1 billion people lacking access to safe drinking water and almost 1 million deaths per year from water-borne diseases.

• As of 2010 36 percent of large cities are vulnerable as they compete for water with agricultural users and that by 2040, 44 percent of cities will be vulnerable due to increased agricultural and urban demands — unless they take additional measures.

• Many global cities are coming to understand that innovative public policies and technologies are needed to become more sustainable and resilient when faced with the impacts of climate change and increasing demand for water. Couple these trends with other issues such as aging water infrastructure, and a long-term strategy to ensure access to water for potable and non-potable uses becomes critical.

• What is needed are innovative strategies in public policy and technologies to address these water challenges.

It is notable that cities are the most vulnerable to water challenges — and they are also leading the global response to these water risks by fostering innovation and collaboration with diverse stakeholders.

• The International Water Association (IWA) and others are focused on promoting the adoption of sustainable and resilient water strategies to meet their current and future water needs in response to water related risks (scarcity, flooding and poor quality).

These strategies include; regenerative water services, water sensitive urban design, basin connected cities and water-wise communities.

• Water scarcity, exacerbated by climate change, could cost some regions as much as 6 percent of their GDP, spur migration, and spark conflict.

• Growing populations, rising incomes, and expanding cities will combine to dramatically

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increase water demand, even as supply becomes more erratic and uncertain.

• Without urgent action, water will become scarce in regions where it is currently abundant—such as Central Africa and East Asia—and water scarcity will worsen where it is already in short supply, such as the Middle East and Africa’s Sahel.

• Food price spikes caused by droughts can inflame latent conflicts and drive migration.

Where economic growth is impacted by rainfall, episodes of droughts and floods have generated waves of migration and spikes in violence within countries.

What is now needed are innovative strategies in public policy and technologies to address these water challenges. It is notable that cities are the most vulnerable to water challenges—and they are also leading the global response to these water risks by fostering innovation and collaboration with diverse stakeholders.

Urban Strategies: Sustainability and Resiliency Many global cities are coming to understand that innovative public policies and technologies are needed to become more sustainable and resilient when faced with the impacts of climate change and increasing demand for water. Couple these trends with other issues such as aging water infrastructure, and a long-term strategy to ensure access to water for potable and non-potable uses becomes critical (Figure 4).

What are the water strategies being developed and implemented by cities to ensure long-term sustainability and resiliency? One approach is for cities to tap into the knowledge and resources of global water professional associations. For example, the International Water Association (IWA) has developed white paper outlining their Water Wise

Communities initiative.6 The IWA Principles assist public sector leaders in developing and implementing their vision for sustainable urban water, which includes equitable and universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The goal of these principles is to encourage collaborative action based on a shared vision, to enable local governments, urban professionals, and individuals actively engage in addressing and finding solutions for managing all waters of the city. The IWA has built their Principles around three paradigm shifts: 1. Resources Are Limited. More people living in metropolitan areas means water, energy and materials need to be used carefully, reused and renewed. The goal is to deliver universal access to safe drinking water and for other uses—more efficient and effective use of a gallon or liter of water.

2. The Growth of Cities Offers Can Bring Economic Growth and Threats to Liveability. More populated, denser cities will be required to provide more efficient services. Water is essential for the well-being of citizens, their safety, and social inclusion in cities.

3. City Planning Means Planning for an Uncertain Future.

Historical development trends are often not appropriate for planning future water systems, and climate change and population growth are uncertainties. By planning systems for greater modularity and fewer dependencies, cities can be better able to react to unforeseen trends and events.

The IWA has laid out four major levels of action that frame the 17 Principles; together, these four action levels offer a big-picture glimpse at methods for cities to craft solutions to meet their current and future water needs.

Will Sarni

Figure 2. River Rhine with low water, Cologne, Germany.

Will Sarni

Figure 3. Hurricane Sandy aftermath, Flooded Tunnel, West Street, Lower Manhattan, New York.

Will Sarni

Figure 4. Flint, Michigan Water Tower. www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 71

Regenerative Water Services

• Replenish water bodies and ecosystems • Reduce the amount of water and energy used • Reuse, recover, and recycle • Use a systemic approach integrated with other services • Increase the modularity of systems and ensure multiple options Water Sensitive urban Design

• Enable regenerative water services • Design urban spaces to reduce flood risks • Enhance liveability with visible water • Modify and adapt urban materials to minimize environmental impact Basin Connected Cities

• Plan to secure water resources and mitigate drought • Protect the quality of water resources • Prepare for extreme events Water-Wise Communities

• Empowered citizens • Professionals aware of water cobenefits • Transdisciplinary planning teams • Policy makers enabling water-wise action • Leaders that engage and engender trust The IWA Principles highlight the need for cities to be “basin connected.”

The connectivity of the city to its watershed is essential, but I believe it needs to go further than watershed connectivity.

Consider the connection of the water utility to other critical resource issues such as power and agriculture (watershed, powershed, and foodshed).

These three critical resource issues are inter-related (e.g., the energy–water– food nexus) with the water utility providing a critical role in ensuring economic development and business growth. While water utilities will not

Will Sarni

Figure 5. Representation of a smart home dashboard for energy and water.

always provide water for energy and agriculture production, these sectors increasingly compete for water and as a result will need to align strategies and actions to ensure adequate resources to support growth. The opportunity to integrate systems such as energy, water, and food is most apparent in urban environments where connectivity between resources is critical to ensure sustainability and resiliency when facing the impacts of climate change and increasing demand.

Joshua Foss, an entrepreneur and designer of regenerative systems, has laid out an approach he calls “urban systems integration,”7 which is centered around building and strengthening the interconnections between subsystems within a city to add value to the whole urban system.

It is nothing short of an attempt to “design out problems at the source and implement projects and programs that realize multiple goals with single, coordinated efforts.”

For Foss, integrating urban systems offers numerous benefits: 1. Far more effective resource management—waste from one part of the city can be used as a resource for another, creating a circular economy of resources

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2. An integrated infrastructural business model for urban systems creates far greater performance with less cost—doing better with less.

3. Integrated urban systems create the possibility for decentralizing and localizing resource production and management, strengthening a city’s agility, responsiveness, and resilience.

4. Integrating urban systems can also create better, more attractive neighborhoods. For instance, green infrastructure can manage stormwater, reduce air/noise/water pollution, and heat islands, while also creating more comfortable and attractive spaces.

How do cities connect to their watershed, foodshed, powershed, and their customers? It is clear that digital technologies are facilitating connectivity across their value chain (water supply, infrastructure, and customers). In a digital world there is an increasing expectation that services such as water will be seamlessly connected to customers (Figure 5). Digital water technologies such as remote sensing, drones, inexpensive sensors, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality/augmented reality (VR/

Will Sarni

Figure 6. Representation of a digital dashboard to measure crop performance and inputs.

AR) will vastly improve how we use water.8 (Figure 6). Those technologies will also facilitate innovation in more-traditional technology solutions such as water extraction (e.g., smart pumps) and treatment (e.g., real-time performance monitoring).

The transformation of the water sector will not only come from purely digital water solutions, but also through how digital solutions enable adoption of other innovative technologies in the area of material sciences (e.g., graphene).

Digital technologies will play a role in planning and redesigning resilient cities. Remote sensing technologies for flood prediction (e.g., Cloud to Street9) and comprehensive design tools for hydraulic modeling (e.g., Autodesk Storm and Sanitary Analysis10) are now available to manage stormwater runoff and flooding from extreme weather events. Also, microgrid strategies in the power sector are being adapted for urban water systems, which are also vulnerable to extreme weather events, resulting in significant impacts to clean water distribution, wastewater treatment, and stormwater management. Microgrids provide redundancy, fortify vulnerabilities, and can secure the resource supply chain.11

How Does this Translate to Colorado and Denver?

Water innovation is critically needed in public policy, technology, funding/financing, business models and partnerships. The state of Colorado has already laid the groundwork for an innovation strategy: The state’s first-ever Water Plan12 was launched through then-Governor John Hickenlooper’s May 2013 executive order (Figure 7). After two years, the state water plan was released, and it became a catalyst for stakeholders to explore innovative approaches to achieving the goals of the plan.

Among the most prominent elements of the state water plan: • Water rights are property rights— and property owners are free to respond to marketplace economics of the marketplace and to continue to work within the state’s local control structure.

• Every water conversation begins with conservation and must include water storage.

• Funding for water projects is critically important. The state will work with water users and stakeholders to ensure financing options are available for water projects, and will work to make the

best use of the portion of the state’s budget that is allocated for water resources.

• Support projects that achieve multiple benefits, including environmental, recreation, and water-compact compliance, and projects that creatively move water through various uses and through shared facilities.

• Front-load the state’s role in the permitting process to increase efficiency and effectiveness in water project permitting while properly mitigating negative environmental impacts.

• Strengthen water outreach, education, and public engagement to equip Coloradans with the necessary information to make informed water choices.

The Colorado State Water plan, coupled with the leadership of the City and County of Denver, are designed to create sustainable and resilient economic development, business growth and ecosystem and social well-being.

Denver’s 2020 Sustainability Goals, including goals for water quantity and water quality, create the roadmap for a sustainable city. The water goals include achieving full compliance with current and future permit requirements, reducing storm water outfall discharges, and making all Denver rivers and creeks “swimmable and fishable.” In addition, Denver has set water goals to reduce use of potable water for irrigation of parks and golf courses by 22 percent, reduce use of potable water in city buildings by 20 percent, reduce per capita use of potable water in Denver by 22 percent, and keep the rate of increase in absolute consumption of potable water below the rate of population increase.13 Denver Water, an entity separate from the city’s municipal government, is an integral stakeholder to ensure a sustainable and resilient water supply for a growing Front Range population. Denver Water’s

www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 73

Will Sarni

Figure 7. View of Denver, Colorado and the Rocky Mountains.

strategy is to drive conservation and water recycling. There are over a dozen water recycling programs in Colorado and Denver Water operates the largest recycled water system in the state, eventually aiming to free up enough drinking water to serve almost 43,000 households.

Perhaps most importantly Denver Water is working with Colorado State University to develop the National Western Water Innovation Center,14 a world-class center for water research, innovation and education.

The State and Denver have also become catalysts for water innovation beyond the planned Denver Water and CSU Center. In 2017, the state launched TAP-IN Colorado,15 a “reverse-pitch innovation challenge” that seeks to bring fresh voices and new approaches to the water conversation. By bringing end users in front of the state’s collective water

community to provide a “problem pitch,” TAP-IN puts a real face on the challenges Colorado faces in securing a sustainable water future. Challenges addressed as part of TAP-IN include water efficiency, natural resource conservation, and water quality.

In addition to state-led water initiatives, a number of additional notable projects are at work in Denver and Colorado: • 10.10.10, is a platform,16 launched in 2015 as a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center with support from the Walton and Gates Family Foundations, to tackle, through public education and engagement, the wicked problems that impact cities and people throughout the world. In October 2017, 10.10.10 unveiled its Cities (Water and Infrastructure) initiative.

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10.10.10, is a platform, launched in 2015. It operates as a project of the Colorado Nonprofit Development Center with support from The Colorado Health Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Walton and Gates Family Foundations, to tackle, through public education and engagement, the wicked problems that impact cities and people throughout the world. In October 2017, 10.10.10 unveiled its Cities (Water and Infrastructure) initiative 10.10.10’s programs have created eight new ventures, including Spout (formerly Microlyze), a revolutionary approach to crowdsourcing in-home water quality data in real-time. Spout’s founder, Ari Kaufman has raised USD$2 million and is working with major municipalities to pilot their Waterlyzer and identify the

location of potable water contamination, especially lead.

• The Techstars Sustainability Accelerator,17 created in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, in 2018 is bringing together the leaders of 10 companies working in water, waste, renewable energy, and more. The cohort will receive three months of mentorship from world-class scientists and subject-matter experts to help them innovate to make the world a better place to live.

WetDATA18 is a Water Data and Innovation Hub that seeks to support data-driven water decision making, provide access to relevant water data to everyone, identify water risks for businesses, NGOs, and the public sector, and incubate and accelerate innovative water technologies. By partnering with academic institutions, national research labs, the private sector, foundations, and governments, WetDATA aims to quicken the pace of water innovation.

Path Forward Business-as-usual practices will not be sufficient for the future due to the global population growth, changes in demand for water, energy, food, and urbanization.19 Cities are at the forefront of developing sustainable and resilient solutions to equitable access to water (along with food and energy).

and create business opportunities and economic development.

Denver and the State of Colorado are one of the leaders in identifying and scaling innovative solutions to 21st Century water challenges by engaging with public sector, private enterprises, non-governmental organizations and academic institutions.

Denver’s 2020 Sustainability Goals, including goals for water quantity and water quality, create the roadmap for a sustainable city.

These solutions require engagement of civil society, diverse stakeholder groups, and those from outside the water sector. Entrepreneurs with a fresh view of the “wicked problem” of water and their new ideas are essential to addressing 21st century water challenges. We need to be mindful that water challenges drive innovation

Acknowledgements Thank you to Deanna Schindler for the graphics and Cassidy White for editing. Also thank you to Tom Higley, Founder and CEO of 10.10.10 and Ari Kaufman, Founder and CEO of Spout for encouraging me to be part of the entrepreneurial community in Denver, Colorado.

References 1 2030 Water Resources Group [online] (2009). https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/ dotcom/client_service/sustainability/pdfs/

uploads/2016/08/IWA_Principles_Water_Wise_

12 State of Colorado [online] (2018).

Cities.pdf.

https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/cowaterplan/plan.

7 Foss, J. Why future cities will integrate urban

13 Denver Office of Sustainability [online].

charting%20our%20water%20future/charting_

systems. Medium [online] (July 20, 2018)

https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/

our_water_future_full_report_.ashx.

(https://medium.com/@joshua.foss/why-

denvergov/Portals/779/documents/2020Goals

2 Potarazu, S. Chennai floods a climate change wakeup call for world. CNN [online] (December 19, 2015) (https://www.cnn.com/2015/12/19/opinions/ potarazu-chennai-flooding/index.html).

3 CDP. US$9.5 billion city water projects open for investment. [online] (August 29, 2017) (https://www. cdp.net/en/articles/media/us95-billion-city-waterprojects-open-for-investment).

4 Padowski, JC & Gorelick, S. Global analysis of urban

future-cities-will-integrate-urban-systems-

Documents/OOS_2020%20Goals_Handout.pdf.

4ab7b2434580).

14 Denver Water [online] (2017).

8 Karmous-Edwards, G & Sarni, W. What is a

https://denverwatertap.org/2017/09/14/taking-

water utility in a digital world? Water Finance &

water-innovation-next-level-national-western/.

Management [online] (June 11, 2018)

15 TAP-IN Colorado [online] (2018). http://tapinco.org/.

(https://waterfm.com/water-utility-digital-world/).

16 10.10.10 [online] (2018). https://101010.net/about.

9 Cloud to Street [online] (2018).

17 Techstars [online] (2018). https://www.techstars.

http://www.cloudtostreet.info/.

com/sustainability-program/.

10 Autodesk [online] (2018). https://knowledge.

18 WetDATA [online] (2018). https://www.wetdata.org/.

surface water supply vulnerability. Environmental

autodesk.com/support/civil-3d/troubleshooting/

Research Letters [online] 9, 1-8 (2014) (https://dx.doi.

caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/Installation-

org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/10/104004).

Civil3D/files/GUID-A4080DA5-3C5C-47E3-9396-

5 The World Bank [online] (2016). http://www.

F42FD24DBF2C-htm.html.

19 Sarni, W. Deflecting the scarcity trajectory: Innovation at the water, energy, and food nexus.

Deloitte University Press (July 27, 2015).

20 United Nations. 68% of the world population

worldbank.org/en/topic/water/publication/high-

11 Falco, GJ & Webb, R Wm. Water microgrids: The

and-dry-climate-change-water-and-the-economy.

future of water infrastructure resilience. Procedia

UN. [online] (May 2018) (https://www.un.org/

Engineering [online] 118, 50–57 (2015)

development/desa/en/news/population/2018-

(https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2015.08.403).

revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html).

6 International Water Association [online] (2016). http://www.iwa-network.org/wp-content/

projected to live in urban areas by 2050, says

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Higley, T. (2019). Entrepreneurs and Wicked Problems. Solutions 10(1): 76–82. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/entrepreneurs-and-wicked-problems

Feature

Entrepreneurs and Wicked Problems

by Tom Higley

In Brief

Copyright – 10.10.10, used with permission

Some of the 10.10.10 2017 Water CEOs share a laugh

“

T

om, I hate you.”

These were Eric Marcoullier’s words to me on day three of our second ever 10.10.10 program—a 10 day program that brings 10 successful serial entrepreneurs together for 10 days to explore market-based solutions to wicked problems. We call these successful serial entrepreneurs “prospective CEOs” because although they’ve founded companies in the past, they aren’t currently CEOs of a company. They participate in 10.10.10 because they plan—at some point in the next 12 months— to start a new venture. And we want to help and inspire them to do just that. The organizations I have created in the past four years—10.10.10 and X Genesis—are focused on these two things: (1) helping successful

serial entrepreneurs find “founder opportunity fit” so they will make better decisions about what they do with the next chapter of their lives; and (2) turning entrepreneurs’ and investors’ attention and investment toward the opportunities disguised as wicked problems—in health, water, food, energy, learning, infrastructure, waste, security and climate. That’s how Eric and I came to be speaking with each other at this particular moment.

Eric was one of 10 prospective CEOs I’d invited to participate in the program, and he wanted me to understand what he was feeling.

He wasn’t feeling good.

Some months before this, Eric had approached me seeking an invitation to the upcoming program. Eric is a friend.

76 | Solutions | January 2019 | www.thesolutionsjournal.com

Over the course of the last five years, 10.10.10 has been exploring an entirely new approach to creating systemic change in systems like health, food, water, energy, learning, infrastructure, waste, security and climate.

Five cohorts—including 50 entrepreneurs, large organizations and institutions and hundreds of volunteers—have given 10 days of their lives to learn about wicked problems and explore the possibility that new solutions and new ventures could be created to address these problems. Eight new ventures have been created and more are on the way. One of these ventures, created by a prospective CEO in the first program, uses blockchain to connect individuals, organizations and services and deliver health data securely.

Another, created by a woman with a strong technology background but little experience in health, has raised nearly USD$6 million to deliver better, more effective and lower cost health benefits to smaller self-insured employers. A third has attacked the water quality problem that nearly destroyed Flint Michigan, winning four pitch competitions and raising more than USD$1.5 million to deliver the first on-demand, from the source testing device that provides real results in real-time about water that is consumed in the home. So far, so good.

Like me, he is an entrepreneur with a lot of experience, with substantial successes and a few failures. (But just between you and me, even Eric’s failures look more like successes than what passes for success with some entrepreneurs.) Since Eric is an amazing entrepreneur, I was quite happy to make sure he had one of the very first prospective CEO slots in the program.

Along with the other 9 prospective CEOs, the room was filled with Validators, Ninjas, problem advocates and 10.10.10 staff. Groups, organizations, institutions, and individuals had all come together to learn about wicked problems in health and to explore the potential for creating new ventures that would address these problems.

But here we were, 3 days into the program, and Eric was telling me he wasn’t happy.

I asked him to elaborate.

“First,” he said, “I don’t like the way people in healthcare talk about people, about human beings. “‘Lives under management???’ Are you kidding me?”

OK, I said. Is there more?

“Yes,” he said. “My whole career I’ve been at the leading edge of what’s happening. I love new technology. I love learning about it. I dig in so deep and learn so much that I tend to be way out ahead of things. I may fail. I often fail. But even if I fail at first, I’ll eventually find something or figure something out. I’ll eventually build something that’s really valuable. And here’s the thing. If I do that in an established sector, like healthcare, nearly all the benefit from what I discover or create will flow to the established organization. But if I do that in a typical tech startup, a lot of the benefit flows to me.”

I told him I understood, and I offered a suggestion. Even if he couldn’t find the thing he was looking for, perhaps he could offer help to one or more of the other prospective CEOs in the program.

By anyone’s reckoning, Eric has been a successful serial

entrepreneur. He started multiple ventures. His first serious venture culminated in an IPO, an initial public offering of stock. His second effort was acquired by Yahoo! A third venture he founded was purchased by Twitter.

I wanted Eric to find his next big thing through 10.10.10. But so far at least that was not happening.

living space transformed! More amazing still: within the space was a virtual companion. And she spoke! “Hi Eric, what would you like to do today?”

Eric, “Um, I don’t know.”

Virtual Companion, “Would you like to look at some pictures?”

Eric, “Sure, that sounds great!”

Virtual Companion, “Do you recognize these photos?

Eric, “Yes! Those are my kids!”

And with that little virtual reality presentation, Eric blew everyone away.

A week earlier, he had nothing. But at that moment, during that presentation, he showed us the promise of a future that was better than the present, a way to deliver powerful support for an aging population in a way most people hadn’t even begun to think about.

What has any of this to do with sustainable solutions? Quite a bit.

Key Concepts • Wicked Problems arise and persist within complex adaptive systems • Entrepreneurs and investors can be inspired and persuaded to tackle these wicked problems in ways that deliver both return on investment and impact • Learning how to generate lasting and positive change in the face of systemdriven resistance is the challenge of our time

A Sense of Purpose. Since 2014, I

• 10.10.10, which got its start in the city of Denver, has been exploring a new approach to systems and wicked problems that harnesses the experience, skill and commitment of successful entrepreneurs

On day four, Eric came up to me, obviously excited. He’d figured out what he wanted to do. We talked over the details of his upcoming talk at the grand finale. And on the last day of the 10 day program, he stood in front of an audience of 500 people. His presentation began with a single image—a bleak looking assisted living facility.

“How many of you know someone, a person you care about, someone over the age of sixty-five that you think might one day be living a lonely, isolated life in a place like this?” Eric looked out on a sea of 500 people, and nearly every hand was raised. “Okay, I guess I have a market. So, I want to show you something.” He then put on VR goggles. We saw the bleak assisted

have been working with extraordinary groups, organizations, institutions and individuals to explore sustainable, market-based solutions to wicked problems in health, water, and infrastructure.1 I don’t claim here (or elsewhere) that all wicked problems can or should be addressed via market-based solutions. I am not persuaded that this is true. I do, however, offer an ambitious claim: some wicked problems (perhaps many) can and should be addressed through market-based and supported solutions. And the catalyst for many of these market-based solutions will be found through the work of capable entrepreneurs who are supported by private investors.

10.10.10’s model is unique.2 It is based on the following seven assertions: • Many of the world’s problems are “wicked problems” • Wicked problems live in complex adaptive systems • Governments and large industry won’t address wicked problems

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Copyright – 10.10.10, used with permission

Presentation at a 10.10.10 finale

• Listening and learning; leveraging and launching are key parts of the process • Entrepreneurs can and will create the new ventures we need to address wicked problems • Investors will support these new ventures because they generate both ROI and impact • The world will be better off

Wicked Problems. Our well-being as

humans depends on many things, and our survival as a species is far from guaranteed. When vulnerabilities and problems arise, as they often do, in the context of complex adaptive systems, we call these problems “wicked problems.” This isn’t a New England colloquialism. It’s a term for a specific kind of problem first outlined by Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber 45 years

ago in a seminal paper, “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning” (Dilemmas).3 In Rittel and Webber’s construct, wicked problems are materially different than “tame” problems.

Tame problems lend themselves to the kinds of solutions that science and engineering routinely produce.

Wicked problems are beasts of an altogether different nature and can be described by ten characteristics.

1. There is no definitive formation of a wicked problem.

2. Wicked problems have no stopping rule.

3. Solutions to wicked problems are not true or false, but good or bad.

4. There is no immediate and no ultimate test of a solution to a wicked problem.

5. Every solution to a wicked problem is a “one-shot operation;” because

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there is no opportunity to learn by trial and error, every attempt counts significantly.

6. Wicked problems do not have an enumerable (or an exhaustively describable) set of potential solutions, nor is there a welldescribed set of permissible operations that may be incorporated into the plan.

7. Every wicked problem is essentially unique.

8. Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem.

9. The existence of a discrepancy representing a wicked problem can be explained in numerous ways. The choice of explanation determines the nature of the problem’s resolution.

10. The planner has no right to be wrong.4

Copyright – 10.10.10, used with permission

Left: CEOs from the 2017 10.10.10 Health progam. Right: CEOs from the 2017 10.10.10 Water program.

These elements articulated in Dilemmas are no less important or relevant today. But how do wicked problems arise, and how might they be dispelled or addressed? This is what we set out to explore.

We quickly learned two things: (1) wicked problems are abundant and are substantial in size; (2) these problems tend to arise within and be locked in place by complex adaptive systems. Dilemmas does not explicitly address complex adaptive systems. And yet . . . every aspect of Rittel and Webber’s discussion about what distinguishes a wicked problem from a tame problem has to do, fundamentally, with complexity and with complex systems. Often, though not always, the complexity they describe can be traced to humans. Much of the complexity is social and political—it involves human conditions and the interactions between and among individuals and groups or even “groups of groups.” It arises through the diversity of human experiences and perspectives. And it gives rise to problems that will not easily be put to rest. Wicked problems.

Donella H. (“Dana”) Meadows wrote one of the best and most accessible introductions to systems and thinking5 and also helped explore many of the challenges we face as we attempt to generate lasting change. Complex systems can be maddeningly counterintuitive. “The systems analysts I know have come up with no quick or easy formulas for finding leverage points.” She adds, “We know from bitter experience that when we do discover the system’s leverage points, hardly anybody will believe us.”

Dana’s original list of the ideal points to intervene in a system:6

Complex Adaptive Systems. To deal

Lasting change is rarely generated by an intervention that focuses on the products of a system—e.g., feedback loops, material stocks and

with wicked problems, we need to begin to understand something about the systems within which they arise.

1. The mindset or paradigm out of which the goals, rules, feedback structure arise.

2. The goals of the system.

3. The power of self-organization.

4. The rules of the system (incentives, punishments, constraints).

5. Information flows.

6. Driving positive feedback loops.

7. Regulating negative feedback loops.

8. Material stocks and flows.

9. Numbers (subsidies, taxes, standards)

flows, numbers, etc. Instead, powerful change, change that creates a viable and sustainable alternative to the established system mindset or paradigm or to the system’s goals, needs to be focused on those goals—on the purpose that makes the system tick or the mindset or paradigm that gave rise to that purpose.

Part of what makes this so difficult is the nature of the system itself. The true goals of a system often prove to be quite different than those goals articulated by the players within that system. Instead of listening to what the actors within the system say about the system’s goals, we’ve learned instead that we need to map a system to see what it actually does.7 What a system does, what it produces or generates, is the best available guide to the system’s goals or purpose.8 And how do you change the goals of a system? During the past five years, numerous articles in Stanford Social Innovation Review have explored systems thinking and system change.9 But to date many of our wicked problems have been left to governments, public institutions, nonprofit organizations and NGOs. And there are good reasons for this.

Implementing solutions to wicked problems requires long-term perspectives and cooperation across and

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among multiple stakeholders who may well have wildly divergent ideas about the problem, the best approach to devising and implementing a solution, who should participate in the conversation, and what outcomes are desirable. The process is very often political—with winners and losers.

Who Gets to Decide? When a

particular problem seems to require an exercise of power—e.g., a change in policy, law or regulation—the need for governmental authority and enforcement can favor public sector approaches over private sector alternatives. A compelling argument supporting this approach decries the rising power of wealthy elites to dictate the terms of our collective future promising change but working to protect their and preserve their own interests while resisting any attempts at systemic change.10 Unfortunately, an attempt to move these resolutions to the public sphere suffer from two major problems. First, deep political divisions in the United States and in many countries around the world have undermined the degree to which public deliberation and discourse can be expected to produce meaningful change. Second, within the United States, the tax base has been so decimated as to make it an unlikely source of the financial means to address truly wicked problems. This represents its own wicked problem.

And unfortunate though it may be, it is our current reality.11 Entrepreneurs Find the Keys. We

explore the interconnections between complex adaptive systems and wicked problems. We do this, in part, by engaging communities of expertise and interest. But the real magic that helps turn wicked problems into opportunity is supplied by successful serial entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs are uniquely equipped to discover the keys that will unlock sustainable solutions to wicked problems. They

remain a largely untapped resource that can help cities throughout the U.S. and around the world begin to intervene in complex adaptive systems to deliver powerful and sustainable solutions.

This isn’t easy. Each of these entrepreneurs has to begin to listen and learn in ways that stretch them far beyond their comfort zones. They are outsiders. They often know very little about the system. Their expedited learning process is supported by the small army we convene for each of these programs. With the support of stakeholders, organizations and institutions, we identify the wicked problems and secure commitments from validators (sector and subject matter experts) and ninjas/sprinters (the ad hoc startup teams that will help the entrepreneurs explore both problems and solutions). But it is the entrepreneurs themselves that must lead—using our processes or processes they have developed themselves.

They must decide whether one of the problems, and one of the solutions they uncover, can form the basis for a new venture.

BurstIQ was the very first venture created by an entrepreneur participating in the program. Frank Ricotta wanted to explore ways to use blockchain to connect people, organizations and services while delivering health data securely. Apostrophe Health followed not long after when Cheryl Kellond realized she could create a solution that would help smaller employers deliver health benefits more efficiently and at a substantial reduction in cost. The year after that Concert Health was formed to help physicians offer an integrated mental and behavioral health solution. Since we hosted our first program in 2015, we’ve supported 5 cohorts—50 entrepreneurs in all—who planned to start new ventures at some point in the next 12 months. To date eight ventures have been formed and as many as five more are in process.

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Entrepreneurs and Investors. In

October 2017 the 10.10.10 Cities program focused on Water & Infrastructure. Two new ventures have since been formed from that cohort.

Each of them has moved forward at speed to explore an opportunity that began as a wicked problem. In 2016, Eric Marcoullier explored the wicked problem of an aging and isolated population. In 2017, Ari Kaufman turned his attention to water—to “Flint Michigan” sized wicked problems.

Taking the stage in front of hundreds of people, the serial entrepreneur Ari Kaufman talked about his experience in the program. “I didn’t come here with a team, with an idea, or with capital. Yet in the past 10 days, with the team 10.10.10 provided, we talked to 51 people in 25 organizations. We did 71 meetings and phone calls. We spent a combined 479 hours in just 10 days. And I want to show you this.”

Ari, an entrepreneur who had started six previous ventures, who had focused most of his entrepreneurial life in marketing and advertising, held his phone aloft so the audience could see it. He slapped a plastic sleeve on the bottom of his phone. He placed a drop of water in a button on the plastic sleeve. The audience watched, amazed, as the huge screen behind Ari showed a 10 foot high image of his phone simulating real-time analysis of the drop of water—lead levels, toxins and more. “With this, we can make sure we never see another Flint, Michigan.”

To date, Ari has won four pitch competitions including Imagine H2O’s Urban Water Challenge. He’s raised more than USD$1.5mm from some very excited investors.

Flint’s water crisis gained national and worldwide attention because an entire city—a once vibrant illustration of manufacturing and technology success—became a nightmare. A friend from Flint Michigan who visited the city after the water crisis wondered aloud to me: “I wonder if they should

just shut the city down.” Think about this. Imagine shutting down what was once a highly successful city because it no can no longer address a fundamental problem related to the way its citizens survive and thrive. As cities throughout the world come to terms with extraordinary growth, they leverage important benefits of scale,12 but they must also be prepared to address problems at a scale never before seen in the history of the world.

This is why “systems” and “systems of systems” have become such a hot topic,13 why complexity and complex adaptive systems have become the life’s mission of a small army of academics.14 Much of the growing interest in systems is based on an increasing conviction that complex adaptive systems explain the existence and persistence of our wicked problems.15 We want to understand these systems because we have begun to understand the scope and significance of our wicked problems.16 The world’s wicked problems have the potential to turn once thriving cities into modern ruins. The scale of the challenges we face are nearly beyond comprehension: The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) says achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will take between USD$5 to $7 trillion, with an investment gap in developing countries of about USD$2.5 trillion.17 And the level of impact goes beyond cities. In her 2017 Doughnut Economics, Kate Raworth proposes a new way of thinking about our national and international economic objectives. The dominant economic model sees growth as the solution to nearly all our problems. But as Kate points out, the problems we must address take two forms. The first concerns itself with the social foundation. Wicked problems related

Copyright – 10.10.10, used with permission

CEO Ari Kaufman presents a simulation of real time water testing device he created during the 10.10.10 2017 Water program, showing lead levels, chlorine, nitrate, bacteria and other toxins.

to the social foundation can be found in areas like:

• Climate Change • Ocean Acidification • Chemical Pollution • Nitrogen and Phosphorous Loading • Freshwater Withdrawals • Land Conversion • Biodiversity Loss • Air Pollution • Ozone Layer Depletion

• Energy • Water • Food • Health • Education • Income and Work • Peace and Justice • Political Voice • Social Equity • Gender Equity • Housing • Networks And you might think that this is enough. If we were able to address all of these problems, life for everyone would be very good indeed or at least very much better than it is today.

Perhaps. But there is another dimension that cannot be ignored. Kate associates this other dimension with an ecological ceiling, and the ceiling represents a set of limits beyond which the earth can no longer provide homo sapiens and other species with the necessary means to sustain and support life. Wicked problems in this dimension include:

Complex adaptive systems work in remarkable, visible and invisible ways to support the system itself and its goals. Wicked problems are pain points that arise in the experience of people, groups and regions as the system does the things it does to accomplish its goals. If efforts to address a wicked problem become a threat to the system, the system will operate in remarkable, visible and invisible ways to eliminate the threat.

Can actors within the system be persuaded to address the wicked problem? Not if their success and survival depends on the system and its support.

This helps explain why successful entrepreneurs have the potential to be valuable in generating solutions to wicked problems. They are often able to operate with a measure of

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nemesis Jane Jacobs were “planners” in the Rittel and Webber use of that term. A Tale of Two Planners: Jane Jacobs vs. Robert Moses” | National Trust for Historic Preservation (April 14, 2016).

Entrepreneurs are also “planners,” when they deal with wicked problems. In this context, they (like other planners) “have no right to be wrong.”

5. Meadows, D H. Thinking in Systems: A Primer (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2008) 6. Meadows, D H Places to Intervene in a System.

(Whole Earth, Winter 1997).

7. Omidyar Group, Systems Practice (a Workbook).

8. What, for example, is the goal of the U.S. healthcare system? How would you make this determination?

Similarly, what is the goal of the U.S. education system? And what goal governs each of the systems that provide us with water, food, and energy?

9. C. Seelos & Johanna Mair, Mastering System Change. Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fall 2018.

10. Giridharadas, A. Winners Take All: The Elite

Copyright – 10.10.10, used with permission

Lizelle Van Vuuren and Frank Ricotta, two prospective CEOs from the very first 2015 10.10.10 Health program: Lizelle is founder and CEO of Women Who Startup. Frank is founder and CEO of BurstIQ.

Charade of Changing the World (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2018).

11. William Gibson famously noted “the future is already here – it’s just not evenly distributed.”

“The future is already here – it’s just not evenly

independence, free of the influence of the causal loops and rules (incentives, punishments and constraints) of the system. Further, initial financial support may come from private investment that is, itself, free of system constraints.

10.10.10 challenges entrepreneurs that participate in its programs to do extraordinary things, to focus the next chapter of their lives on a particular wicked problem that has been locked in place by a complex adaptive system.

Because we take steps to ensure that each cohort of prospective CEOs is diverse across multiple dimensions,18 we also expect our entrepreneurs to approach each problem with a beginners mind—as outsiders and novices, eager to learn. We want them to develop an understanding of the problem that will shine new light on what has long seemed too inscrutable and intractable to justify interest from entrepreneurs and investors. We are, in effect, staging two interventions: we are hacking systems; and we are also hacking entrepreneurship. Taken together, these hacks represent one way to generate new ventures that in

turn create surpassing and sustainable value in the world. What begins with a set of wicked problems and a group of entrepreneurs who have the capacity and tenacity to tackle them is ultimately about aiming the value generated by entrepreneurs and investors at challenges and opportunities we all care deeply about.

Incidentally, Eric doesn’t hate me anymore. At least, I don’t think he does. I’ll ask him when he drops by later this evening.

distributed. The Economist, December 4, 2003” The distribution of wicked problems is similarly uneven. They frequently generate adverse impacts for individuals, groups and even regions that lack economic and political power.

12. West, G. Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability, and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies, and Companies (Penguin Books, 2017) 13. C. Seelos & Johanna Mair, Mastering System Change. Stanford Social Innovation Review, (Fall 2018).

14. Including Edward Lorenz (father of chaos theory and the “butterfly effect”), Jay Forrester, Russell Ackoff, Murray Gell-mann, John H. Miller, Scott E. Page, and Geoffrey West.

15. In order to effectively address pressing societal

References

issues such as climate change, social inequality,

1. My use of “sustainable” and “market-based” in

unemployment, and ecological degradation,

the same sentence may give some readers pause. I

scholars and managers can benefit from an

do not insist that all solutions and approaches to

enhanced understanding of the dynamic

wicked problems that are sustainable must be – or

interactions within and across interconnected

even should be – market-based. But some can and

systems (Whiteman et al., 2013). Systems Thinking:

should be.

A Review of Sustainability Management Research.

2. As far as we know. While there are startup studios and incubators that focus on what we call “the left side of the bowtie” – the time before a new venture is actually formed – we place our focus on the journey entrepreneurs must undertake as they decide what they will do next. We help them

Gail Whiteman (2017).

16. Cabrera D and Cabrera L. Systems Thinking Made Simple: New Hope for Solving Wicked Problems (Odyssean Press, 2015).

17. Niculescu, M “Impact investment to close the

through their unique due diligence process as they

SDG funding gap” (United Nations Development

seek to find “founder opportunity fit.”

Program, July 13, 2017) http://www.undp.org/

3. Rittel, H W J and Webber, M M Policy Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 2 (Jun., 1973), pp. 155-169 4. Rittel & Webber wrote in the context of “planning”

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Amanda Williams, Felix Philipp, Steve Kennedy,

and “planners.” Both Robert Moses and his

content/undp/en/home/blog/2017/7/13/What-kindof-blender-do-we-need-to-finance-the-SDGs-.html 18. Including, among other factors, geography, gender, race, ethnicity, perspective and industry experience.

Armstrong, M. (2019). Review of “Life After Carbon” by Pete Plastrik and John Cleveland. Solutions 10(1): 83–84. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/review-of-life-after-carbon-by-pete-plastrik-and-john-cleveland

Reviews Book Review

Book Review

by Michael Armstrong, City Scale REVIEWING Life After Carbon

by Pete Plastrik and John Cleveland

L

ife After Carbon opens with Dean Stewart, an aboriginal guide, leading a tour along the Yarra River in the center of Melbourne, Australia.

Stewart is instructing a group of urban sustainability professionals to walk as if they are “many people with a single footprint,” elegantly summarizing the potential efficiencies of urban systems. But Stewart goes further, noting that for millennia people have drawn together to trade information, stories, goods, and services, and these same forces are the foundation of cities today.

Stewart’s observations articulate the core premise of Life After Carbon: Cities present tremendous opportunities to apply the collective ingenuity, efficiency, and adaptive capacities of city dwellers and urban systems to the monumental challenges of climate change. As daily headlines juxtapose dramatic climate impacts with perilous policy decisions, authors Pete Plastrik and John Cleveland, keen observers of the past decade of urban climate initiatives, deliver an optimistic guide to where, how and why mayors and dedicated civil servants are determinedly applying Stewart’s wisdom.

Life After Carbon is a “projection of possibilities grounded in what is already happening.” To draw this trajectory, Plastrik and Cleveland locate current climate action in the arc of cities through history, providing a concise review of the forces shaping cities,

from the specific (e.g., automobiles) to the general (e.g., consumerism). Their familiarity with the successes and challenges facing cities makes for a rich narrative of anecdotes and lessons from the experiments that cities are conducting as they address climate change.

Plastrik and Cleveland bring deep experience in public policy and private-sector economic and community development. In recent years their insights into networks of people and organizations have informed, among other things, the development of several influential local government practitioner networks, including the Urban Sustainability Directors Network and the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance. (Full disclosure: The Innovation Network of Communities, the organization for which Cleveland and Plastrik serve as President and Vice President, serves as the fiscal agent for City Scale.)

Plastrik and Cleveland organize Life After Carbon around four concepts that characterize the transformational potential of 21st-century cities. First, building on Richard Florida’s thesis that the global economy is now powered by the innovation, diversity, and proximity that cities foster, they explore the notion that a transition to clean energy presents unparalleled economic opportunity. Second, they illustrate the potential resource efficiencies inherent in dense networks of buildings and transportation systems.

Life After Carbon by Pete Plastrik and John Cleveland

Third, they show how leading cities are integrating natural systems into the urban fabric. Last, they examine the adaptive capacity of city dwellers.

Critically, these concepts are central not just to responding to climate change but to delivering on the potential that draws people to cities in the first place. Fundamentally, Plastrik and Cleveland are exploring what makes cities desirable and successful in the long run. Solving climate change is an essential element of this success, but Plastrik and Cleveland underscore that cities will need to “recast the purpose of their climate efforts into the broader goals of creating a better city.”

Within this framework Plastrik and Cleveland detail dozens of examples of city innovation: Singapore’s recognition that, where it once viewed itself as a city of gardens, it is in fact “a city within a garden”; the revitalization of Mexico City’s historic Zócalo district through the siting of a bus rapid transit station; Oslo’s move to eliminate

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Fox, M-J. (2019). Review of “A Finer Future” by Wijkman, Lovins, Fullerton and Wallis. Solutions 10(1): 84–85. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/review-of-a-finer-future-by-wijkman-lovins-fullerton-and-wallis

Reviews Book Review vehicles from its center city; Boston’s engagement of 30 powerful institutions to establish and implement a climate action plan that spans public policy and private investment.

Many of these initiatives are in the early stages. They are pilots, plans, and programs that are signaling ambition and generating the kind of information that can only be gained by trying Plastrik and Cleveland highlight the experimentation that characterizes these cities’ work: Test, evaluate, report, revise.

Life After Carbon arrives at an auspicious time. With national governments in the United States, Australia, and even in Europe undermining the transition away from fossil fuels, local leaders around the world are championing climate action more assertively than ever. Cities have key roles to play both through their own authorities over land use, transportation systems,

housing, and commercial buildings, and perhaps still more so as the level of government closest to the community.

Mayors tend to be pragmatists; their staff are well grounded in constituent priorities; and local government is typically the least partisan level of government. At the same time, cities are asking themselves if their actions can deliver on these pledges: Can cities reinvent transportation systems, transform markets for energy-using products, and influence energy supply decisions with the speed and scale that is required? Life After Carbon suggests that they can.

Plastrik and Cleveland masterfully organize and structure their observations. Life After Carbon is a highly readable tour of committed civil servants advancing ambitious work in a range of contexts. It is an important detail that, for all of the focus in this book on cities and local government,

Plastrik and Cleveland are clear-eyed that life after carbon will require all of this and much more: “Cities cannot complete the journey by themselves.”

Life After Carbon recognizes and celebrates that urban climate innovation is not the product of government alone—it requires community, business, and professionals of many disciplines. In the realm of local government, success on climate demands engagement not just from prosperous coastal cities, but from smaller communities, culturally conservative regions, and suburbs that can work together at the metropolitan scale, with their utilities, and in coordination with states. Within the larger landscape of action that is urgently needed to address climate change, Life After Carbon aims its spotlight on heartening examples from cities around the world, illuminating innovations and teeing up the hard work ahead.

Book Review

by Mairi-Jane Fox REVIEWING A Finer Future

by L. Hunter Lovins, Stewart Wallis, Anders Wijkman, and John Fullerton

A

ccording to the opening line in A Finer Future, “This book is a warning.” Subtitled creating an economy in service to life, this book is also an expansive vision-giver. What distinguishes A Finer Future from many other books in this field, in my view, is its devotion to providing a powerful, actionable, constructive alternative story to the current fearfocused, anti-neoliberal battle cry so many ardent activists share in attempt

to rally environmental action. It is a book that asks us to source from real-world possibilities, rather than desperation and panic. To that end, the book is designed as a guide for those who urgently desire to spur environmental and social justice action towards a regenerative world through the power of storytelling. It also provides in depth discussion of current and possible regenerative initiatives within finance, corporations,

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A Finer Future by L. Hunter Lovins, Stewart Wallis, Anders Wijkman, and John Fullerton

Reviews Book Review agriculture, and energy. A strength of this books is the focus on hopeful actions currently happening—not only possibilities or theoretical solutions. Readers of this journal will enjoy that the book is primary focused on solutions primarily—only one of five sections of the book recounts the problems we, as solution-seekers, likely already see while the remainder of the text endeavors to deal with solutions. And while some of the problem-focused section is rich in data and research about the intensity of the environmental and social challenges we face (deeply rooted in citations), the primary problem highlighted and then tackled in the remainder of the book in the need for a new, compelling narrative to catalyze system change— the highest leverage point for change, a new paradigm for what is possible.

The book is laid out in five sections.

Sections one and two focus on the why and how of “buying time” while the remaining three sections offer ways to redesign “how we make and deliver everything.” All three chapters in Section 1 provide the foundation of the book by illustrating the problems we need to address to move towards a more regenerative future and avoid collapse. Rather than purely bombarding the reader with dooming statistics, the authors take a refreshing tact of inviting the reader to imagine living in a future where many of the impending problems have been solved, thusly demonstrating the power of story.

The authors claim, “in the absence of positive vision, voices of fear fill the vacuum.” The vision provided is rooted in the authors’ detailed explanation of a regenerative economy—they do not assume the readers have any background on this topic.

Section two is a short section detailing specific methods and frameworks

for “buying time” through relatively low-hanging fruit including addressing material flows through a circular economy (again no prior knowledge assumed) and through both building and vehicle energy efficiency. The bulk of of the solutions in the book are found in Sections four and five titled “Transformation” and “Systems Change” respectively. The chapters in the “transformation” section focus on finance, corporations, agriculture, and solar power with the emphasis that change is currently underway in these arenas. These chapters are densely packed with hope and examples; and they are rich with actionable ideas and fodder for a future that looks very different than the present. (Though notably, in the view of this reviewer, the disruption of crypto-currency was not covered in the finance section.)

Ideally, actors in each of these arenas would read their corresponding chapter and find inspiration to make changes. Section four houses fewer examples of mini-revolutionary actions in specific sectors and moves towards examples of “feasible” possibilities for system change through governance actions and policies that the authors claim “have been or are being implemented somewhere on Earth.” The section is a catch-all for many critical topics. In it the authors discuss the imperative of alleviating inequality within and between countries, touch on the topic of how the nature of work will likely evolve as the economy changes, suggest a need for alternative measures of societal success other than growing GDP, call for a global values shift, and offer solutions for broken political systems. It reads as a mini-book on the subjects, concluding with a strong and specific call for action through a catalogue of possible personal behaviors. The final section

of the book titled “A Finer Future is Possible” circles back to the necessity of a compelling vision of the future. In this shortest section in the book, the authors chose to give copious space to futurist Alex Steffen’s speech at the The Nature Conservancy’s 2015 annual trustee meeting which opens with “We meet to speak of great ancestors.” Mirror the imagining of a future provided in the first section of the book where “the tide was turned,” the excerpt of the speech is goose-bump inducing and deeply compelling. If you read nothing else in the book, read section 5.

The entire book is infused with the authors’ lively, engaging, and bold tone. Based on this tone, it is likely that the authors would be captivating speakers on the topic! While readers who already agree with the authors may feel enlivened by the occasional brashness of the authors (one example is the out-of-the-blue reference to “America’s Child in Chief”), other readers may be turned off or simply disappointed by such language. Is there a place for name calling or villainizing in a regenerative world?

Perhaps the book intends to simply preach to and catalyze the choir, but in doing so it may miss opportunities to recruit new regenerative chorus singers. Contradictorily, the authors also make attempts to drop the villain narrative and be more inclusive by finding fault in “the system we have designed” rather than in “greedy capitalists.” They even claim “This is neither a left wing nor right wing exercise,” but this reviewer is not certain that a person that leans right would find themselves welcome while reading the book. But to be fair, this may not be the purpose of the book!

Rather than changing attitudes, the goal of this book may be to spur action

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Gordon, W. (2019). PIPs Rewards: Valuing the Good You Do Every Day. Solutions 10(1): 86–87. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/pips-rewards-valuing-the-good-you-do-every-day

Reviews Book Review in those with attitudes similar to the authors. One the topic of inclusivity, it was significant to this reviewer that with a few exceptions a vast majority of the thinkers highlighted in the quotes that framed each section and each chapter were men (mostly white men). Along this line, readers interested in the gender dimensions of a transition to a “finer future” should not come to this text for ideas or encouragement. Another possible concern about the book is that despite

offering examples of solutions from diverse geographical locations, is still reads as EU and particularly US centric. It is clear that an effort was made to be global, but still the bulk of the examples in the book come from the US. Despite this short coming, the authors do highlight solutions a various geographical scales including global, national, regional, municipal, the individual level.

Ultimately, A Finer Future is a confident, accessible, visionary call

for a better story of the future. Pulling on many important voices in the field of sustainability and regeneration, the authors provide a detailed and animated vision that ought to be widely heard. The authors fulfil the call from Pete Seeger mentioned in the book that “The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known.” A Finer Future delivers a compendium of these hopeful stories leaving readers catalyzed to take action.

Media Review PIPs Rewards: Valuing the Good You Do Every Day

by Wendy Gordon

I

magine earning points for the good you do everyday, then turning those points into great deals on healthy, organic and local food or to pay school expenses. That’s what’s possible with PIPs Rewards, a new mobile engagement platform with its own currency of good—‘Positive Impact Points’ or PIPs. Created by 3P Partners, Inc, a Certified B Corp, the PIPs Rewards App provides its customers (institutions such as universities, municipalities and businesses) a light, low-friction tool with which to verify, reward and reinforce positive impact behaviors among students and staff.

PIPs can be earned for a wide variety of daily life behaviors including but not limited to: riding the bus, biking, bike sharing, recycling, refilling water bottles, shopping responsibly, joining in a fitness class, completing mindfulness activities, attending a cultural event, volunteering, and participating in a group game. Once earned, PIPs

can be converted into valued rewards: great deals on local and organic food; healthy personal care products; responsibly made clothing and gear; fitness classes; shared services, etc. They can also be donated to charity, and, starting in fall 2018, a student’s PIPs can be used to unlock matching funds for the singular purpose of paying “stay in school” expenses.

Available on Android and iPhone, the App gathers behavioral data intelligence using a variety of means—API integrations, beacons, sensors, QR codes, and transaction reports. These deep connections to apps, devices and reporting tools make the experience so light-touch and friction-free that a good many actions are verified and recorded without the user taking her phone out of her pocket. It should be noted that while the app is free and available to anyone, there are a number of earn and redeem options that are exclusive to users at affiliated institutions.

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PIPs Secret Sauce

The PIPs App is unique among engagement platforms in the following ways: • Action data capture/ verification—API integration, sensors, scanners, transaction reports, etc—keep the App so light and effortless to use that PIPs can be earned without a user having to take her phone out of her pocket.

• The resulting data analytics with deep engagement metrics provides customers (usercommunities) with real-time behavioral data for continuous improvement of user experience and optimization of outcomes.

• High value rewards, such as using PIPs to pay school expenses or for discounts on healthy food, up the app’s stickiness and fuel continuous engagement in PIPs positive impact earn actions.

• Principles of behavioral psychology, from loss aversion and

Reviews Media Review social norming, to competitions and valued rewards, are applied to turn positive impact choice-making into a highly rewarding “cycle of good.”

• Network effect among multiple brand partners eager to be part of an ever-expanding PIPs ecosystem of beneficial products and services.

PIPs Pilot at CU Boulder

University of Colorado—Boulder (CU Boulder) contracted with 3P to test the PIPs Rewards App among its students during Academic Year 2017-18. CU renewed its subscription for three more years and is looking to the PIPs App to help it meet two important goals: • Increase student retention and • Drive up engagement in sustainability and healthful behaviors Usage and impact has exceeded expectations. Key milestones from the CU Boulder experience include: • User Growth: °° 1600 students, or 5 percent of the student body, participated in the pilot during Academic Year 2017-18. °° Six weeks into the 2018–19 Academic Year, over 1000 new students—roughly a third the number projected for the year—had already downloaded the App and started using it.

• User Engagement: °° Earn Actions: Users are taking an average of 7000 PIPs-Earn actions a month, including but not limited to riding the bus, biking, refilling water bottles, recycling, volunteering, joining in fitness classes, and participating in games and challenges.

°° During the pilot, students redeemed about 60 percent of their PIPs they’d earned, and received over USD$10,000 in cash value in the form of gift cards and discounts on local and organic food; healthy personal care products; responsibly made clothing and gear; fitness classes; downloads (music, e-books); used books; shared services, etc.

• Impact: °° During the course of the pilot, student engagement in just 5 actions (biking, recycling, riding the bus, carpooling and refilling water bottles) eliminated over 16,000 lbs. of CO2 emissions. °° CU received American Association of Sustainabiity in Higher Education (AASHE) Innovation Credits by implementing the PIPs app on campus, helping them achieve STARS Gold Rating status.

Two New App Features Launched in Fall 2018

Responding to customers’ needs and objectives, 3P has added two new features to the PIPs Rewards App: • The Carbon Drawdown: It is now possible using the PIPs App for one or more institutions to compete in a fun, easy-to-play inter- or intra-campus race to see who can reduce their carbon footprint the most. Players engage in five or more everyday actions that help to drawdown the institution’s overall carbon footprint—including the basics: riding the bus, biking, carpooling, refilling water bottles and recycling. Their actions and

Wendy Gordon

Bcycle shared bike displays PIPs Rewards ad on the campus of the University of Denver

their corresponding CO2 savings are tracked, aggregated and displayed in the individual and team leaderboards, so players can see in real time how they are stacking up against each other.

• PIPs for School: The PIPs Rewards platform has a new use option for students. It is now possible for students to direct their wellearned PIPs toward school-related expenses (tuition, loan-repayment, enrollment fees, etc.). Students who do so will be able unlock matching funds provided by a new public foundation, the PIPs Education Fund.

Such valued rewards may increase the App’s stickiness still more than what’s happened thus far. With the access to education gap only getting worse, and as little as USD$1,000 in debt enough to force a student to drop out, innovative platforms like PIPs Rewards could help students bridge the gap through engagement in purposeful behavior.

To learn more, please contact wendy@pipsrewards.com

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West-Heiss, J. (2019). A Unified Mountain City Committed to Sustainable Action. Solutions 10(1): 88–91. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/a-unified-mountain-city-committed-to-sustainable-action

On The Ground

A Unified Mountain City Committed to Sustainable Action

by Janna West-Heiss

T

his is a story of a resource poor city that, faced with fast-paced growth and looming implications of rapid climate change, banded together to act. It is a story of community commitment to reconnect and reenergize today, while accomplishing an inclusive and equitable vision for tomorrow. This is the story of the Sus tainable Denver Summit.

White-capped rocky peaks stand motionless and calm, as if immune to change. A stark difference to the lively conversation and energy taking hold at the first Sustainable Denver Summit, but yet, the perfect backdrop to a discussion about the importance of ensuring a prosperous and sustainable community for generations to come. It’s a reminder to the non-profit, government, and business leaders who fill the seats of the Summit, of the basic resources Denver residents and visitors depend upon for both their livelihoods and pastimes.

In the early afternoon, during the second networking break of the day, one attendee, a woman with long, dark-hair in her mid-thirties, quietly steps off to an empty hallway that leads to a room with a few westfacing windows and a bench just below. She takes a seat and peers out at those strong, still Colorado Rockies blanketed in champagne snow and takes a deep breath.

She starts to think about how just a couple of months earlier she felt frustrated, depressed,

City and County of Denver, Office of Sustainability

Sustainable Denver Summit attendees brainstorming commitments

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and overwhelmed at work.

During this time, she felt like issues of air pollution, social justice, resource scarcity and, of course, climate change were BIG issues and, while her work to address them was good, it was not good enough for the vastness of the problems at hand.

The father-daughter trips camping in those very mountains she was gazing at were what led her to college dreams of being a positive force for change in her community and her eventual career path in sustainability.

Even so, her “glass half full,” hopeful attitude had dampened over time. She had a 7-year-old son of her own. She took him to those same camping spots she fondly remembered. She wanted to be certain that the trees,

streams, and wildflowers would be there for him to take his children to and for generations after that. But that dark feeling had her worried that it might not happen.

As she sits there, she thinks how finally this dark sense she had just a couple of months ago is now gone.

Her initial passion, inspiration, and drive that filled her college dreams are restored, and give her optimism for her family’s future. The Summit, the community network it brought together and the action-oriented commitment process during the months leading up to it have reminded her she isn’t alone in pursuing a prosperous and sustainable future in Denver; that hundreds, even thousands, of others are working to the same end.

It was a reminder of the leadership

On The Ground support from Denver’s Mayor, who is not just actively pursuing this cause, but leading the community forward on it. Feeling her energy renewed, she exhales and stands up with strength like the mountains, ready for the next breakout session, ready to get back to work, ready to make an impact.

This buzzing energy that could result in year-round action and an outcome focus was a glimmer in the eye of Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock a year prior, inspired by the work of the Clinton Foundation.

Hosted in Denver by the presidential family itself, the Foundation’s 7th annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting in 2014 brought together over 165 heads of state and hundreds more private and non-profit industry leaders, philanthropists and more to make commitments of action to address the significant global challenges of their time.1 As Mayor Hancock made his own commitment at the meeting for the City and County of Denver to develop a supportive housing social impact bond during times of major growth and quickly increasing housing prices,2 he also heard the hundreds of leaders like Kazuo Hirai, CEO and president of Sony Corporation, and Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the World Food Programme, make their own commitments to a better world, and as he did so that glimmer in his eye began to grow. On the trip back to his office, with the theme, Reimaging Impact, reverberating in his head, Mayor Hancock’s glimmer bubbled into a full-blown idea of reimagining impact right in his own backyard of Denver, Colorado.

A year later, in December 2015, the first Sustainable Denver Summit launched with a similar mission to focus not just on talk, but on action to overcome local challenges with a Denver twist that comes from the

community’s culture.3 Denver is known for a strong connection to the outdoors with its pristine skiing and access to dozens of fourteeners, making it a hot spot for adventure enthusiasts, but residents there also have a strong connection to one another. Whether it is the calming effect of the natural surroundings or the mix of millennial liberalism with the old spirit of the Wild West, Denverites put community before politics and agendas, working across the aisle and collaborating with competitors to do what’s best for its health-conscious inhabitants.

The community’s collaborative nature led to the development of its ambitious 2020 Sustainability Goals.

Denver’s Office of Sustainability, formed by Mayor Hancock in 2012, worked with local industry and residents in a variety of workgroups to develop 12 impactful community goals and a vision of a sustainable city for all.4,5 Local conditions that include rapid growth in population, unproductive soils, a dry climate, and high background ozone pollution became the backbone for identifying the twelve resource categories, all of which relate back to the Sustainability Office’s mission to ensure that the basic resources that are the foundation of our economy and quality of life are available and affordable to everyone, both today and in the future.6 These goals, finalized in 2013, would become the centerpiece of the commitment process for the Sustainable Denver Summit.

Commitments made at the Summit or at more in-depth pre-Summit roundtables would reflect the following key characteristics to ensure their success: 1) The specific action to be taken had to be done within a particular time period, 2) the commitment would be new, not simply the continuation of an existing initiative, 3) impact of

1st Year Date: December 3, 2015 Attendance: 361 Number of Commitments: 102 Attendee Quote: “Big, meaningful commitments!”

2nd Year Date: November 14, 2016 Attendance: 528 Number of Commitments: 82 Attendee Quote: “It is inspiring and invigorating to have a hand in planning of something bigger than yourself.”

3rd Year Date: December 5, 2018 Attendance: 706 Number of Commitments: N/A, went a different direction this year.

Attendee Quote: “Thank you for bringing these important issues to people’s attention.”12

the commitment could be observed, measured, or otherwise documented, and, of course, 4) fulfillment of the commitment would contribute to achieving one or more of the 2020 goals.7 Similar to the Clinton Global Initiative, participants included leaders from government, non-profit, and business, but on a local scale.

After attending the last breakout session, the dark-haired woman returned to the main ballroom, excited to end the day on a high note. She had attended the Energy pre-summit roundtable and knew that the commitment her company made to install rooftop solar on its headquarters just west of downtown was going to be mentioned in conjunction with all the others her peers had worked to make.

This commitment was a turning

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On The Ground point for her company . . . and, if she was being honest, for her.

It was something she had advocated to do for some time—with 300 days of sunshine in Denver it just made sense. The corporate peers she needed to go along included a middle-aged woman who was a triathlon competitor, a cowboy boot-and-suit wearing older gentleman, and a newer guy who just moved to Denver from California, all of whom had varied levels of support for her commitment concept, and questions about the company’s ability to fulfill financial, operational, and environmental promises. Luckily, the prospect of earning valuable recognition at the Summit pushed her CEO to finally agree to approve the commitment. When the approval came it was the first time in a while that she had felt inspired and motivated, a personal turning point and something the Summit reinforced for her as the day went by.

After a few remarks Denver’s Chief Sustainability Officer began to read off the commitments. She waited to hear her company’s announcement. As she sat there patiently it became apparent that it might take some time, as there were over 100 pledges made by all types of entities. The announcement of every single one was a little tedious, but also reminded her of one of the main reasons she had felt reenergized in the first place—the impact of the whole, the communal effort, and its ability to truly move the needle on issues that seemed overwhelming when viewed through the lens of an individual or single company’s ability. Her

City and County of Denver, Office of Sustainability

Sustainable Denver Summit attendees buzzing with energy and excitement during a networking break.

thoughts quickly shifted back to the present moment when she heard her company’s commitment announced. Applause filled the room and a smile broke out on her face. Then it was on to the next commitment—after all they had to get through over one hundred of them.

The first Summit was over, it was now time for attendees to get to work, as this was a year-round action-oriented effort, not just a day of talk. The Mayor was proud of the kick-off, but also knew there was a challenging task ahead for the Office of Sustainability: To ensure these commitments would be implemented and not just celebrated and then forgotten. The small but mighty three-person team would have to develop a tracking system that had the dual purpose of keeping tabs on commitment progress as well as keeping those entities accountable for the commitments they made.

Challenges always come when charting new courses. It

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was no different for the Office of Sustainability. The team had never planned an event like this, and could not find a similar event from another city that could serve as a template.

With no track record they had no idea whether commitments would be made, and if so, how many. When over a hundred came in at the first Summit8—many shoved into their hands minutes before they were to be announced—the final announcement seemed like a hectic backend effort that barely came together. But embedded in that rough ending to the first Summit were opportunities to learn and improve for the next.

The optimistic outlook that came out of the first Summit was fading by mid-year as the dark-haired woman began to realize that her company had fallen off track with the commitment they had made.

After getting approval from the CEO and making a public commitment, she thought the

On The Ground

City and County of Denver, Office of Sustainability

Sustainable Denver Summit attendees clapping as commitments are announced.

challenges had been overcome, but actual implementation and complete buy-in from other leadership proved more difficult than expected. With all the other work piling up on her desk this commitment continued to fall low on the priority list.

In the midst of all this, the phone rang, it was a call from the Office of Sustainability, checking up on her commitment progress. She let them know the challenges and concerns. Over a few calls the Sustainability Office team brainstormed some potential solutions, opportunities, and contact leads with the woman.

After connecting with the leads given to her, she was reminded of the collaborative spirit in Denver. Each one she reached out to had more leads and helpful information to win over leadership. After a few months of starting to incorporate the action items from these conversations, she began to get

small and mighty team of three in the Denver Office of Sustainability tapped in to that deep connection Denverites have with the mountains to the west and one another. They have created an annual collaborative process across industries, competitors, and political divisions, to meet a common vision of a sustainable, prosperous, and inclusive community tied back to its cultural roots, while looking forward as it wisely uses its limited resources in the face of substantial growth.

The story doesn’t end here, 2020 is still a year away and there is plenty more to do after that marker in time has passed, but the cross-sector, cross-industry collaboration and connections made will be what ensures Denver’s sustainability success.

References

back on track. Plans for the solar operation were in final design just in time for the next set of roundtables as Denver geared up for the second annual Summit in November 2016.

1. The Clinton Foundation, CGI America 2015 [online]. https://www.clintonfoundation.org/clinton-globalinitiative/meetings/cgi-america/2015 2. The Clinton Foundation, Denver’s Supportive Housing Social Impact Bond [online]. https://www. clintonfoundation.org/clinton-global-initiative/ commitments/denvers-supportive-housing-social-

Starting in 2015 Mayor Hancock and Office of Sustainability have worked with the community to develop four sold-out Sustainable Denver Summits.9 Although there have been stumbles like the commitment announcement and challenges in keeping some commitments on track, overall success has prevailed.

Each year the attendance has grown, nearly doubling from 370 the first year to over 850 in the fourth.10,11 Over 225 commitments by community partners from business, non-profit, and government have been made to help accomplish the 2020 Sustainability Goals.8 While some have fallen off course, over 70 percent are on track or already completed.8 Charting a new course as the first Summit of its kind in Colorado and perhaps in the entire country, the

impact-bond 3. Tinianow, J. 2015 Sustainable Denver Summit Program Book (November 2015).

4. City & County of Denver Office of Sustainability, 2020 Sustainability Goals [online]. https://www. denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/office-ofsustainability/2020-sustainability-goals.html 5. Tinianow, J. Personal communication, spring 2018.

6. City & County of Denver Office of Sustainability, About [online]. https://www.denvergov.org/content/ denvergov/en/office-of-sustainability/about-us.html 7. City & County of Denver Office of Sustainability, Make a Commitment to Action [online]. https:// www.denvergov.org/content/denvergov/en/officeof-sustainability/summit/commitments/commit-toaction.html 8. City & County of Denver Office of Sustainability, Commitments [online]. https://www.denvergov. org/content/denvergov/en/office-of-sustainability/ summit/commitments.html 9. Tinianow, J. Personal communication, spring 2018.

10. City & County of Denver Office of Sustainability, Attendee List – Final, December 2015 11. Eventbrite, Attendee Summary Report, December 2018 12. City & County of Denver Office of Sustainability, Sustainable Denver Summit Fact Sheet, July 2018

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Gilmore, S. (2019). Opening the Gates: Making a National Wildlife Refuge Accessible to Diverse Communities. Solutions 10(1): 92–96. https://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/article/opening-the-gates-making-a-national-wildlife-refuge-accessible-to-diverse-communities

On The Ground

Opening the Gates: Making a National Wildlife Refuge Accessible to Diverse Communities

by Scott Gilmore

Scott Gilmore

New First Creek Trailhead entrance to RMANWR

A

s I contemplate how I would discuss the “Solution” to the challenges of making a seven-square mile piece of land, formerly considered one of the most polluted places on the planet, accessible to a community, I thought back to when I was a young man. During the 1980’s, growing up in the cultural and socioeconomic diverse community of Montbello located on the northeast side of

Denver, I had no true connection to the natural world. We had a backyard and parks in the neighborhood, but there was never a push to engage with nature. Lucky for me, located within one mile of our home sat the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.

We all knew that this is where “they” made stuff, bad stuff. At this facility, over a 60-year period, lots of things were produced: nerve gas,

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mustard gas, sarin bombs, fuel to take men to the moon, and numerous products and chemicals designed to kill people and insects. The by-products of these were placed in large pits in the center of the facility to sit and soak into the earth.

As a young man searching for a path in life, I would sneak through the strands of barbed wire ringing this property and visit the perimeter of the

On The Ground Arsenal. For me it was a place where I could connect with the natural world, observe nature at its fullest and view the amazing wildlife that thrived there. I would watch majestic Bald Eagles, fierce Ferruginous and Swainson’s Hawks, playful Coyote and Foxes, and lots of graceful Mule and White Tail Deer. Through these very personal trips, I decided to pursue a career as a wildlife biologist.

In 1992, this Arsenal of destruction and death I used to sneak into became the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, the nation’s largest urban wildlife refuge. I still live in the same neighborhood, and as I look back over the years I feel lucky that the Arsenal, now know as the Refuge, was in my neighborhood.

Over the last thirty-five years, I managed a statewide Angler Education Program that taught hundreds of thousands of kids how to fish. In addition to that, I helped co-found the non -profit Environmental Learning for Kids, one of the most successful organizations in the country that introduces children of color to the natural world and careers in natural resource management.1 I now help manage Denver Parks and Recreation, one of the most amazing parks and recreation departments in the world.

But one of my proudest moments was when I was asked to represent the City of Denver in the crafting of the Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. This document lays out the 20-year management plan for this National Wildlife Refuge.2 The CCP consisted of four Alternatives. Alternative A was to “Take No Action”, Alternative B was to manage as a “Traditional Refuge”, Alternative C was to manage as an “Urban Refuge,” and Alternative D was to manage as a “Gateway Refuge.” The Alternative ultimately selected was

Scott Gilmore

Entrance to the First Creek Trail

Scott Gilmore

Youth from Montbello learning about nesting Bald Eagles at the RMANWR www.thesolutionsjournal.com | January 2019 | Solutions | 93

On The Ground

Kelly Uhing

Refuge staff managing shortgrass praire with controlled burns

C—to manage as an Urban Refuge. The lead strategy for managing the area as an Urban Refuge was to connect the diverse communities of the adjoining Montbello neighborhood to the Refuge through additional access points, educational programming and very targeted outreach efforts.

Through this planning effort with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, we have made great strides in connecting the surrounding communities to the newly created Refuge. We have started creating pedestrian access points near the neighboring communities of color that provide more convenient opportunities for neighbors to visit to

the Refuge. The City of Denver has also created the city’s largest open space, consisting of 200 acres of wildlife habitat, on the southeastern boundary of the Refuge. (The Refuge itself is outside of Denver but borders the city.). The community can now access the interior of the Refuge through the First Creek and Denver International Airport Open Space on the eastern edge of the Refuge.

I discussed this topic with my 19-year-old daughter, Samantha. She informed me that she had written an essay on this very topic. I realized that the Arsenal/Refuge had as much impact on her decision to

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study Environmental Science at the University of Denver as it did on me when I decided a generation before to study wildlife biology. After reading her paper, we decided to include some excerpts as part of the “Solution.” Here are those excerpts.

Outdoor education has gained tremendous traction in the last few decades as alternative methods of learning outside of the classroom are explored. As an educator whose classroom is routinely an urban lake, I have seen the positive impact of these changes. Take teaching

On The Ground people. These places are not removed from the daily hustle and bustle of modern life but rather are a part of it. Teaching people about their responsibility to the land and all its inhabitants emphasizes the importance of taking care and preserving it for the present and posterity.

Google Maps

Map of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refug

lake ecosystems as an example.

Instead of telling students to think about what organisms and abiotic aspects are in an ecosystem we can tell them to look.

That simple distinction allowed by a change of scenery connects the kids more deeply to the environment. They experience the outdoors instead of just looking at it in a textbook.

The places that enable these opportunities need to be accessible to people for them to have any kind of impact. Urban park systems help to provide some access, but more can be done.

Furthermore, the fact that one in three Americans don’t have a park or green space within a 10-minute walk of home means more public land needs to be acquired.3 Parks do more than educate kids. They also help communities. They serve as meeting places for residents to spend time outside. They also beautify and add to property value to the soundings homes.

When people are in these parks they also can help create community awareness and monitor for crime. The article “Curing ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’” points out, “city neighborhood that are surrounded by green space statistically incur less crime.”4 Adding an urban park improves various aspects of a community at many different levels. The way to truly impact people is to show them that these places have something to offer. Going to a public park that has green grass and a playground is positive, but people should also be able to experience the natural ecosystem that this land is meant to inhabit.

There is something inherently mystical about seeing massive plains bison grazing with the Denver skyline behind them. It works to reinforce the idea that public lands, from urban parks to refuges to national parks, are for the

Open space that is easily accessible to the community is critical for building early positive relationships between kids, parents, family units and communities and the natural world. These places improve our safety and appearance of our communities as well as provide outdoor classrooms.

Visiting places like the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge reminds people of the impact humans can have on nature but also that it is the most resilient force on Earth.

The combination of good government policy and community pressure will enable plants and animals to reclaim land that once was used to produce death.

An access point that leads from my community to the Arsenal is still a task worked on tirelessly by many, and other public lands can improve access as well.

As someone that lives in the Montbello community, I will continue to work on improving access to this wonderful natural space, but improving access to the Refuge is the easy part. What will be the more difficult is the task of educating and getting the community to understand the benefits of having the Arsenal/Refuge so near their homes. For so long, communities of color have been negatively impacted by toxic and environmentally

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On The Ground degrading actions and policies. Due to that fact, it is incredibly hard to explain to a community that an historic toxic dump is now a world class National Wildlife Refuge and is located a stone throw from their homes.

I will work closely with a wide variety of neighborhood groups consisting of local community organizations and city agencies such as ELK, the Denver Boys and Girls Club, Montbello 20/20, Montbello GirlsTrek, Denver Parks and Recreation, Denver Library and Denver Public Schools to spread the word about the amazing and wonderful natural space the Refuge represents.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has shown a true commitment to helping in this effort. As they led the effort to craft the Comprehensive Plan, the easy management solution would have been to manage the Refuge in a more traditional manner. That would mean a concentration on conservation efforts and wildlife protection. This would also mean limited access and community outreach efforts. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not take the easy road and have adopted the Urban Refuge model which will welcome more non-traditional visitors to the refuge, provide enhanced instructional programming and increased outreach efforts, and continue to improve access to the surrounding community. The adoption of the Urban Refuge model is one of the first positive steps to show the communities of color that surround the Refuge that they matter and that they are welcomed and encouraged to visit the Refuge.

I truly have been blessed over the past thirty years to not only work in the natural world but also to connect kids and adults of every walk of life to the joys of spending time outdoors. To have my daughter continue that same path is a testament to how important it is for families to spend quality time together exploring nature that surrounds their

RMANWR - Denver Post

Two guys steadying bomb on hoist

RMANWR

Historic View of manufacturing areas

community. I have always told parents as I would take their child fishing for the first time that catching your first fish is one of those memories that you never forget. I would say “Don’t let me steal this memory from you and your child as you will never get this moment back”. That is a message to all to get outdoors, explore nature and create lasting memories.

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References 1. Environmental Learning for Kids [online]. www.elkkids.org.

2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Draft comprehensive conservation plan and environmental impact statement—Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge 245 (U.S. Department of the Interior, 2015).

3. Trust for Public Lands [online]. www.tpl.org.

4. Tucker, P. Curing ‘nature deficit disorder’. The Futurist 40, 13 (May 2006).

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