Friday, 01 April 2011

excerpt from: A Greener Community

SAVING MONEY

When the city of Virginia Beach built the new convention center in 2007, it used state-of-the-art materials and design and the "footprint" of the old Pavilion. An early client in the new building suggested that the system could be greener. It is now.

At first, the Convention Center's former assistant general manager, Lori Herrick, now the energy administrator for the city, worked to get the building rated with various LEED systems.

"When I first got into the building, I created a review plan and we partnered with Energy Star, a free program with the EPA," Lori said. "We were charged with saving at least 10 percent of our energy costs and tracking consumption."

Lori learned how to switch to more energy-efficient practices and found it cost less to recycle than to dump trash. The convention center saved paper and postage charges by switching to Adobe software for communications and saved over 400 thousand dollars in the first two years the building followed the Energy Star guidelines.

"It was a win-win situation," Lori said.

Now Lori has taken her passion for energy efficiency to the entire city, looking at where the city's kilowatt hours are being spent, learning about off shore wind energy, and meeting with representatives of cities all over the state. She wants Virginia Beach to be the greenest city on the East Coast.

At the convention center, Kimberlee Dobbins, who worked hand in hand with Lori, is the sustainability coordinator. She's proud of the fact that the center is one of a hundred state-certified "Virginia Green" locations in the city. The Shamrock Marathon was designated the first "green" event in the state.

"It includes how they market the event online as well as how they deal with waste," she said. "We have all the recycle bins set up, and they capture all those paper cups and water bottles from the runners and then we recycle them."

The Convention Center saw some increases in gas and electric costs this very cold winter, following one of the hottest summers. But the HVAC equipment can monitor internal temperatures and make minimal changes, saving energy. This year, lights are being converted to compact fluorescents, and parking lot lighting is on a seasonally adjusted schedule.

It's a big job, and it comes with lots of learning and upgrading of data. But Kimberlee says sustainability is very important to her, a mother of two.

"Sustainability is all about conserving our resources so they're still here for future generations," Kimberlee said. "I love what I'm doing here, and the people I work with are great. They get it."

QUEEN OF GREEN

If you want to visit the epicenter of green living near the oceanfront, go no further than cozy one-story, Croc's 19th Street Bistro. That's where you'll find owners Laura Wood Habr and her husband, Kal, exploring new ways for their business and the city to become environmentally friendly.

Not only did the restaurant go through a green facelift several years ago-installing low-flow toilets and new carpeting made from recycled materials-they also feature local seafood and produce, organic beverages, and Virginia wines. Croc's is also home of the Old Beach Farmer's Market in its fourth year. From Memorial Day to Labor Day, farmers and food vendors sell local goods. Croc's is also host for gatherings of eco-conscious folks at monthly Green Drinks events.

Croc's also participated in an energy audit, discovered where the building needed energy saving repairs, and received funding towards the purchase of a new Energy Star rated air conditioner. They've also applied for funding for a solar hot water heater and hope that comes through this year.

But Laura sees a bigger picture beyond the dining room of her family's restaurant. She's a member of the Resort Advisory Commission, which advises Virginia Beach City Council.

"We were a grass roots group-including Kimberlee and Lori at the convention center-and now we have been invited to have a place at the table," Laura explained. "And we have recommended to the council that we expand recycling beyond the boardwalk onto the beach."

Laura and her team made the case by doing two "waste audits" last year, donning protective gear and sorting through trash. They found that more than 50 percent of oceanfront trash was recyclable.

Tourists get a positive impression of the city when they see the recycling containers along the streets, Laura noted.

Starting this month, Laura and several other restaurants are partnering with the Virginia Aquarium in a grant from the EPA, sorting and collecting the pre- and post consumer food waste and having it delivered to a composting site outside Waverly.

Laura mentioned one more green practice at her restaurant: the Chesapeake Bay Stingray is now on the menu. Local stingrays-not an endangered species-feed on oysters and clams, so catching them will result in an upswing in the mollusk population.

"Have you heard the commercial 'Eat a ray, save the Bay?'" asked Laura. "They taste like catfish!"

Written by  Kathleen Fogarty