Sustaining Awards!

In November 2011, the city of Richmond was honored by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) of Richmond and the James River Green Building Council (JRGBC), for innovative practices and outstanding leadership within the field of sustainability.

ULI of Richmond presented Mayor Jones’ Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trail Planning Commission with their 2011 Vision Award for sustainable development. The commission’s mission is to find creative approaches that the city administration can take to promote bicycles and walking over typical modes of transportation, reduce vehicles on the road, enhance economic development, and improve the overall health of Richmond residents. Overall, the commission is working to address a number of public policy issues including public health, land use and transportation, economic development and to support the city’s sustainability goals.

The James River Green Building Council (JRGBC) honored Alicia Zatcoff at the Seventh Annual Green Building Leadership Awards. As the city’s first sustainability manager, Zatcoff received the 2011 Individual Leadership Award for her outstanding contributions to green building and sustainability in Virginia.

Zatcoff is leading the effort to create the first sustainability plan for the Richmond community and currently oversees the implementation of Mayor Dwight Jones’ Order for Green Government. This order is a sweeping initiative to create more efficiency and less waste in city government and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from government operations. 

Solar Savings

The city is going green and saving money at the same time by adding new solar trash compactors and recycling bins around the downtown area. City crews are installing a total of  44 side-by-side solar power trash compactors and recycling units. The solar compactors can hold almost five times more than a regular trash can. This means workers won't have to empty them as often, cutting down on labor and fuel costs. Each compactor will have a recycle bin next to it for both cans and plastic. The bins offer the first public recycling in the city of Richmond.

The city has spent approximately $200,000 from a federal grant to purchase the solar kiosks to help make Richmond a greener city.

CNG Fueling Station First of Kind in Virginia

After a year of planning and with the support of  Mayor Dwight C. Jones, Virginia Clean Cities and the Department of Public Utilities, the City of Richmond has adopted the use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) to fuel their refuse trucks.

The city’s previous fleet of 36 diesel-fueled refuse trucks is now reduced to 25 CNG-fueled vehicles, provided by McNeilus Companies, Inc., an Oshkosh Corporation company headquartered in Dodge Center, MN.

The CNG fueling station located at 3502-3506 North Hopkins Road houses the entire new fleet, eliminating trips required for refueling of the previous diesel fleet.

The trucks are larger than the previous ones and were sized so that the Department Public Works could go from five-day-a-week routes to four-day-a-week routes, saving on labor costs and fuel costs. 

City Government Gets Green

City employees are working hard to implement Mayor Dwight C. Jones' Green Government Order calling for city agencies to create more efficiency and less waste in city government and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from government operations. 

Under the Green Government Order, city government is, among other things:

• Creating an Energy Management Plan to reduce electricity and fuel use
• Implementing a Green Procurement Policy
• Developing an anti-idling policy for city vehicles 
• Implementing a Telework and Alternative Work Schedule Initiative designed to achieve a goal of 20 percent of eligible workers engaged in telework or alternative work schedules