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City of Atlanta
Atlanta leads the country in LEED™ Certified buildings in the US with a total of 53 projects that are either already certified or underway. More than 3 million sq. ft. of LEED™ certified buildings have already been built. In addition, more than 3,000 EarthCraft Houses have been built.
- Emory University has approximately 10 projects submitted for LEED™ certification (5 have already been awarded Certification) for a total of 1.1 million square feet - or 25 acres of green buildings on campus.
- Interface Corporation, a worldwide leader in modular soft-surfaced floor coverings, is the first recipient of a LEED™-CI Platinum rating for their Atlanta Showroom.
- The Arthur M. Blank Family Office, home to the Arthur M. Blank Foundation, was Georgia's first LEED™ Gold certified building and the Southeast's region's first Gold-certified office building.
- The 1180 Peachtree Street building in Midtown, completed in 2006, a major new structure that is a LEED Gold certified building.
- Atlantic Station, a recently built live-work-play community was previously the site of Georgia's first steel mill that sat on a 138-acre site. Totaling an estimated $2 billion in new construction it is the largest brown field redevelopment project in the U.S. The community was designed to improve the area's water resources and regional air quality and to serve as a model for environmental sustainability and smart growth. This project was created by Atlanta-based Jacoby Development, Inc. in a joint venture with AIG Global Real Estate Corp.
- Atlantic Station won Phoenix Award in EPA's Region 4 and later the National Grand Prize Phoenix Award. In July 2005, the 171 17th Street building, a 500-thousand-square-foot office tower located in the Atlantic Station redevelopment, was the first LEED™ Silver-Core & Shell high-rise office building in the world.
- Glenwood Park, a Green Street Properties mixed-use project, was built on the site of a former concrete manufacturing facility. All of the homes in this community are certified under the EarthCraft House program, and the development features a Department of Energy Building America research and demonstration home that is open to the public.
- Hedgewood Properties was chosen 2003 Builder of the Year by Professional Builder Magazine. Hedgewood was chosen for its niche-based smart growth strategy and market leadership in design, energy efficiency and green building. In January 2000, Hedgewood became the first builder to commit to building all its homes to the EarthCraft standard.
- Atlanta is home to 81 US Green Building Council (USGBC) member companies and organizations, as well as nearly 900 LEED™ Accredited Professionals, ensuring that the number of green buildings in Atlanta will continue to increase in the coming years.
- Atlanta's BeltLine: Atlanta's New Public Realm: www.atlantada.com/adaInitiatives/beltline.jsp
- The BeltLine Project is based on a 25-year vision that will transform the urban core of the City by managing future growth and creating sustainable communities. Ideally located approximately 1 to 3 miles from downtown, the BeltLine will convert 22 miles of underutilized or abandoned railroad corridors and more than 2,900 acres of underutilized residential, commercial, and industrial land into a continuous system of transit and greenways. Parks and pedestrian-friendly mixed use development nodes along the BeltLine will offer a vibrant street life and quality of life improvements interconnecting the BeltLine's 45 adjacent neighborhoods. Essential to the concept is that the three key elements - transit, greenspace and development - are interrelated and that the proposed transit network connects seamlessly with MARTA (the public transit system) and other transit opportunities, as well as adjacent neighborhoods.
- Livable Centers Initiative: http://www.atlantaregional.com/cps/rde/xchg/SID-3F57FEE7-C40E10DC/arc/hs.xsl/308_ENU_HTML.htm - The Livable Centers Initiative (LCI) is a program offered by the Atlanta Regional Commission that encourages local jurisdictions to plan and implement strategies that link transportation improvements with land use development strategies to create sustainable, livable communities consistent with regional development policies. There are currently 12 LCI's in the City of Atlanta, 8 of which are managed by the City.
- Brownfield Programs: www.atlantaga.gov/government/planning/brownfields.aspx - The largest urban brownfield redevelopment in the US can be found in Atlanta. Atlantic Station is a true success story. The site was previously held a steel mill. Now, it is a 138-acre mixed-use development.
- Quality of Life Bond Program: www.atlantaga.gov/dpw_qol_main.aspx - This program provided $150 million in bonds to create a diversified city where people across the spectrum of age, income, ethnicity, and culture can live, work, play, and learn. The projects covered by this bond program include:
- Sidewalks (Sidewalk construction, intersection improvements, streetscape improvements.
- Public Plazas and Greenspace (greenspace enhancements, livable community centers).
- Public Streets, Bridges, and Viaducts (bicycle signage & markings, bridge improvements, street resurfacing.
- Public Traffic Control Devices (crosswalks, traffic control devices, traffic Signals & communications).
- Clean Water Atlanta is the City's comprehensive, long-term plan to ensure clean drinking water for Atlanta, and clean streams and clean wastewater flows for Atlanta and its downstream neighbors. The objective of Clean Water Atlanta is to create the cleanest urban streams and rivers in the country within a decade. The $3.9 billion Clean Water Atlanta program is progressing steadily, with major capital improvements in our water and sewer systems underway. At the end of 2005, we celebrated the completion and start-up of the Nancy Creek Tunnel and Pumping Station. We've begun to replace 110,000 feet of water pipes and recondition over 48,000 feet of sewer lines in the Virginia-Highland area, and continued with the design of five transmission main and pump station improvement projects.
- Long Term Water Quality Monitoring- The City of Atlanta has teamed with the U.S. Geological Survey to install and maintain a state of the art, real-time hydrological monitoring network. There are currently 11 stations on line that generate water quality indicators. The data generated by the monitoring stations is supplemented by an intensive stream sampling program.
- Infrastructure Stabilization using Stream Bank Bioremediation- The City of Atlanta recently launched a program to restore stream banks using natural materials and vegetation to support the stabilization of stream banks around water and sewer infrastructure.
- Watershed Protection Plan- The City of Atlanta is preparing a Watershed Protection Plan to help maintain and improve water quality conditions throughout watersheds within its jurisdiction. The Plan is being developed in three phases. The Water Quality Monitoring Plan will describe the field study necessary to document current water quality and identify environmental stressors. The Watershed Assessment will take these data and determine the current conditions of the watershed and address the effects of growth and development. Based on information obtained in the Watershed Assessment, the Watershed Protection Plan will describe watershed protection strategies-including specific actions and schedules-that will be used to protect water quality.
- City of Atlanta, City Hall Greenroof- The City of Atlanta staff designed and managed construction of a 3,300 square foot greenroof in December 2003. A greenroof is a rooftop garden designed to retain storm water runoff, cool the building, lower energy costs, mitigate the urban heat island effect, create usable space, beautify the built environment, create habitat, and extend the life of traditional roofing systems. The City's greenroof was the "first governmental greenroof in the Southeast". To date it has been featured, shown or referenced in numerous publications including: USA Today, The New York TIMES, MSNBC, The Southface Journal, Natural Health Magazine, Environmental Design +Construction, The LA Letter, Atlanta Home Improvement Magazine and the Atlanta Journal/Constitution Newspaper.
- City of Atlanta Greenway Acquisition- In conjunction with the entry of the Consent Decrees, the City of Atlanta agreed to a supplemental environmental project that included the acquisition of stream banks to protect water quality. The Department of Watershed Management has completed the acquisition of 1800 acres of stream banks that protect over 25 miles of streams in the metropolitan Atlanta area.
- The Department of Public Works of the City of Atlanta currently provides weekly, residential curbside collection of recyclable materials from approximately 93,000 single family residents. The items currently accepted for recycling are newspaper, office paper, mixed paper, junk mail, aluminum and metal cans, glass, plastic, phone books, and boxboard. More than 6 thousand tons of paper, plastic and aluminum, more than 20 thousand tons of yard trimmings and more than 70 thousand tons of water and wastewater treatment plant sludge is recycled each year.
- The City currently offers a drop-off center for "E-Waste" recycling accepting cell phones, computers, monitors, electronics, televisions, and stereos. Fluorescent light tubes are also accepted for recycling.
- The Atlanta Workforce Development Agency supports the City of Atlanta's employee recycling program by providing out of school youth in a training program designed to teach youth essential skills while responsible for the collection of mixed office paper at City Hall and other City buildings.
- US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement: www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/climate
- In May of 2005, Mayor Shirley Franklin signed the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. As of June 1, 2006, 238 mayors from across the country have signed onto the US Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. They represent about 45.5 million people in 41 states, plus the District of Columbia. The agreement is to enact policies and programs to meet or beat the Kyoto target of reducing global warming pollution levels to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
- City of Atlanta Ordinance ~ Reduced vehicle idling where appropriate. In 2002, the City passed an Ordinance to prohibit a truck or bus from idling for more than 15 minutes. This ordinance was designed to promote the right of the people to clean air, pure water, freedom from excessive and unnecessary noise, and the natural, scenic, historic and aesthetic qualities of the environment.
- Hartsfield-Jackson bears the proud distinction of being "the world's busiest passenger airport". Because HJAIA is the busiest airport in the world we are committed to protecting our air quality. HJAIA's clean air initiatives include:
- Encourages Airlines to use single engine taxiing when possible.
- Promoted efforts for tenants to convert their Ground Support Equipment (GSE) such as ramp loaders, luggage carts, fueling carts, etc. fleets to electric equipment and their vehicle fleet to some form of AFV.
- Partnered with Delta Air Lines and MARTA to operate a Delta remote baggage check-in for passengers at the MARTA Airport Station. This induces passengers to take public transit to the airport.
- Commissioned Runway 10-28 in May 2006 which greatly reduces delays experienced by arriving and departing aircraft.
- Installed preconditioned air and ground power units at all gates. This helps limit the use of auxiliary power units (APUs) while an aircraft is at the gate.
- Construction of an end-around taxiway on Runway 8R which reduces the time arriving aircraft take to reach the gates, thus saving fuel and reducing emissions.
- Construction has begun on the Consolidated Rental Car Facility which will be served by an automated people mover (APM). The APM will replace shuttle buses to connect passengers between the airport and rental car agencies. The elimination of shuttle buses will reduce emissions and save fuel.
- Georgia Organics: (www.georgiaorganics.org) Georgia Organics promotes organic local food initiatives and guides individuals to farms, markets, restaurants, grocers, and other retailers committed to sustainable food and farms.
- Metro Atlanta is home to: 11 Farmers' Markets, 12 Farms, 15 Grocers and 18 Restaurants that serve locally grown organic foods.
- Local Organic Farmers Markets Including: Morningside Organic Farmers Market, Green Market at Piedmont Park, and Decatur Farmer's Market
- Local Organic Grocers Including: Rainbow Natural Foods, Return to Eden, Sevananda Natural Foods Markets, and Whole Foods Markets
- Local Organic Farms Including: Atlanta Community Food Bank, Gaia Gardens, Whippoorwill Hollow Organic Farm, and Serenbe Farms
- Local Restaurants Including: Alon's Bakery, Floataway Cafe, Blue-Eyed Daisy, Belly General Store, Rathbun's, Highland Bakery, R. Thomas Deluxe Grill, Watershed, and Woodfire Grill
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