Carbon cutting

Jan. 7, 2015

Dieters have long known that the best way to cut carbs from one’s diet is to make creative substitutions. The same philosophy holds true for airports trying to cut their consumption of carbons to reduce--or even eliminate--their output of greenhouse gas emissions.

To date, many airports have successfully slashed their greenhouse gas outputs, but none have achieved carbon neutrality in their airport-controlled operations—at least until now. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick announced in June the state’s intention to make Nantucket Memorial Airport the first airport in the country to completely eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from its airport-controlled operations.

Once all elements of the project are completed, Massachusetts’s second busiest airport will be known as a net-zero airport, where the amount of energy used by the facility on an annual basis is roughly equal to the amount of renewable energy created onsite.

“Nantucket Memorial Airport is always looking ahead. They are constantly looking at ways to decrease emissions at the airport, reduce their energy consumption load, and improve the environment,” says Doreen Hamilton, energy account executive for Honeywell Building Solutions, one of the key players in the project spearheaded by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Aeronautics Division and Volpe National Transportations Systems Center (Volpe).

“What’s even greater about this project,” she says, “is Volpe would like to take the Nantucket program and use it as a blueprint to help other airports and transportation centers across the United States decrease their emissions.”

SUBHEAD: Phase I

In October 2012, MassDOT’s Aeronautics Division and Volpe sought solicitations from state airports interested participating in a carbon neutral airport program. They selected seaside airport on the island of Nantucket, which has an estimated 100,000 enplanements annually, for the project.

Choosing Nantucket for the pilot made perfect sense, according to Nantucket Airport Manager Thomas Rafter. “Nantucket has a storied tradition as a community of seafarers, and its whaling fleet was once at the heart of the world’s energy and transportation economies,” he says. “The concept of sustainable transportation is something that makes sense on Nantucket, and is something I feel the community can really get behind and be proud to showcase.”  

Noah Karberg, the environmental coordinator at Nantucket Airport, agrees, saying the project allows the airport to do its part to preserve the island.  “The airport as a coastal land owner depends on the island for its survival and its ability to maintain this beautiful beach destination,” he says. “The biggest threat to the island’s rare plant and animal species, sea level rise and erosion, is rain shift associated with climate change.”

Phase I moved ahead in 2013, with data collection, inventory and the development of an RFP to select an energy service company. Noah Karberg, the environmental coordinator at Nantucket Airport, and his team worked to develop the airport’s greenhouse gas baseline, technical needs and wants, and the RFP. From this information, they selected Honeywell Building Solutions to implement the program.

At the same time, a planning Advisory Group was established to assist in decision making. The group includes the Aeronautics Division, Volpe, MassDOT’s Office of Transportation Planning; MassDOT’s Energy Committee; the FAA; the Massachusetts Port Authority; general aviation airports; the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs; Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act staff; the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Honeywell Building Solutions then conducted an energy audit, which is currently 60 percent complete. This audit defined the airport’s energy baseline, cataloged all systems that consume energy and/or water, and considered where the cost of that consumption is headed. The company then gauged the environmental impact of doing x, y or z to offset these costs.

Karberg reports the energy audit revealed that the airport’s largest source of electricity usage was its lighting, especially on the airfield. “The airfield has lights and signs, and flashing things, which are on from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.,” he says. “In an airport everything is bigger and costs more to operate.”

Not only that, but Karberg says that as carriers come on and the number of flights increases, the airport’s energy use increases in kind. And, Nantucket, being an island, is tethered to the mainland by two electrical cables, which are nearing capacity. “The island’s peak load has been increasing to the point where the utility is looking at building a third cable, which would have a large impact on electricity rates,” he says. “With electricity as our big driver, the airport can really gain by controlling these costs.”

The audit also considered the airport’s master plan, which the airport is actively putting together now. Honeywell suggested including various systems in that 20-year plan that can help the airport maintain carbon neutrality throughout the life of the project.

SUBHEAD:Phase II

In the fall of 2013, the project entered its second phase, which involves the actual implementation of energy conservation measures and renewable energy installations designed to bring the airport to carbon neutrality. “Phase II is a mixture of what we call ECMs (energy conservation measures) and renewable energy projects designed to bring the airport to carbon neutrality over a 20-year term,” says Hamilton. “Honeywell looks at every energy source in the airport and determines how we can decrease it, before we guarantee energy savings.

The resulting plan, when implemented together, will reduce existing energy consumption at the airport by 100 percent. Plans include installing indoor and outdoor LED lighting; retro-commissioning major mechanical systems (including energy recovery ventilators); building envelope improvements; a cross-building integrated building management program; highly efficient infrared garage heating; boiler burner replacements and other measures. Photovoltaic panels will generate enough energy to supply or offset the remaining energy consumption. Solar thermal technology is also planned to reduce heating oil use in hot water heating.

“We are looking at lighting upgrades and lighting control systems, retro-commissioning the airport’s geothermal system, a solar installation, an energy management system, water and sewer conservation measures, and the building envelope and weatherization,” says Hamilton.

The airport is sizing its solar energy system at 2 Megawatts, with plans to eventually grow it to a 4 MW site, to take advantage of Massachusetts’s Net Metering Law, which allows customers of certain electric distribution companies to generate their own electricity to offset their electricity use. 

The energy management system in the facility should also make a tremendous difference in the amount of electricity used, according to Hamilton. CO2 sensors can control the heating and lighting specific areas of the facility based on occupancy. “So instead of having the temperature set at 70 degrees when no one is in the area, it might be set to 60 degrees,” she says. “It is a better use of energy and decreases the airport’s consumption of fossil fuels.”

And while most of the lighting upgrades involved a standard conversion/retrofit to LED lighting, Nantucket Airport seeks to add an automated pilot-controlled lighting system where pilots can actually turn the lights on and off as they approach or leave the ramp. “Currently we have the lights on 24/7 to illuminate a ramp that’s heavily used in the summer, but not so much in the winter,” she says.

All in, the improvements could add up to an estimated $7 to $8.5 million, which will be financed through a tax exempt municipal lease, while tax credits from the State of Massachusetts and utility incentives will further buy down the cost of the project.  Work will begin May 1, 2015, and will conclude by mid-year 2016. Honeywell guarantees savings on energy and water/sewer bills over a 20-year term to pay for the project.

The program, when fully implemented, will eliminate nearly 1,000 metric tons of carbon emissions each year at the airport (the same as the carbon sequestered after planting 94,017 tree seedlings and growing them for 10 years).

“This project represents one way where we can do our part,” says Karberg. “When I can start putting numbers down on operational savings, we can portion that savings to other projects and features for the airport.”

SUBHEAD: The future

Getting staff buy in to these changes has been fairly easy, says Karberg, because support for it came from the top. “It started with the airport manager and it has his full support,” he says.

The airport is currently looking at adding an internal educational program for staff, highlighting the ways they can conserve energy, as well as developing a public relations tool that can be distributed throughout the community and to airport passengers.

“Conserving energy [after all of these things are in place] is really about addressing human behavior, and making sure people are turning off the lights, asking managers to watch over their departments and find ways to conserve, and continually looking for new technologies that might further reduce energy consumption,” he says.

To that end, Karberg says the airport is looking at various incentive programs that reward employees or departments for maintaining the greatest monthly percentage of energy savings. And, if a department, such as the maintenance staff, can show a specific operational savings, the money they save won’t go back into the general operating fund, it will return them to the department where they originated, so it might purchase needed gear or equipment.

“It allows them to see the results of not only the airport’s efforts but their individual efforts as well,” he says.

Nantucket Memorial Airport is setting the standard for other airports to follow. It’s a project that demonstrates the success that can be achieved when the public and private sectors come together to promote energy efficiency and reduce carbon outputs for the benefit of all.