Wednesday April 20 we toured the Austin Convention Centre, which features leading edge sustainability building design and practices. By Australian standards this convention centre is enormous with a floor area of 890,000
Austin's Plug In Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
Austin Convention Centre back room waste recycling sorting station
square feet. But we were told that by US standards it is only small to medium size!
Sustainability elements of the Austin Convention Center include double glazing, water efficient fixtures, and irrigation to reduce waste, green roofing, use of recycled carpet tiles with 73% recycled content and compact and T5 fluoro lighting that is progressively being upgraded to LED.
Austin Convention Center is powered by 100% Renewable Energy, with photovoltaics being installed to supplement energy requirements. HVAC cooling is achieved by using chilled water that is provided by Austin Energy. See comments below. The waste recovery and recycling efforts here are outstanding with around 65% recovery being achieved. See photo.
In the afternoon we met with staff of Austin Energy and staff of the climate change group within the Office of Sustainability.
Austin Energy has installed an off peak heat pump ice maker that provides chilled water to major CBD buildings for HVAC. This has delivered energy savings to customers, and reduces the networks peak demand loads.
With the aid of a government grant, Austin Energy is installing 240 volt plug in vehicle stations across the City, with 25 installed thus far and 200 by the end of 2011. In addition 110 volt stations are being installed for electric scooters and bicycles. Accessed by credit card, the stations may be used for a flat fee of only $25 per quarter, regardless of power used!
Charging of electric cars typically takes 4 hours for a full charge, but in practice it is anticipated that these charging stations will be used for intermediate top up only.
Clearly electric vehicles are going to be a major form of transport in future, and Austin is proactively providing for this inevitability. Austin has recently purchased a fleet of electric utility vehicles.
Sustainable transport is clearly one of Austin’s strengths, with numerous cycleways and walking trails and an inexpensive Metro system that only costs $7.00 per week for unlimited travel in the metro area or $10.00 per week in the region! Incentives are offered by Austin Energy to their customers to switch to electric scooters, bicycles, bikes and vehicles of $150, $150, $250 and $500 respectively.
Weird Green Austin Wildlife
Climate Change Fellows, Wayne and I at Austin's famous Barton Springs