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Duwamish Youth Participate in Air Pollution Science Project

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Duwamish Valley teens recently partnered with local scientists to gauge the success of urban greening efforts with the help of an unlikely ally: moss! Though often overlooked, moss has proven to be an effective tool in assessing regional air quality. Duwamish Valley Youth Corps (DVYC) members are learning how to collect samples for testing and using these new skills to benefit their community.

Seattle’s Office of Sustainability and Environment is a partner in the Green Duwamish Learning Landscape (GDLL). GDLL is a collaborative effort between several local and federal organizations, alongside the Duwamish Valley community, that is working to collect information evaluating the effects of urban greening efforts while monitoring change over time in the Duwamish River Watershed.

Air quality in the Duwamish Valley is poor and the City is always open to partnering with the community to make improvements. This project trains DVYC members to participate in a community-led science effort using moss from street trees in South Park and Georgetown to monitor air pollution. Twenty DVYC youth are learning scientific protocols to collect and prepare moss samples for analysis. The end goal is to identify specific hotspots and actions to mitigate air pollution impacts on the community.

There is a long history of using moss as an inexpensive screening tool to assess areas beset by heavy metal air pollution. Unlike root-based plants, moss absorbs most of its nutrients from the atmosphere. Moss leaves lack a protective outer layer, which allows for the absorption of water and other substances across their entire surface, creating a “footprint” of the surrounding atmosphere. Previous studies in the Pacific Northwest have used a variety of moss species to screen air pollution in the Pacific Northwest; GDLL is specifically collecting Lyell’s bristle-moss (Orthotrichum lyellii), commonly found on local deciduous trees.

This work is part of the ongoing implementation of the Duwamish Valley Action Plan and will identify potential impacts while directing outcome actions to improve the community’s health and quality of life. The project provides green job training, economic development, community empowerment, cross sector collaboration, and on-the-ground environmental improvements to community residents. For more information, contact the City’s Urban Forestry Advisor, Sandra Pinto de Bader, at Sandra.Pinto_de_Bader@seattle.gov.

And while you’re here, check out this video to see the great impact the DVYC is having in their community! 

Announcing the 2019 Environmental Justice Fund

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Deadline for proposals in September 16

In partnership with Bullitt Foundation, the Office of Sustainability & Environment is excited to announce the second cycle of the Environmental Justice Fund, a grant opportunity for community-led projects that invest in communities’ ability to improve environmental conditions and respond to impacts of climate change.

The Environmental Justice Fund was co-created by the Environmental Justice Committee—12 people with deep community roots who work closely with communities on environmental justice issues—with support from the Seattle Office of Sustainability & Environment.

The Environmental Justice Fund recognizes that the most effective environmental and climate solutions come from the community itself and that community members are in the best position to design and carry out projects that include community, culture, nature, family, health, food and/or education.

Communities of color and people of color-led organizations are invited to submit proposals for projects. Projects should be led by and benefit the people most affected by environmental inequities: communities of color, immigrants, refugees and Native people—including people with low incomes, youth, and seniors—who live, learn, work, worship and play in the City of Seattle.

There is $200,000 in funding available from the City of Seattle, with grants administered by the Bullitt Foundation. The maximum grant award will be $40,000. Projects may begin as soon as January 2020 and must be completed by June 2021. Proposals are due by 4:00 pm on Monday, September 16, 2019.

Meet Ximena Fonseca-Morales, OSE’s new Equity & Environment Initiative Program Coordinator

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The Office of Sustainability & Environment is thrilled to introduce the newest member of our team: Ximena Fonseca-Morales is the new Program Coordinator for Seattle’s Equity & Environment Initiative.

Ximena, who immigrated to the Pacific Northwest from Peru in 2003, brings years of experience leading meaningful community engagement and approaches her work through a lens of race and social justice. Her work in the nonprofit and public sectors has allowed her to advance environmental and climate justice as well as health equity. She is constantly reminded of the intrinsic connection we have to the environment, both natural and built, and is inspired by how different communities define the environment. In this role, she is most excited to continue working with community to help elevate creative solutions that help us work toward achieving environmental and climate justice.

Ximena most recently worked for Washington County’s Environmental Health program where she focused on partnership development and led community engagement efforts on a wide range of environmental topics including air quality, water, and food safety. After spending the last eight years between both coasts, Ximena is thrilled to be back in the PNW and to call Seattle home. She holds an MA in Climate & Society from Columbia University and a BA in environmental science from Barnard College.

Seattle Justice Center Improvements Lead to 19% Energy Savings and 25% Reduction in Carbon Emissions

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Seattle’s Building Tune-Up program helps building owners identify smart, responsible ways to reduce energy and water costs. Like cars and bikes, all buildings need to be tuned regularly to keep them running as efficiently as possible. Seattle buildings that are 50,000 sq. ft. and larger are required to complete a building tune-up every five years. As part of Seattle’s ongoing climate leadership, the City committed to completing tune-ups at on City buildings one year in advance of deadlines for the private market. The results of these early tune-ups are starting to come in and we’re pleased to share them with the public.

Building managers at the Seattle Justice Center completed all tune-up actions by last spring. After a year’s worth of tracking and adjusting for weather normalized use, the results demonstrate notable improvements in both energy and carbon savings. Before the tune-up, the Justice Center’s “energy use intensity” (EUI) was 73.8 and now the building’s EUI is 59.8. EUI is a common building energy metric that expresses the measurement of a building’s annual energy consumption relative to its gross square-footage.

The improvements in the Seattle Justice Center’s EUI represent an overall energy savings of 19% and a 25% reduction in carbon emissions. Additionally, the upgrades will bring an annual savings of $57,000!

For more information on the specific corrective actions that were performed  to achieve these savings, check out the Seattle Justice Center Tune-Up Case Study.

Proposals for Environmental Equity Projects Now Being Accepted!

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Project proposals are now being accepted for the King Conservation District (KCD) – Seattle Community Partnership Grant Program for natural resource improvement projects led by or are in deep partnership with communities in Seattle that are most impacted by environmental injustice and systemic racism. This year we will distribute roughly $400,000 to established nonprofits, tribal organizations, and community organizations with a fiscal sponsor. Community groups can apply for up to $75,000

The program advances the City of Seattle’s Equity and Environment Initiative and KCD’s natural resource priorities by funding projects that build community awareness about environmental issues, manage stormwater with green infrastructure, protect and restore water bodies, build healthy soil, support the urban forest and a sustainable local food system.

Organizations and groups are encouraged to apply for projects that benefit communities that have been disproportionately impacted by environmental injustice and systemic racism and that enhance natural resources through direct improvements, education and outreach, pilot or demonstration projects, or capacity building support.

Letters of Intent (LOI) are due by 5pm on Monday, July 15, 2019. All application materials and information regarding project requirements and eligibility can be found on KCD’s website. For more information, contact Jessica Saavedra, 425.282.1906.

WA Ranked 3rd Nationwide for LEED Buildings — Seattle’s Fire Station 22 Featured as a Notable Project

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Earlier this year, the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) announced the top 10 states in the nation for LEED Green Buildings in 2018, and Washington state took the 3rd spot – the highest in its history – behind Illinois (1st) and Massachusetts. States were ranked based on the square footage of LEED buildings certified per capita. Seattle’s Roanoke neighborhood Fire Station 22, a LEED Platinum facility, was featured as the state’s notable project in USGBC’s announcement. 

Seattle Fire Station 22

Seattle’s Sustainable Buildings & Sites Policy requires that all City-owned properties meet the LEED Gold standard along with other key performance requirements for energy, water, waste, and transportation. Fire Station 22 is one of over 40 facilities that were LEED-certified under the policy since its inception in 2000 and is one of only three City facilities, all fire stations, to have attained a LEED Platinum rating.   

Fire stations tend to be some of the most energy- and water-intensive facilities out there due to the nature of their critical, round-the-clock provision of emergency services. Creative solutions were, therefore, required to meet the already challenging LEED Platinum threshold. Here are some highlights from the Fire Station 22 project’s online LEED profile page: 

  • 10,150 square feet, certified in April 2018 
  • High-performance building envelope with highly efficient mechanical & plumbing systems 
  • 15-foot deep roof overhang that increases stormwater collection, houses a PV array, and provides solar shading 
  • 100% of water used for irrigation and 60% of water used for toilet flushing and truck washing comes from harvested rainwater 
  • Circadian lighting strategies to reduce energy use and assist with sleep rhythms for firefighters 

Thanks to these strategies, Fire Station 22 is expected to exceed the energy performance required by Seattle’s sustainable building policy by 23%.  Congratulations to the design and construction teams led by Weinstein A+U and Par-tech Construction and to the Capital Development and Construction Management division in the City’s Department of Finance and Administrative Services, including Division Director Dove Alberg, Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy Program Manager David Kunselman and Fire Station 22 Project Manager David Jackson! 

Seattle Releases Third Environmental Progress Report to Celebrate Earth Day

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Today, the Office of Sustainability & Environment released the third update of Seattle’s environmental progress report showing that Seattleites continue to be leaders in environmental actions including taking transit, conserving energy, and reducing waste.

Seattle Great Wheel & Skyline image

First released in 2014, Seattle’s environmental progress report assembles key citywide environmental metrics in one place. The report highlights Seattle’s progress towards goals in environmental categories such as climate, building energy, transportation, food, trees and green space, and healthy environment and includes outcomes by race and impacts to people of color where possible, to track progress on the City’s commitment to eliminate racial disparities in environmental outcomes.

“For Earth Day I am pleased to share information showing how broad and deep Seattle’s commitment to environmental progress is,” said Jessica Finn Coven, director of the Office of Sustainability & Environment. “This work doesn’t just live with one department. Multiple City departments are doing really great work in moving us toward a more sustainable and more environmentally just city. And we know our most exciting efforts are spearheaded by the thousands of Seattleites who take action to protect our environment every day.”

Some of the key findings include:

  • Seattle’s “Drive Alone Rate” in Center City is now just 25%. This continues an encouraging trend of more people using transit to commute to work as opposed to driving alone. 
  • Seattle’s Fresh Bucks food access program saw a big boost in usage in 2018 over 2017—due to additional funding from the Sweetened Beverage Tax—with Fresh Bucks being used 47,305 times to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables in 2018.
  • The amount of stormwater Seattle manages through nature-based methods increased 35% since 2016. Seattle now manages 260 million gallons of polluted stormwater annually through green stormwater infrastructure.

Seattle’s environmental progressis updated every two years to track progress over time. The report was developed by the City’s Office of Sustainability and Environment, which works to develop innovative environmental solutions that foster equity, vibrant communities, and shared prosperity.

Seattle’s Municipal Buildings On Track to Meet Energy Efficiency Goal

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Seattle recently released the 2016-2017 City of Seattle Building Energy Performance and Carbon Emissions Report. The report provides 2017 energy use data (and compares it to 2016 data) for all City facilities larger than 10,000 square feet, as well as all libraries, community centers, fire stations and police stations.

The City’s goal is to reduce energy use across City-owned buildings 20% by 2020 (from 2008). Based on this analysis, we have achieved 14.5% reduction in energy use across the municipal portfolio through 2017.

The report shows that, where the City has focused on energy efficiency, we’re seeing energy savings. The report also highlights a number of facilities where energy use increased, generally reflecting extended hours, additional programming, changing use, mechanical system or equipment failures, or a return to expected usage after an abnormal dip in 2016.

Adjusted for weather, 63% of the portfolio saw energy use reductions in 2017, while the remaining 37% used more energy than in 2016. Adjusted for weather, year-over-year energy use intensity declined by 2.7% from 2016 to 2017, which brings cumulative portfolio-wide reductions to 14.5% (from 2008 baseline). This keeps us on track to meet our goal of 20% reduction in energy use intensity for municipal buildings by 2020. Congratulations to all of our departmental partners for progress towards these goals, and continuous hard work.

In addition to the results on energy consumption, the report also includes information on carbon emissions for each of the benchmarked buildings, and identifies key building groups that contribute most of the municipal portfolio carbon footprint.

 

Nearly 70% of Seattle’s Largest Buildings on Track To Be Compliant with New Building Tune-Ups Requirement

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Congratulations to the first cohort of buildings (200,000K+ SF) that have complied with the new Building Tune-Ups regulation by the March 1st deadline.

Seattle’s Building Tune-Up program requires buildings to optimize energy and water performance by identifying low- or no-cost actions related to building operations and maintenance, that generate 10-15% in energy savings, on average. The Tune-Ups legislation is a key piece of Seattle’s Climate Action Plan, our roadmap to achieving carbon neutrality, by helping ensure buildings don’t waste energy and water.

Feedback from Tune-Up Specialists has been positive, noting energy savings from implementing required corrective actions. Specialists have also noted that additional voluntary corrective actions have been identified through the assessment process, offering even greater energy savings opportunities for building owners. Tune-Ups on municipal buildings have shown similar results.

The Seattle Justice Center tune-up was an opportunity to optimize the building’s performance. Following an in-depth tune-up assessment, all required corrective actions were implemented and are projected to yield $35,000 in annual savings. By identifying additional voluntary corrective actions with a high return on investment, the City invested another $71,500 on energy efficiency measures that will result in $57,000 in annual savings. Combined, this Tune-Up offers a simple payback of 1.8 years. Read the Seattle Justice Center Tune-Up Case Study to learn more.

As of the March 1st deadline, nearly half of the first cohort of buildings (48%) were fully compliant through alternative compliance or by completing a tune-up, 8% of buildings were granted a one-year extension, and an additional 14% submitted incomplete tune-ups to indicate they are in the process of implementing corrective actions within the six-month grace period.

Help Advance Environmental Justice in Seattle!

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The Office of Sustainability & Environment is hiring two positions that will be instrumental in advancing environmental justice in Seattle. Both positions close on March 26.

Equity & Environment Program Manager
The Equity & Environment Program Manager  will bring strong management, policy, and stakeholder engagement skills to implement the City of Seattle’s Equity & Environment Initiative.

Equity & Environment Program Coordinator
The Equity & Environment Program Coordinator will serve as the OSE lead on outreach and engagement to stakeholders and residents, build community partnerships, support ongoing involvement of people of color, people with low incomes, immigrants and refugees, limited English proficiency individuals and Native peoples, manage grant distribution, and staff the Environmental Justice Committee.