ED101 Episode 1: Greening of Economic Development

Greening of Economic Development is a concept created by the United Nations Industrial Redevelopment Organization as a method to attain sustainable economic growth and promote sustainable economies.

How does the Saint Paul Port Authority Apply “Greening” in their work?

At the Saint Paul Port Authority, we’re in the business of getting things built.  The built environment, buildings across the united states contribute around, 45% of the carbon emissions in the united states.  At the Port Authority since 2003 we have done advanced energy modeling of buildings that are being built in our business centers.  At beacon bluff our most recent business center we are actually carbon foot printing that entire development. So, we can report back to policy makers, to regulators, to communities, These are highly efficient buildings and we strive to incentivize and educate our businesses to build the most energy efficient, least greenhouse gas producing building, that they can provide.  We will not solve the challenge of irreversible climate change without addressing the carbon emissions from our built environment, from the construction and operation of our buildings. The Port Authority takes this very seriously, the state of Minnesota takes this very seriously, and we think we are playing a good part in helping meet that challenge.

What is SPPA’s Green Design Review?

Port Authority green design review has several components.  One of the most important is something called “whole building energy simulation.”  So, before that building is built, we want to understand the variety of options for how the entire range of energy systems within that building will function, and how we might optimize the building envelope, the HVAC systems.  We require an examination of renewable rooftop PV in particular, and we also educate them and work with them to do next generation storm water management and best management practices related to the function of their entire site.