Setting the Targets – Metro’s Sustainability Initiative
Metro’s sustainability targets both support the region’s sustainable growth and green the Authority’s operations.
The DC metropolitan region is predicted to continue to experience rapid growth through 2025. Over this period, Metro is seeking to expand capacity through Metro 2025 investments as part of Metro’s Strategic Plan Momentum. As a companion to Momentum, Metro’s Sustainability Initiative is both a commitment to “greening” operations inside and out and a plan to implement and mainstream that commitment. To coincide with this year’s Earth Day, the Authority launched Metro’s Sustainability Initiative, and with it, a set of ambitious but achievable performance targets.
Metro’s sustainability targets position the Authority to both support the region’s sustainable growth and to green the Authority’s operations. To highlight the dual role of Metro’s sustainability program, both regional and Authority focused performance targets have been set, as described below:
Regional Performance Targets:
- Increase ridership 25 percent by 2025 and increase transit’s “mode share” or the portion of commute trips;
- Connect Communities by ensuring that more of the region’s growth is served by transit; and
- Increase the net greenhouse gas the region avoids through transit use (greenhouse gas displacement) by 10 percent by 2025.
Internal Performance Targets:
- Reduce energy use per vehicle mile 15 percent by 2025, and cut in half greenhouse gas emissions per vehicle mile during the same period;
- Reduce potable water use per vehicle mile 20 percent by 2025;
- Source 30% of the electricity Metro uses from renewables by 2025;
- Achieve 100% on-site stormwater management for stations and facilities (no target date); and
- Achieve a 100% waste diversion rate/zero waste (no target date).
These performance targets allow Metro to track and manage its support of the regions sustainability goals and the Authority’s resource consumption – a measure of operational efficiency (per vehicle mile) – as well as enabling Metro to report annually on progress towards those aims.
This post forms part of a series featuring content from Metro’s Sustainability Agenda, part of Metro’s Sustainability Initiative.
To reduce energy consumption across the system, why not install automatic shutoffs on lesser-used escalators. A motion sensor would detect when a user is approaching the escalator and it would turn on. I see some escalators outside of stations constantly running, even during slow periods like the middle of the day, which must waste a lot of power.
@Nick – that’s a very good idea. I wonder if anywhere in the world uses ‘on demand’ escalators? My only questions would be a) is the start/stop an extra burden on the machine, and b) if the sensor goes bad, can there be a manual re-start?