A sustainability program is changing wasteful behaviors in Charlotte, N.C., by doing one simple thing: showing employees exactly how much electricity they’re consuming.
As part of the “smart city” movement harnessing data to drive action, Envision Charlotte installed kiosks with real-time data on energy usage in the lobbies of roughly 60 of the largest office buildings in Charlotte’s central business district, collectively reaching more than 67,000 employees. A first-of-its-kind partnership between public and private groups, the kiosks were installed at no cost, since the program’s two backers — Duke Energy and Cisco — believe they’ll earn $5.3 million in savings from the investment.
“This is an unprecedented plan to align business interests with smart grid technology in a way that can propel Charlotte to the forefront of energy efficiency,” says Michael Regan, the Environmental Defense Fund’s regional energy director. “Envision Charlotte is one of the most forward-thinking projects on the East Coast.”
Since its 2011 launch, the constant reminder has already changed the way employees act, encouraging them to turn off lights or limit air conditioning in unoccupied rooms. “As soon as people start seeing [their consumption levels], you intuitively start thinking about your actions,” says Amy Aussleker, executive director of Envision Charlotte. The program has already resulted in an 8.4 percent drop in energy use, nearly halfway to the Queen City’s goal of a 20 percent reduction by next year.
Up next? Envision Charlotte wants to present more data to office workers, Aussleker says, including sensors in trash cans to weigh pounds of waste produced and water meters to gauge usage — data that researchers will then tie back to emissions of smog-forming pollutants released into the air.
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Tag: Walk San Francisco
Can a New Kind of Sidewalk Save Lives?
In San Francisco, up to 50% of all traffic fatalities are pedestrians, nearly four times the national average. In fact, three pedestrians are hit each day, accounting to a yearly average of 20 deaths. With statistics like these, it’s obvious that something has to change. So why not the streets?
An architecture firm from the Bay Area has come up with an idea that will not only help make pedestrians more visible to drivers, but also turn street corners and medians into useable public space. The design, which was dreamt up as part of a project by pedestrian advocacy group Walk San Francisco, creates “bulb-outs” — curb extensions that make sidewalks bulge into the street, increasingly the visibility of pedestrians who are waiting on the corner. These extensions have high ridges that not only protect pedestrians from drivers, but can also be turned into planters for community gardens.
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“We didn’t want a strict dichotomy between street and sidewalk,” says Zoe Prillinger of Ogrydziak Prillinger Architects, the firm that created the plan. “We’re interested in ambiguity, the idea of sharing and negotiation — between park and city, street and sidewalk, and cars and pedestrians.”
The firm’s design is part of a larger project called WalkFirst, a collaboration between San Francisco agencies — including the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the Planning Department, the Public Health Department, and the City Controller’s Office — that will prioritize capital improvements over the next five years to make the city a safer place to walk. The hope is that projects like this one will decrease pedestrian injuries and fatalities by 50% over the next seven years.
MORE: You Won’t Believe How Much These Smart Streetlights Could Save Us