January/February 2024 - 38

SUSTAINABILITY
AUTHOR Lisa Brown
1384613635 | ADVENTTR | GETTY IMAGES
Best Practices for Local
Government Leaders
to Spearhead Airport
Sustainability
Leaders need to understand the associated risks of projects and
how to overcome common challenges.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT leaders, like their counterparts in
other sectors and industries, are facing mounting pressure
to upgrade public facility infrastructure to be more
sustainable and efficient.
Why? Because aside from mitigating
the effects of climate change, efficient
buildings are a main component of communities
that engage residents, enable
thriving businesses, and promote resiliency
for years to come.
Not only do optimized buildings help
our planet, but they also keep occupants
safer and healthier and allow building
owners and businesses to cut costs and
drive value. Importantly, sustainability
projects can also create local jobs, while
the result attracts high-paying tenants
and top talent.
In the U.S., nearly all commercial
airports are publicly owned by state or
local governments, making them some
of the largest facilities under local leaders'
purview. Airports have an enormous
impact on the economy and growth of
their surrounding communities and host
people from all corners of the world, so
it's imperative they run as efficiently and
reliably as possible. For this reason, facil38
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ity leaders should focus on eco-friendly
operations, greater occupant comfort,
increased security measures, and more -
adopting digital technologies to achieve
these goals. Building automation systems
(BAS) can offer visibility and control
into all systems airport-wide, including
security, fire detection, access controls,
check-in systems, baggage handling, and
so much more. BAS technology can also
automate escalators and moving walkways
and communicate with HVAC
and lighting systems to keep travelers
and employees comfortable at all times.
Using these tools, stakeholders can synthesize
huge amounts of data and generate
insights to help meet decarbonization
and energy-efficiency targets.
Yet when planning for more sustainable
airports, local government leaders
need to carefully balance socioeconomic
and environmental priorities and may
face challenges along the way. Therefore,
they need to be aware of how to address
the various obstacles and risks
that
come hand-in-hand with retrofitting or
renovating public facilities so they can
reap myriad benefits in the long term. As
long as they're thoughtful of how green
projects might impact their budgets
and potentially disrupt flight schedules
or operability of crucial systems - especially
if a project gets stalled - they'll be
well prepared to overcome these hurdles.
The risks associated with sustainability
efforts should be managed by the entities
best equipped to do so, which, for
many local government leaders, means a
third-party partner with deep expertise.
This partner will be able to provide an
objective, holistic view into the local
governments' vision for a greener airport
and help develop a roadmap for greater
sustainability and efficiency - all while
mitigating risks and keeping costs manageable.
In fact, strategic partnerships for
sustainability will benefit local government
leaders in three key areas.
Audits/Assessments
The first step in the local leaders' journey
is evaluating the existing infrastructure
January/February 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of January/February 2024
