The Roanoker March/April 2024 - 59

outdoors
he says of the two streets. " We're also working diligently
to connect neighborhoods to greenways. "
The city also hopes to focus resources on building up
the local electric vehicle infrastructure. While a large
portion of the infrastructure will be taken care of commercially
as more businesses recognize the importance
of offering EV chargers, the city is actively looking for
grant funding to expand EV infrastructure in the public
realm, including downtown, library and Berglund Center
parking lots.
To help make communities more climate resilient, the
city has been engaged in a substantial tree planting effort
for quite some time, but the effort has been boosted by
American Rescue Plan Act funds. The Northwest part
of the city has been targeted for tree planting due to it
being a " heat island " because of the lack of preexisting
trees. " Tree planning in urban cities like Roanoke has
become a priority due to its multifaceted benefits for the
environment, public health and the overall livability of
urban spaces, " White-Boyd says.
One of the other big efforts city residents may have
noticed was the 5-cent bag tax the city enacted in 2022 to
incentivize shoppers to bring their own bags with them.
The taxes collected have been used to purchase reusable
bags for those who receive federal benefits.
Leftwich describes the city as " just getting started "
when it comes to its efforts to engage external stakeholders.
In December the Roanoke City Council approved
a Climate Action Plan as part of its 2040 comprehensive
plan, which focuses on establishing a healthy
environment.
" It's the first formal effort-we've taken what we've
tried to do internally and then tried to focus it out in the
community as well, " he says. " We're going to continue
doing the things we do internally to reduce municipal
emissions, but we're also trying to do a certain amount
of outreach, education and connecting people and businesses
with resources so that they can also move towards
reducing their community emissions as well. "
The plan calls for a business liaison who will help connect
the community with resources. " At this time, there
are tremendous resources for both individual homeowners
and businesses to upgrade their facilities to have lower
emissions, " he says. " We see our role as helping to facilitate
and educate folks on what those resources are. "
The resources that are currently offered include rebates
for things like energy efficient HVAC units. " We will help
homeowners and homebuilders discover those rebates so
that we can have more efficient buildings, " he explains.
Leftwich stresses that it's important to get buy-in from
city residents on the numerous sustainability efforts. " We
know that we are unfortunately in a place and time where
we have put out a lot of carbon emissions into the environment
and we're starting to see the effects of global
climate change. We want to play our part, " he says.
TheRoanoker.com
The reduction of emissions, he adds, goes together with
the region's emphasis on the outdoors for recruitment and
tourism purposes. " We really see our clean air as part of
our marketing pitch for why businesses should locate here
and why people should locate here. We want to make
sure we keep that clean air. No one wants smog, " he says.
Many of the region's higher education institutions,
Virginia Western Community College being one example,
are also taking sustainability quite seriously.
" Virginia Western
sees sustainability as
enrichment of the
designed environment
to support generations, "
Kevin Witter,
director of facilities,
planning and development
at the college,
says. " Our strategy for
a sustainable campus
includes the operational
initiatives of
resource management
and active environmental
stewardship
by design. This entails
planning buildings,
landscape areas, infrastructure,
storm water,
parking areas, facility
use and facility scheduling
for sustainability.
Sustainability is incorporated
by intentional
design and is an organizational
principle
incorporated into all
campus projects. "
Like the city, the
college is updating
its outdoor lighting
with LED bulbs.
Additional sustainability-related replacement efforts
include the replacement of single pane windows with
thermal windows and frames in the Hall Family Business
Science and Humanities buildings, chiller and boiler
replacements that use the latest energy efficient units in
the Brown Library and gymnasium and a campus-wide
building automation update for HVAC system controls
and sensors aimed at improving energy efficiency.
Notably, the newest building on campus, the STEM
Building, has solar preheat of water heaters. The Strauss
Family Student Life Center is another example of the
college's commitment to sustainability, having earned
the LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental
MARCH/APRIL 2024 59
TOP: The STEM Building on the
campus of Virginia Western
Community College has solar
preheat of water heaters.
BOTTOM: Carilion New River
Valley Medical Center's
4,000-panel solar tracking
system provides the healthcare
system with energy savings, as
well as earnings from the sale
of Solar Renewable Energy
Credits.
COURTESY OF VIRGINIA WESTERN COMMUNITY COLLEGE / COURTESY OF CARILION CLINIC
http://www.TheRoanoker.com
The Roanoker March/April 2024

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