A greener airport: Sky Harbor tackles auto pollution

A greener airport: Sky Harbor tackles auto pollution
Phoenix targets a major source of greenhouse gases

by Jahna Berry - Sept. 16, 2009 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

One of Phoenix's biggest greenhouse-gas producers is taking huge steps to go green.

Sky Harbor International Airport is part of a citywide push to cut pollution, as Phoenix faces criticism from federal air-quality authorities and a self-imposed plan to reduce greenhouse gases.

The city is converting its airport-based vehicles to alternate fuels. Soon, officials will require all taxis that pick up at city airports to use alternative fuels. The city is building a $1.1 billion automated train that aims to take thousands of cars off the streets near Sky Harbor, the ninth-busiest airport in the nation.

In one sense, the plan is a drop in the bucket because it won't touch the airport's biggest source of pollution: the planes themselves.

Up to 90 percent of greenhouse-gas emissions at Sky Harbor are out of airport officials' control. That's the portion of pollution caused by jet engines, according to industry experts.

So, officials at Sky Harbor and the city's other airports will work to decrease the carbon footprint they can control: airport operations on the ground.

In that sense, the airport's goal looks significant. Of all Phoenix operations, ground traffic at the city's three airports - Sky Harbor, Phoenix Goodyear and Phoenix Deer Valley - produces 15 percent of the city's greenhouse gases, the second-biggest source of pollution after the city's water-treatment plants.

Those emissions include only city activities, such as an employee driving a fleet car to the airport, not private activities, such as a resident dropping off a friend or parking in an airport garage. The city's push doesn't apply to airlines' operations, but some carriers are making air-friendly changes, too.

The anti-pollution push under way at all three city airports predates Mayor Phil Gordon's March announcement that he planned to cut carbon emissions citywide. But Gordon's push has spotlighted Phoenix's environmental programs and added political momentum.

In October, Phoenix is to release its final climate-action plan. The goal is to cut carbon emissions to 5 percent less than the amount city operations produced in 2005, the last year in which complete data were taken. Then, total emissions measured 618,500 metric tons.

For the three city airports, the 2005 level was 92,775 metric tons.

"As global warming has come to the forefront of global and national attention, the city's participation in solving the problem is also growing," said Philip McNeely of Phoenix's Office of Environmental Programs.

Although the city can't control what the airlines do, it's important that the airports do their part to combat global warming, city officials say.

Reducing greenhouse gases is the main goal. "In many ways, it also makes good business sense," McNeely said, because reducing energy use saves money, too.

Phoenix's plan

Phoenix's plan to cut airport pollution includes several projects.

• Construction crews are building an automated train that will take passengers to Sky Harbor terminals, the rental-car facility and light rail. The first phase will open in 2013, and the final phase will be complete in 2020. The project could take as many as 20,000 cars off the road, about 20 percent of the traffic circling Sky Harbor, airport officials say.

• Sky Harbor has adopted new alternative-fuel rules for taxis that have permits to pick up passengers at the airport. When new taxi contracts go into effect, which is expected next year, those taxis must use one of several alternative fuels that meet city emissions standards: compressed natural gas; liquid propane gas or LPG; or E85 ethanol fuel.

Those rules, however, don't apply to taxis that drop off passengers at the airport.

• The airports are working to comply with a state mandate that requires that 75 percent of the city's 383-vehicle fleet and 108 buses use alternative fuels.

So far, 256 of the airport's operational vehicles use clean-burning or alternative fuels, or are hybrid vehicles. All 108 buses run on compressed natural gas.

The remaining vehicles were not available from the manufacturer using alternative or cleaner-burning fuels, airport officials say. Since the 1990s, Phoenix has invested more than $33 million for infrastructure and vehicles in its citywide efforts to reduce vehicle emissions through the use of alternative and clean fuels in city fleet cars.

Airplane emissions

Airlines operating at Sky Harbor are moving to cut their emissions on the ground, too.

Southwest Airlines and US Airways, Sky Harbor's major carriers, say they have taken steps to decrease emissions at Sky Harbor.

Both say their planes taxi on the airfield on a single engine, instead of two, which saves fuel. Also, when a US Airways airplane arrives at a Sky Harbor gate, it uses airport electricity to run its systems, instead of using more jet fuel, said Valerie Wunder, spokeswoman for the Tempe-based airline.

Both airlines are also replacing diesel-powered ground-support vehicles with electric versions. That includes belt loaders, which help get luggage on and off airplanes, and pushback tractors that tow airplanes.

Phoenix was the first place where Southwest introduced electric-powered ground-support vehicles such as tugs and baggage carts, said Paul Flanigan, Southwest spokesman.

More than 50 pieces of equipment at Sky Harbor have been converted, so far, he added. The airline also sends diesel equipment from other airports to Phoenix to be retrofitted, the spokesman added.

"Phoenix," Flanigan said, "is ahead of the curve from a green standpoint for us."

Big priority

Air quality is a huge priority in the Valley. The region is under federal scrutiny for having too much ozone - a colorless, odorless chemical that causes health problems - and dust in the air.

Exhaust from petroleum-powered machines, including cars and aircraft, are big contributors to air pollution, elevated ozone levels and global warming.

Sky Harbor isn't the only airport looking at greenhouse gases. Many airport managers, particularly in traditionally environmentally conscious cities in the West, are trying to curb emissions on the ground, said Jessica Steinhilber of the industry group Airports Council International-North America.

There are several motivations, the expert said. Many green policies, such as using energy-efficient lighting, deliver significant cost savings. Also, aviation leaders believe that some kind of federal emissions regulation is inevitable, and some local governments are adopting tougher emissions rules. By 2012, more stringent California emissions law will be in effect. California Attorney General Jerry Brown has struck agreements to help businesses lower emissions in advance of the new standard.

A shift in priorities

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a greenhouse-gas reporting rule that will require large industries to report their emissions, but city officials predict that Sky Harbor operations will not be impacted by that rule.

The green-airport trend also reflects a shift in public priorities, Steinhilber said.

"Airports, if you think about it, are really just an extension of their community," said Steinhilber, senior director of environmental affairs for ACI-NA.

"They are the public face of aviation, so they have that real sense of responsibility toward their community and doing the right thing."