Cities can move the sustainability needle several ways

One sustainability trend that Matthew Britt predicts in local governments through next year is more construction spending. Britt is Honeywell’s general manager of smart cities. “In 2023, I expect to see a significant movement in public investments for community resiliency. This can be attributed to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s(IIJA) $1.2 trillion in funding hitting the market in the next one to two months. Communities across the country will be using this money to pay for significant infrastructure projects.”

Britt says that there are a host of different projects that IIJA can fund, including money for electric vehicle infrastructure and clean energy projects and resiliency. “Right now, our firm is working with cities across the nation to prepare them so that when the IIJA funds become available, they are able to go after that money.” Go to this Government Finance Officers Association report for a list of IIJA resources.

Britt predicts that in 2022-2023, cities will be investing further in electric vehicles (EV). He believes some communities will be building their own fleets. “We will likely see public investments in community resiliency projects to help cities and counties weather climate change disasters and extreme events that can cause power outages.” He predicts that cities will invest in infrastructure for residents to charge their electric vehicles and distributed energy assets. One example he offers is EV school buses. “They can turn into a sort of a ‘battery on wheels,’ serving both sustainable transit needs as well as bolstering their communities’ ever-growing resilience needs.”

Britt says there are a couple of ways cities and counties can win the sustainability race in the short term. He urges city-county officials to focus on reducing water and energy consumption (and the investments that help to accomplish that). He says those efforts can go a long way to quickly make communities more sustainable. “For example, smart metering systems can help detect leaks in water pipes, and therefore reduce waste.”

He explains that investing in eco-friendly lighting, like LED lighting, is another simple investment that can help make cities and counties more sustainable. “There has been a big uptick in communities moving their street lighting to sensor-enabled dynamic lighting. For instance, installing dynamic lighting in a public park that senses when people are walking nearby (and therefore, when to turn on or off) can make a difference in energy consumption.”

Britt says these kinds of initiatives can deliver sizable rewards. “While there is a large amount of effort that goes into designing and funding community resiliency programs, they are a major driver to reducing carbon emissions to ultimately create more sustainable communities.”

Britt says local governments can start their sustainability initiatives in buildings within a community. He notes that cities are hosts to many commercial buildings, which, as an industry, account for 37 percent of the world’s direct and indirect carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. (Data is from a recent International Energy Agency analysis.). “That’s why creating a more sustainable community starts with sustainable buildings—but the reality is that many building owners aren’t aware of how much carbon their buildings emit.”

Britt believes that cities should encourage local building owners to leverage technology to track and optimize their building’s energy performance against their carbon reduction goals. “Honeywell’s Carbon Energy Management System(CEMS) is a ready-now technology that enables building owners to support occupant well-being and measurably reduce energy use and carbon impact. In fact, Honeywell currently uses CEMS at its headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.”

Yes, Honeywell is based in Charlotte, and has operations in several primary areas of business: aerospace, building technologies, performance materials and technologies, and safety and productivity solutions.

Today, almost 50 percent of Honeywell’s revenue is linked to energy efficient products, and an expanding percentage supports clean air and clean water to promote good and safe living—especially in parts of the world where the need is greatest. More than half of the company’s engineers are focused on software development.

Honeywell has a cooperative contract with OMNIA Partners to provide energy performance contracting services to participants within the public sector. The firm’s innovative efforts enable a more comfortable and productive world that’s also safer. The company works to blend physical products with software to support connected systems that improve homes, buildings, factories, utilities, vehicles and aircraft. Go here to view the contract documentation.

Michael Keating is senior editor for American City & County. Contact him at [email protected].