Sustainability

Brownfields Conference, Sunday, May 4, 2008:

Tour of facility that used the following sustainability features:

-Rebuilt on existing site rather than use vacant land for new building.

-Uses wetlands to treat wastewater, than uses the “grey water” for flushing etc. (this requires an entirely separate plumbing system)

-Geothermal heating and cooling. This is a large site and previously had a separate power facility, which is not completely shut down due to the geothermal facility. Windows etc. used extensively.

While much of this isn’t necessarily practical for Lakeland, I think the concept brings home the point of “sustainability”. While much of this isn’t practical (at this time), certainly the concepts of reuse, use of existing land, avoid the waste of natural resources are important concepts.

Perhaps most of all, it emphasized that I can do more to encourage recycling, and more conservative use of our resources.