Environmental Sustainability

MTA Vehicles

Intro

Although transportation is problematic when viewed through the lenses of social and economic sustainability, it has progressed somewhat when viewed from an environmental perspective. Specifically, the MTA has been at the forefront of using new technology to improve the efficiency of both its trains and buses. Many of these green improvements help to conserve fuel, reduce the amount of harmful emissions released into the atmosphere, and recycle/reuse materials.Still, the MTA is efficient even before considering all of the improvements that it has made. On its own, using public transportation is more efficient than driving a private vehicle. According to the chart above, by using public transit, there is less congestion, fewer car trips, and multiple land-use options. Greenhouse gases will still be released when riding trains or buses, but there is a significant decrease when more people use public transit over private vehicles such as cars.

Energy Conservation

LED and Fluorescent Lighting:

The switch from incandescent to fluorescent and LED lighting has not only helped save electricity but has also helped to make train stations brighter. These lights also have a long lifespan – 7,500 to 10,000 hours

  • LED’s are used to replace incandescent train signaling lights, with a 60% decrease in energy usage, and at the same time, help to improve brightness by 150%.
  • Fluorescent lights are used in subway stations, with a 28% decrease in energy usage, and an increase in the amount of light by 750 percent.

    Millennium Class Cars

Regenerative Braking:

New Millenium Class Trains, running on the 2,4,5,6,L,N,Q routes feature regenerative brake technology. When they brake, energy that would typically be released as heat is sent back to the Third Rail (a source of electrical power for trains).

Green Escalators:

New escalators are rolling out that can slow down and go into “sleep mode.” These escalators conserve thousands of kilowatts of power per day. They last longer and are projected to be more reliable than traditional escalators.

Water Conservation

Gray Water Filtering Facility

The Storm Water Management Program (SWMP) was created by the MTA to deal with storm water at transit facilities. The program allowed for the development of rainwater collection systems at the New Corona Car Washer and Maintenance Facility in Queens, and The Grand Avenue Bus Depot and Maintenance Facility. With these systems in place, rainwater is used to wash buses and trains. The leftover water, termed “gray water” is then filtered through tanks where it can be used again in the washing process or for other non-potable uses. Up to 80 % of rainwater can be recycled using this process.

Clean Fuel Buses and Reduced Emissions

Clean Diesel

In September 2000, NYC Transit switched all of its diesel buses to ultra-low sulfur fuel. It contains 90% less sulfur than regular fuel. In addition to the fuel transition, hundreds of buses had two-stoke engines replaced with cleaner-burning 4-stoke engines. Over 3,200 buses have been fitted with diesel particulate filters, helping to drastically reduce particulate emissions as well.

CNG Buses

MTA DesignLine Bus

These buses are considered to be slightly more efficient than diesel powered buses. A total of 1,112 CNG buses are operated under MTA agencies.

Hybrid Buses

A total of 1,171 hybrid buses are operated under MTA agencies, creating “the largest hybrid-electric bus fleet in the world.”

DesignLine Buses

These unique new buses are powered by spinning turbines, which re-charge a battery which in turn powers the wheels. Although only 8 have been temporarily placed in service, up to 87 may be in use in the near future.

Recycling and Reusing Materials

The Asset Recovery Unit was established to deal with overall waste disposal, recycling, and re-using of materials. The goal is to use safe and environmentally sound methods.

Scrap Commodity Management

Buried Subway Car

Tons of “scrap” are recycled each year. The scrap can take the form of steel, copper, brass, motors, generators, etc…and even subway cars and buses – buses can be cut and then further divided by a shredding process. Not only can the scrap be recycled, but it can also be sold for a profit.

Artificial Reef Project

This project is particularly innovative in that subway cars may be buried in the ocean to create marine habitats. Over 2,500 old subway cars have been shipped to various states along the East Coast for this purpose. Materials that would otherwise float or decompose are removed from the cars before they are buried.

Conclusions and Connections

Clearly, the MTA has been making progress with its concern for the environment and its innovative projects to achieve a lower carbon footprint for the environment. Yet, it is important to remember that several of these projects are still in the development stage and have not been widely implemented throughout the system, such as the green escalators and the DesignLine turbine buses. There is also the issue of certain technologies only being found on new vehicles, such as the regenerative braking found on Millennium Class trains.

As David Owen claims in his book Green Metropolis, environmental sustainability is dependent upon maximizing the number of people using public transportation over private vehicles. Essentially, everything is dependent on economic and social sustainability functioning cohesively. Unfortunately, as you can see on our other pages, this is not the case. Recent developments reveal that the MTA lacks adequate funding to effectively implement all of these new technologies in the mainstream. Additionally these technologies most likely will not be implemented throughout the system as a whole. People will feel left out and perhaps they might be discouraged from using public transit in general. Thus, as much as environmental sustainability seems to be the farthest along when it comes to achieving sustainability, it cannot in fact complete the big picture on its own.