RPA Buffers maintain the environment of streams but serve the greater purpose of filtering water and airborne pollutants for the region
Does Fairfax have the dynamics to create a thriving industrial base? When most people create the image of Fairfax in their head they see a county which is built to capacity, priced for higher income residential lands, and lacks anything that could be considered heavy freight capacity. This is an image which has been created over decades of suburban sprawl. Unfortunately this mind set ignores one of the greatest economic possibilities of Fairfax County, the Route 1 corridor. For years county officials have attempted to create a solution to the regions that have been blighted by strip malls and aged communities along Route 1, areas which many county residents except for military avoid all together. With the new BRAC plans as well as several areas which are underutilized along the Chesapeake, Fairfax now has the opportunity to attract skilled manufacturing capacity to these forgotten areas. In Part 1 of our analysis we looked at the benefits of industrial land use in supporting a diverse local economy, but industrial uses must be carefully enabled in a region to ensure the health and environmental impacts of these facilities will not detour residential development.
Viyellatex Plant will be a carbon neutral garment factory in Bangladesh
Many people view industry in a 20th century mindset of endless and decayed concrete jungles of smokestacks and pollution. While many older industries have had little incentive to improve standards, newer industries facing backlash from jurisdictions have adapted with the times and created new formats which reduce their pollution and aesthetic impact on a region. The cities of Portland and Seattle, hubs of environmentalism, show that all parties can benefit if compromise and logical locating can be accomplished. Most in this region who oppose industry may not understand how little impact it will really have. The areas that are most efficient for these uses will be directly along Heavy Rail and shipping routes of the Chesapeake. By allowing compact but efficient industrial uses along these existing corridors, largely unused currently, the county can leverage this existing capacity to attract manufacturing. The benefit of these remote regions along rail corridors is they also maintain well intact environments that are mature and capable of providing healthy buffers and remediation for pollutant sources inherent in industrial uses. By creating these natural filters in combination with new construction standards the environmental impacts can be limited.
Many modern factories incorporate green roofs to reduce runoff impacts to regional waterways
The Northern Virginia region was of course built around the Chesapeake Bay, and environmental protection of this vital resource is extremely important. However, many might be surprised that agricultural uses far exceed all other uses for pollution to the Bay for sources of Total Suspended Solids and nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen which can create plumes of the dangerous blue green algae, one of the biggest causes of fish kills and watercourse pollution. This is not to say that industry is a clean alternative to farming, but instead to point out the misconception that rural and vegetated uses are always cleaner than industrial uses. If created properly, new industrial properties can be designed to reduce land use and incorporate pollution controls that far exceed those currently in place in agricultural zones. The key to this capability is to increase the density allowed for these industrial uses to reduce the footprint which makes chambered and structural pollution controls much more viable. Specialized industries have shown that they are willing to concede these environmental controls, regardless of price tag, as the benefit for well connected facilities far exceeds these initial costs.
The typical concept of industrial facilities provided within a city has poor transportation and freight options and is confined by mixed uses
These industrial uses have shown that they not only bring a manufacturing base but also the management, financial, consulting, and retail benefits of a new form of commerce. Accounting and consulting firms would now gain a new diverse prospect that can also deviate them away from the current federal dynamic and ensure a healthy base in many more economic conditions. Through innovations in LEED practices both the industrial use and community can see the benefit of 25% energy reductions as summarized in the USGBC 2008 Energy Performance for New Buildings report.
A typical cistern provides storage capacity for rainwater for future uses such as irrigation or non-potable industrial uses
Beyond building efficiency designs additional benefits can be attained through the use of practices such as rainwater harvesting and solar paneling. Typically 100,000 gallons of cistern will equal approximately $100,000 construction/material. For a 30,000 sf rooftop (150′ x 200′) sized for the typical rain event of 1 inch a cistern would need to be 20,000 gallons in size or approximately $20,000. This cistern will collect 40 inches per square foot of rooftop every year in the Northern Virginia area which accounts for 750,000 gallons of rainwater harvesting which can be used for several industrial processes that typically would use potable drinking water. At current prices of $2.00 per 1000 gallons this would account for a $1500 cost savings every year for just this building and would return the initial investment in approximately 15 to 20 years when including the additional plumbing costs necessary. In addition to this tangible cost savings the developer gains the benefit of attaining stormwater management and quality controls for runoff, costs that are comparable to the $20,000 cistern construction. The watershed sees no runoff impact from the reduction in permeable surface due to this re-use of rainwater.
The lamborghini plant in Italy now incorporates photovoltaic solar panels to reduce outside energy consumption
Solar panels have also shown a capability of reducing operation costs as well as the overall carbon footprint of a facility. A 30,000 sf farm of solar panels would cost approximately $3.0 million in capital for the developer. Each square foot of solar panel attains approximately 20kw per year for a total of 600,000 kwh. This energy reduction at current rates of $0.15 per kwh would account for $90,000 of savings per year. With rising energy prices predicted over the next generation to double by many experts these rates could reach $0.30 per kwh within the life cycle which would account for $180,000 of savings per year. The return on investment would therefore take between 20 and 35 years.
By providing rainwater harvesting in correlation with green roof practices that can doubly serve as employee spaces the impacts of uncontrolled runoff are mitigated. Parking areas can be created from permeable pavement and the facilities can be located along healthy and stable environments which can help filter the remaining pollutants incurred along with typical disposal practices of unacceptable effluents.
Provisions of water and energy efficiency methodology in industrial construction is often overlooked for the unique and modern images of 21st century office buildings, however unlike those structures industrial facilities require the grey water and energy surplus demands that no other functions can utilize. For this reason industrial facilities which often remain operational for well beyond the typical 50 year lifespan of typical buildings can sensibly reduce operation costs and provide significant environmental benefits. More importantly these industrial facilities create an identity and diversity for the economics of a region which help to buffer a community against recessions.
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