Good Idea, but New Maryland Clean Energy Center Fails to Cut Transportation Energy Consumption
COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release: Contact:
March 31, 2009 Stewart Schwartz, 202-244-4408 ext 121
Good Idea, but New Maryland Clean Energy Center
Fails to Cut Transportation Energy Consumption
“We appreciate the strong commitment of the state and area elected officials to investment in clean energy and the use of an existing, LEED-certified green building, but the location of the new Maryland Clean Energy Center at an isolated office campus in the I-270 corridor will unnecessarily consume much of the energy this initiative seeks to save. Most workers and visitors will drive to this location, which is far removed from the Shady Grove Metro Station,” said Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
“With so many underutilized Metro stations in both Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties, along with older suburban corridors ripe for redevelopment like Rockville Pike, the State is missing the opportunity to locate facilities in the most energy efficient location.”
“Reducing energy consumption and stemming greenhouse gas emissions are among the greatest challenges faced by this nation. Yet, it requires more than efficient buildings, it requires regionally accessible locations that reduce how much people have to drive,” said Cheryl Cort, the organization’s Policy Director. The transportation sector contributes 35 percent of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions while buildings emit 45 percent. Transportation is also the fastest growing source of emissions because of how we have continued to spread out development.
“Mixed use, compact, walkable designs help reduce transportation emissions and are a key solution, but the amount people drive is overwhelmingly determined by an activity’s regional accessibility. If we fail to account for location -- tying development to a high speed transit network -- we cannot effectively address climate change or reduce our dependence on petroleum,” said Cort.
The center’s Montgomery County site, at the University System of Maryland's Shady Grove campus is two to three miles west of the Shady Grove Metro station, the end of the Red Line. A far better showcase for energy efficiency would be placing the Clean Energy Center at one of the existing Metro stations in Montgomery or Prince George’s Counties.
ALSO SEE SIERRA CLUB – MONTGOMERY COUNTY GROUP STATEMENT and contact:
Pamela Lindstrom
Smart Growth Chair, Sierra Club – Montgomery County Group
Email: pamela.lindstrom@gmail.com Phone: 301-869-7139
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