Greening Mass Transit & Metro Regions: The Final Report - MTA

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TRANSFORMATIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendation 1. Adopt LEED Silver Standards for All Applicable MTA Buildings
Expanding on the green innovations of its LEED-certified Corona Maintenance Shop and other recent projects, the MTA
should pioneer high-performance designs for all of its system facilities. To this end, the Commission urges that the MTA
adopt LEED Silver standards or higher for all new building projects, new construction, and major renovations wherever
applicable. And the MTA should either recommission existing buildings or pursue certifications as LEED Existing Buildings:
Operations and Maintenance (LEED-EB) where possible. For existing facilities, the MTA should determine which buildings
can be adapted to the LEED-EB criteria and then pursue recommissioning according to a prioritized schedule.
Recommendation 2. Develop New Green Design Standards for Transit Facilities
Since the current LEED categories do not cover transit-specific infrastructure, such as stations, electrical substations, and
pump rooms, the MTA should develop its own green building guidelines for facility design and renovation. The MTA Green
Building Guidelines should be drafted in consultation with the USGBC and offered as a model for transit agencies nationwide.
The MTA should then propose that the guidelines form the basis of a new LEED for Transit standard for transit facilities not
covered by existing LEED programs, thus disseminating the standards through an independent auditing organization. An
outline of the MTA Green Building Guidelines is shown later in this chapter with a full version to be available afterward on
the MTA website at www.mta.info/environment.
Recommendation 3. Intensify Green Renovations and Renewable Energy Sources at Existing MTA Facilities
Where existing facilities cannot be readily brought into LEED-EB compliance, the MTA should expand its program of energy
retrofits and building recommissionings. For energy audits, the MTA should set a goal of completing NYPA retrofits to
reevaluate 100 percent of major MTA facilities every 10 years. For recommissionings, the MTA should classify all of its
major facilities by age, system operations, and other factors to determine which can be recommissioned for optimal efficiency.
As part of its facilities review, the MTA should plan to increase the percentage of its energy base load generated
by on-site, renewable sources, both to reduce the carbon footprint of its building portfolio and as a hedge against rising
energy costs and power failures. Specific technologies proven to have quick payback, such as high-efficiency lighting and
motion-sensor based controls, should be fast-tracked for implementation while the comprehensive Facility Database and
Recommissioning schedule is finalized.
Recommendation 4. Adopt Green Lifecycle Analysis for MTA Buildings
The Commission recommends that the MTA adopt a form of green Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) to track the upfront costs and
long-term savings from high-performance design features – the same type of LCA process recommended in the Materials
Flow chapter of this report. LCA will support the previous recommendations by identifying and justifying long-term savings in
new building designs, in renewable on-site energy sources and in the renovation and recommissioning of existing structures.
Green Ideas from MTA Employees
“A predictive maintenance
program using infrared
thermography can help find
incipient electrical problems
before they affect operations.
This can help reduce
energy waste, save on maintenance costs and
increase safety.”
– Anthony Salamone, Metro-North Railroad
Right: This is an example of how a LEED standard
(LEED 2009 for New Construction) is being adapted
for use in the MTA Green Building Guidelines. This
example illustrates how some, but not all, LEED criteria
are applicable to MTA substations. It also includes
examples of MTA-specific environmental criteria
that will be used in the facility design process.