Denver – A Model Healthy Community for Responsible Sustainability

As I travel around the planet, I pay close attention to see if local communities are embracing responsible sustainability and, if so, what evidence there is to see to what degree and widespread these communities are deploying sustainable practices. Many cities seem to put a positive spin on their commitment to responsible sustainability with little apparent demonstration beyond a few talking points. Denver, Colorado is clearly at the other end of the spectrum. No surprise that the quality of life in the area is amongst the highest in the U.S.

From the moment you first arrive in to Denver International Airport, it’s clear that the city’s efforts are deep and far-reaching. A few of the facility’s accomplishments include:

• implementation of a program that has led to a 75% reduction in generation of hazardous waste and a 5% annual reduction in solid waste
• 65% of the airport vehicle fleet is powered with alternative fuels;
• the installation of a 2 mega-watt solar array facility that generates more than 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually.

Sustainable Development And Ecologically-Friendly Practices

Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has led an effort in urban sustainability, culminating in the development of GreenPrint Denver – a long-term, citywide initiative to promote the importance of sustainable development and ecologically-friendly practices.
Many of us became aware of Denver’s approach to sustainable living and governing from our experience at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. It was then that we saw Denver’s master plan revealed for transportation, energy and water conservation, solid waste removal and many other tenets of preserving a quality life style. It was also there were we learned of Denver’s Bike Sharing Program which will be officially launched in Spring 2010, allowing residents and visitors alike to check out 600 bicycles from forty docking stations placed strategically around the city.

Healthy Community Programs

Users of the healthy community bike-sharing program will be able to use a credit card to check out a bike from an automated station at a rate of $2.99 an hour. A system of graduated fees will go up after the first 90 minutes as an incentive to return them at a check-in station. “We want the Public to use it for short trips,” says Steve Sander, Strategic Marketing Director for the city. “The whole point is to keep the bikes in use.” The Bike Sharing Program will also offer $50-per-month year memberships, which will allow for unlimited bike usage for trips less than thirty minutes. The goal is to have bicycling comprise 20 percent of all work commutes in Denver by 2016

Internationally, bike sharing programs are becoming much commonplace with cities like London, Paris, Barcelona and Amsterdam creating networks with as many as 6,000 bikes and 300 docking stations. Paris alone provides more than 10,000 bikes at 750 stations.

While Denver planners are still working to determine the locations of the forty “bike stations” where users can check out and drop off the bikes, they are looking for spots that are natural bike-travel destinations, such as transit stops, shopping corridors and workplaces. Sander says that the healthy community program also plans to locate stations in areas of dense residential centers like Capitol Hill, Five Points and the Highlands neighborhoods. He estimates the total initial cost of the non-profit program at $1.7 million, of which $1.3 million has already been raised through grants and donations. It’s will cost approximately $1.5 million a year to run the program. But with user and member fees, grants and sponsorships of bike stations, he believes that the bike-share could bring in at least $1.53 million in annual revenues.

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Tags: CO, Colorado, Denver, healthy community, responsible sustainability, sustainability, sustainable, sustainable development