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Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System—Characteristics, Viability, and Implementation Options. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22233.
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Page 13
Page 14
Suggested Citation:"Chapter 1 - Introduction." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2014. Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System—Characteristics, Viability, and Implementation Options. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/22233.
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Page 14

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13 Introduction 1.1 Background The Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) initiated Project 02-28, “Airport Sustain- ability Practices: Tools for Evaluating, Measuring, and Implementing,” in an effort to assist airports in making decisions regarding sustainability. The intended outcomes of the ACRP Project 02-28 were a Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System (Prototype Rating System) that gauges airport sustainability performance, and an industry-accepted Decision Tool that assists airports in evaluating and selecting best practices for airport sustainability. ACRP Report 119 includes a summary of the research (Chapter 2) and stakeholder outreach (Chapter 3) completed to inform the development of the Prototype Rating System, presents the functional components of the Prototype Rating System (Chapter 4), and explains how they were derived. The completed Prototype Rating System also includes an annotated outline of the Rating System User Guide (Appendix C), five excerpts of Sustainability Activity Sheets (Appendix D), and definitions of the 50 sustainability activities that compose the Prototype Rating System (Appendix E). In addition, a Potential Work Plan (Appendix F) was submitted that details the tasks for potential future phases of the project. ACRP Report 119 also reports on the status of the Decision Tool, which will be published as part of the enhanced Sustainable Aviation Guidance Alliance (SAGA) website on completion of ACRP Project 02-30, “Enhancing the Airport-Industry SAGA Website.” 1.2 Problem Statement The problem statement for ACRP Project 02-28 reads as follows: Airport sustainability encompasses a wide variety of practices that ensure protection of the environment, including conservation of natural resources; social progress that recognizes the needs of all stakeholders; and maintenance of high and stable levels of economic growth and employment. Many airports have begun to incorporate sustainability practices into their planning, construction, and daily operations because of their tangible benefits to them and their community or to respond to regulation and policy. Many airports, however, have also found barriers to implementing sustainability practices, including limited resources, lack of sustainability evaluation tools, staffing challenges, and lack of understanding and/or awareness. While there have been many efforts to define sustainability and to identify airport sustainability practices, there is no broad, industry-adopted approach to evaluate and select best practices, nor is there a rating system to gauge airport sustainability performance. Research is needed to develop a tool to help airports evaluate and select sustainability best practices, develop a rating system to gauge airport sustainability performance, and to assess the viability of industry-wide adoption of a rating system and voluntary certification program. C H A P T E R 1

14 Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System—Characteristics, Viability, and Implementation Options 1.3 Objectives Three objectives were defined for ACRP Project 02-28 related to tools that would assist airports in evaluating, measuring, and implementing sustainability practices. The three objectives were: 1. To develop a Decision Tool for airports to identify, evaluate, prioritize, and select sustainability practices. 2. To develop a Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System to help airports and their stake- holders gauge sustainability performance. 3. To evaluate the viability of implementing the Rating System and an associated voluntary airport sustainability certification system. The research tasks that were developed based on these objectives are described in the next section, “Project Scope.” 1.4 Project Scope ACRP Project 02-28 consisted of nine distinct tasks completed in two phases. Phase I included the research and stakeholder outreach tasks, as well as the initial development of a Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System (Prototype Rating System) and a conceptual Decision Tool. After completion of Phase I and following a coordination conference call with the ACRP Proj- ect 02-28 panel, the determination was made to collaborate closely with ACRP Project 02-30, “Enhancing the Airport-Industry SAGA Website,” and to coordinate development of the Decision Tool to integrate with and access the SAGA website and database. A coordinated approach would allow for better use of research resources and help prevent industry confusion regarding the products of two ACRP projects on airport sustainability, while meeting the objectives of both ACRP Project 02-28 and ACRP 2-30. As a result of this consolidation, the final report documentation for the Decision Tool will be included in the Final Report of ACRP Project 02-30. Phase II included tasks to progress the development of the Decision Tool and the Prototype Rating System. Stakeholder feedback was solicited on the Prototype Rating System; the Proto- type Rating System was then revised based on this feedback. Chapter 4 of this report provides an overview of the completed Prototype Rating System and a description of the functional elements that constitute the rating system. In Section 4.4, “Viability of the Rating System,” the desired characteristics of a voluntary certification system and a discussion of the future viability of the rating system also are presented. The Decision Tool is being fully developed and integrated into the enhanced SAGA website in collaboration with ACRP Project 02-30. In addition, a Potential Work Plan (not part of this original project) was developed outlining possible future tasks (see Appendix F).

Next: Chapter 2 - Review of Existing Resources, Guidelines, Metrics, and Rating and Certification Programs »
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TRB’s Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) Report 119: Prototype Airport Sustainability Rating System—Characteristics, Viability, and Implementation Options identifies the features of an airport sustainability rating system, identifies options for implementing the rating system and a certification program, and evaluates the viability of their implementation and adoption.

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