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COVER STORY June/July 2015 airportbusiness 13 selves and reduce risks, damage, and so forth." Massport considered both gray and green approaches in its two-pronged resiliency strategy, which includes: 1) Addressing impacts. This includes hard- ening critical infrastructure, retrofitting existing facilities, providing redundancy, incorporating resiliency into new projects and cross-training its workforce. 2) Reducing impacts through sustainability. This includes cutting emissions, a sustainability management plan, sustainable design guidelines, MEAP/NEPA compliance and project mitigation, and collaborating with agencies and institutions. Lurie says the two-pronged approach works because resiliency goes hand in hand with sus- tainability. "I would say resiliency is an element of sustainability and by the same token sustain- ability is an element of resiliency. They are very, very connected," she says. SET PRIORITIES "When you consider that in a natural disaster the airport is an important part of the rescue, reopening the airport, or keeping it open, is a pretty high priority," says Glynn. Topping Massport's list of priorities were electronics and key IT infrastructure. The airport reevaluated the location of these systems to ensure they were out of harm's way. "If there is flooding, but then the flooding recedes, and the electronics or IT systems are damaged, that could put us out of commission for awhile," Glynn says. Secondary to that was redundancy. According to Glynn, the airport seeks to add redundant systems and put them in safe locations as well. Massport's priority list also calls on the air- port to invest in things that harden the facility to higher sea levels and increased storm surges. Sea levels are expected to rise 2 to 6 feet by the end of the century, and as much as 5 feet during heavy storms, so the airport allocated $9 million for flood doors and barriers, coastal management and portable pumps to keep the airport running after a storm surge. But the plan also places the airport's own environmental impacts high on the list and sets efficiency targets for airport operations. The airport strives to reduce energy consumption by 25 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020. It also plans to reduce waste produced by passengers by 2 percent every year through 2030, cut water use by 1 percent a year every year for the next decade, and increase recycling by 60 percent by the end of the next decade. When it came to reducing emissions, the airport trained its focus on promoting the use of high occupancy vehicles (HOVs) and getting people out of their cars. Boston Logan has one of the largest HOV participation levels in the country and it has a tremendous impact on emissions, says Glynn. "We also looked at our energy consumption," says Brenda Enos, assistant director of Capital Programs and Environmental Management at Massport. "We use a lot of energy, so we're looking to upgrade our central heating plant. From a waste management perspective, we're looking at increasing our recycling. The use of Six Sigma lean processes will help increase our recycling rate." The Environmental League of Massachusetts applauds the priorities set by Massport. "The 60 percent recycling rate is commendable; over half of the material they handle would be recycled," says Mattison. "That is doable and a great thing to strive for." Their plans to trim energy consumption and emissions also impressed the environmental organization. "Airports need to consider what systems are running the facilities, and what is being done in terms of education and awareness of employees and passengers," she says. "These are all very important to consider for an institution's carbon footprint. You need to make sure you take advantage of technologies, but also engage your workforce so that you can achieve maximum savings on the carbon and on the dollar side. In this way, airports minimize their contribution to climate change." One of the biggest surprises the airport found as it moved through the process was "how simple the solutions were," says Glynn. Things like mov- ing IT systems from the first floor to the fifth were easy fixes that could keep things up and running no matter what the weather outside. "It's kind of a daunting topic but when you actually get into the nitty gritty, there are practical things you can do that make a significant difference," he says. He adds that a $9 million figure to make these improvements may seem pricey, but when spread out over five years it's less than $2 million a year. Plus there is a return on this investment through reduced energy use and in being a good neighbor. "... resiliency is an element of sustainability and by the same token sustainability is an element of resiliency. They are very, very connected." CAROL LURIE, PRINCIPAL, VHB SET GOALS MASSPORT set goals for its resiliency program. The resiliency program strives to: f Improve resiliency for overall infrastructure and operations; f Restore operations during and after disruptive events in a safe and economically viable time frame; f Create robust feedback loops that allow new solutions as conditions change; f Inform operations and policy , and implement design/build decisions through the application of sound scientific research and principles that consider threats, vulnerabilities and cost-benefit calculations; f Become a knowledge sharing exemplar of a forward-thinking, resilient port authority; and f Work with key influencers and decision makers to strengthen the understanding of the human, national and economic security implications of extreme weather, changing climate and man-made threats to Massport's facilities and the region.