Green Parking
Increase Green Space, Reduce Congestion and Carbon Footprint with Sustainable Parking
Architects, developers and city planners all want to build projects that improve the lives of people. And, with the emphasis today on green building and sustainable development that also means projects must be environmentally friendly.
Cars and the need to park those cars will always be a part of any city’s “ecosystem.” However, Robotic Parking Systems can contribute to lower this impact on developments.
Robotic Parking Systems is eco-friendly and can help grow greener cities by:
- Using 50% less space to park the same number of cars as a conventional garage,
- Reducing the traffic congestion and accompanying pollution of people driving around and around looking for a safe, convenient place to park**, and
- Eliminating pollution inside the garage by using electromechanical automated parking machinery to move cars into parking spaces. No cars run inside the garage, and there is no driving up and down ramps and through aisles in search of a space.
** See D.O.T. statement below
More Green Space - Less Garage Space
Robotic Parking Systems’ patented technology provides compact parking from hundreds to thousands of cars. The high-speed, efficient automated parking system ensures that even the largest parking design can be made in a smaller footprint for more sustainable parking. The amount of land used affects sustainability issues such as development density and maximizing open space.
The modular Robotic Parking System can be built above ground, underground, inside a building, on top of a building or under a building. Underground applications are particularly well suited to the Robotic Parking System. Because only half the excavation is needed for the same amount of parking as conventional garages, developers can save as much as 50% on the excavation alone.
Reduce Traffic Congestion and Accompanying Pollution
Current expert opinion is that cruising for parking adds substantially to the severity of downtown traffic congestion.
** Don H. Pickrell, Chief Economist at D.O.T, Volpe Institute, Cambridge, MIT (issued in the Spring Edition of ULI’s “Smart Growth” program 1999) stated “… research shows that over 50% of the traffic in typical downtowns is simply on the road, cruising around the block search for vacant, convenient parking spaces.”
Additional studies (by Boston College, MIT, Transportation Alternatives and others) have also reported that 30% to 50% of traffic congestion in city centers is generated by drivers searching for a parking space.
A report from IBM Global Business Services stated that congestion costs up to 4% of GDP. Additionally, the report went on to say, “In the US, congestion in urban areas results in annual costs of 4.2 billion hours of wasted time and US $87 billion from wasted fuel and lost productivity.”
Cruising for parking is pure deadweight loss and contributes substantially and unnecessarily to pollution, greenhouse gases and nuisances in our cities.
A lack of sufficient downtown parking is often due to the large space required for conventional ramp parking. Compact Robotic Parking Systems that require up to 50% less space in our urban areas can reduce the traffic congestion of drivers circling for parking and this needless pollution.
Reduce Pollution, Greenhouse Gases and Carbon Footprint - An Environmentally Clean Parking Facility
Robotic Parking Systems are “green” products that conserve gas and diesel fuel as well as reduce pollution and greenhouse gases. No cars run inside the garage, and there is no driving up and down ramps and through aisles in search of a space. Inside the Robotic Parking System electromechanical automated parking machinery moves the cars into parking spaces. This significantly reduces the emissions of harmful gases, reduces the carbon footprint and ensures an environmentally clean parking facility for sustainable parking.
Considering the electrical power needed for the Robotic Parking System, the Carbon Equivalent Value is still very low so the net reduction of the overall carbon footprint is significant.
Here is an estimate of emissions reduction and energy saved in a 1,000 space robotic parking garage:
- An annual savings of 13,750 gallons of gasoline in the parking process
- The quantity of toxic emissions eliminated are:
- 2,001 lbs of Hydrocarbons (HC) per year.
- 1,031 lbs of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) per year.
- 15,463 lbs of Carbon Monoxide (CO) per year.
- 138 tons of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) per year.
The 765 space Robotic Parking System built for the Ibn Battuta Gate Complex in Dubai reduces CO2 emissions by more than 100 tons per year with comparable reductions in other pollutants and greenhouse gases. It additionally saves 9,000 gallons of gasoline per year thus contributing significantly to carbon footprint reductions.
Did you know that tire and brake dust pollutants are more toxic than all the exhaust related emissions? In a 1,000 space Robotic Parking System 36 tons of tire dust and 3.7 tons of brake dust pollutants are eliminated by using electro-mechanical machinery to move cars inside the garage.
Earn LEED Points with Robotic Parking Systems
LEED – or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – is a third-party certification program of the U.S. Green Building Council and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings and sustainable parking. This program was adopted in principle by multiple organizations such as Middle East Centre for Sustainable Development (MECSD) and Estidama (which means ‘sustainability’ in Arabic) in UAE.
Parksmart is a certification system designed to advance sustainable mobility through smarter parking structure design and operation.
Robotic Parking Systems can help a development project increase its LEED or Parksmart points.
A project which includes a Robotic Parking System could potentially receive 10 to 17 points toward certification. There are a number of areas that the system can help earn points such as:
- Maximize open space in site development
- Lighting
- Chemical & Pollutant
- Air Quality
- Energy Consumption – Gas Saved
- Optimize Energy Performance
- Preferred 5% Parking
- Shared Vehicle Storage
An investigation led by the Middle East Centre for Sustainable Development (MECSD) revealed that a Robotic Parking Systems installation added up to 17 LEED points to a development project in the UAE (out of a total of 35 LEED points needed for certification.)
We also stack up very favorably on the Parksmart score card.
Arabia CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Award
In the United Arab Emirates, the Robotic initiative for the creation of a sustainable environment was selected by the international panel of judges as THE 1ST RUNNER UP for the SMALL category in the Arabia CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Awards!
Read The Garage of the Future Must be Green by Samuel I. Schwartz, P.E.
If you are an architect or developer interested in sustainable parking for your project, reach out to our experts at the link below. By providing basic design information, one of our engineers will create a custom parking design for your review. The initial design is provided at no cost so there is no risk. See how our automated system compares in footprint and cost to conventional parking.
