This column is not about electric vehicles. Go ahead and exhale. EVs necessarily need lots of air time as we wrestle with infrastructure and all the associated needs they bring about, but we can’t ignore the practical ways to promote other forms of sustainability across facilities and operations. Consider this a refresher—or a selective list based on my preferences—of ideas to keep in mind for facilities and operations. If you’re an aspiring CAPP, consider this a quick reference that points to the references I reference at the end. 

Design and Demand

One of the more fascinating challenges during the inception of a garage or lot is designing the facility to the actual demand versus the perceived demand. Knowing the actual demand requires research and, more importantly, selling the value of the research to the decision makers who are often elected officials. Making that sale with easily understood data is critical to maximize the facility’s potential and ensure the best bang for the investment. 

Ideas to consider: 

• Allow for expansion if demands change. Build what’s needed and allow for more or less, if appropriate. I worked a university that originally built a garage at three levels and expanded it to five levels as other lots were torn down because parking demand remained high. If the facility is underutilized, consider ways to add landscaping or additional greenspace. More greenspace translates to less heat produced by the facility and less heat potentially means less energy to cool nearby buildings. For a garages, consider rooftop landscaping or solar panels. 
• Support shared use of the facility by more than one group. For municipalities, this can be as easy as offering spaces for multiple businesses, visitors, or residents. For universities, this can include supporting overnight and transient parking in the same facility. The result is less perceived demand for additional facilities and less overall impact on the environment. 
• Consider the size of parking spaces. The standard is nine feet wide, but spaces can be as small as eight feet wide. Research suggests that you can increase the number of spaces five to eight percent relative to the actual size of the spaces and facilities. In other words, smaller spaces may mean more available spaces depending on how a facility is designed. The caveat is that you potentially create problems for larger vehicles, such as trucks. I managed the redesign of a commuter lot where the most common complaint was small spaces and dinged doors. The spaces were decidedly smaller than the nine foot standard so the lot was redesigned, resulting in wider spaces and easier access to a nearby building for disabled persons. We received just as many complaints after the redesign, though, this time because the facility lost 20 percent of its capacity and long-time users didn’t buy permits fast enough when sales were held.

Virtual Permits and Sustainability

I am a huge advocate of virtual permits, which surprises no one who knows me. License plate recognition has only gotten better and promotes the value of reducing or eliminating printed permits. Again, LPR doesn’t mean printed permits necessarily go away, but it can certainly reduce the need for them. As the industry becomes increasingly cloud-based and less reliant on printed validations or credentials, LPR is an ideal way to manage an operation in a greener, more sustainable way. 

Benefits of going virtual/using LPR: 

• Reduced carbon footprint. A big value for virtual permits and LPR is the efficiency gains with enforcement. Ideally, fixed LPR cameras scan plates at entry/exit, allowing for later follow-up by fewer enforcement personnel. That results in less vehicles in operation. It doesn’t matter if the vehicles are gas, electric, or powered by vegetable oil because they’re not being driven as often, which translates into a more sustainable operation.
• Promotion of cloud-based validations and payments. The elimination of printed permits means parkers pay via web or app-based services and use their plate as a credential that can be tied to a QR/barcode on a phone, if required. Tap-to-pay solutions at kiosks add similar value. 
• Optimization through the use of analytics. Good data may be one of the most powerful tools in the race to maximize efficiency and, as an extra benefit, enhance sustainability. The analytics derived from LPR cannot be talked about enough because it provides so much information. A solid combination of fixed and mobile solutions provides occupancy data that can be used to ensure the best optimization of facilities. It can similarly be used to build the case for the actual demand versus the perceived demand, as discussed earlier. This same data can be harnessed to measure the performance of enforcement staff and ensure their patrols target the right areas at the right times, all of which translates to less wasted energy and resources and a more sustainable operation. 

Final Thoughts

These ideas are a small, somewhat opinionated sample of much larger ideas worthy of consideration for any operation. The resources I cite for this column are a mix of old and new. A Guide to Parking is, without question, one of the best resources of available, but I highly recommend the sustainability guide IPMI produced because it gets into such great detail about best practices for success. 

Consider this a jump-off point for a deeper dive into how you can make your operation more sustainable and take advantage of the resources IPMI has available.