Metro Board Votes for Renewable Energy Policy

Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) board today voted unanimously to establish a landmark renewable energy policy for the agency. The policy calls for:

1. Pilot projects to integrate renewable energy on transit facilities, including solar panels on the Silver Line Station in El Monte
2. Investigation of the energy generation potential on Metro properties
3. The incorporation of renewable energy into new construction of transit projects

Metro uses approximately $26 million in electricity each year. 

“With this policy, Metro is on a clean and smart road to renewable energy. It will be good for the environment and the bottom line,” said Martin Schlageter, campaign director for the Coalition for Clean Air (CCA). CCA worked closely with Move LA and the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, among others, to help shape this policy.

The policy was initiated by a motion made earlier this year by Los Angeles County Supervisor and Metro board member Mark Ridley-Thomas, who said:

Metro provides improved mobility to our community, and we can do so cleanly and sustainably. It is only natural, then, for Metro to lead in developing renewable energy sources. Metro can maximize the use of its many tracks, stations and facility locations and make the most of its dollars by exploring solar, wind and even train and bus braking energy as new sources of electric power.

With the cost of electricity rising, Metro has developed a plan for energy conservation on its facilities. Now it can explore the potential for renewable energy on some of its 2,000 properties.

View the policy (1.1 Mb PDF)

At the 2011 California Air Quality Awards, CCA honored Metro for successfully becoming the first major transit agency in the world to operate entirely on clean-fuel buses. For more on Metro’s sustainability efforts, visit http://www.metro.net/projects/metro-environmental