August 25th, 2009

Photo: Houston Airport System

From Green Right Now Reports

Houston Mayor Bill White and the Houston Airport System today announced that the City of Houston Department of Aviation has received $8.8 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants to install state-of-the-art equipment at George Bush Intercontinental Airport that is projected to reduce emissions by up to 60 percent.

The two grants awarded through the FAA’s Airport Improvement Program be used to purchase and install solar panels, heaters and chillers in the airport’s central operating plant, which controls the air conditioning and heating in the airport’s five terminals. The upgrades will replace an outdated gas-powered steam generation system currently in use.

“This meets two of our major goals as we continue to improve our airport system – operating more efficiently, and with significantly reduced emissions,” Mayor White said in a statement. “These benefits don’t stop at the end of the runways.”

One of the Bush Intercontinental grants is for $5 million from the FAA’s Voluntary Airport Low Emission program, a nationally competitive initiative designed to reduce airport ground emissions at commercial service airports located in regions of the country with higher than normal pollution levels. The project allows airports to use grants to finance low-emission vehicles, refueling and recharging stations, gate electrification and other airport air quality improvements.

To date, only nine airport operators in the U.S. have received VALE grants and the most recent grant to IAH is among the largest ever issued, Bush officials said. In order to expedite the project the system will be designed and built to order, beginning in 2010 and is scheduled for completion in 2011.