On a beautiful sun-splashed day earlier this week, Jamie Gloss and a friend found themselves tooling around downtown Denver on bicycles rented from a B-Cycle kiosk near the 16th Street Mall.
“It’s good for the environment, and it’s a fun alternative,” Gloss said. “It’s quicker than walking and cheaper than finding and paying for a parking garage.”
While Gloss readily admits she was born in Boulder, chances are she didn’t know her excursion — and her “Save the Earth” attitude — is precisely one of the reasons why Siemens has ranked Denver as the fifth-greenest city in North America.
“We see a lot of exemplary things that are happening in Denver,” said Alison Taylor, Siemens’ vice president for sustainability. “The city has very clean and efficient energy policies and a robust environmental governance performance.
“It’s not just having plans on paper but also plans that have teeth, plans that are effective with enforcement behind them,” Taylor said.
The German engineering conglomerate recently began indexing continents around the world. In the North American study, released Thursday, the company, along with the Economist Intelligence Unit, rated 27 North American cities on environmental criteria in nine areas, ranging from land use to buildings to transportation.
Denver finished first in energy consumption and governance, finishing with an overall score of 73.5. Overall, the city trailed San Francisco; Vancouver, B.C.; New York City; and Seattle. The bottom three cities on the list were Cleveland, St. Louis and Detroit.
“We all get rankings like this and are anxious to see where we fit against our peers, but to be perfectly honest, we’re really excited to be in the top five, to be recognized for all the work we’ve done throughout the city with the Greenprint Initiative,” said Scott Morrissey, deputy director of Greenprint Denver, the city’s office for environmental and sustainability issues.
Formed five years ago, the Greenprint group and its efforts were proclaimed by then-Mayor John Hickenlooper “an effective force for innovation and leadership to improve the environment.”
But even the most ardent supporters of the green movement admit the public often balks at perceived intrusions into their daily lives, whether it’s using compact fluorescent lightbulbs or purchasing smaller, more fuel-efficient cars.
“People are willing to at least consider a few changes in habits or a few dollars here and there, but clearly there are limits,” said Joel Makower, chairman of the GreenBiz Group and an expert on environmental issues. “You can put solar panels on your roof, but that costs money, and if you notice, not many people are doing it. . . .
“But the attitude that green costs money is an unfortunate myth. It really has less to do with cost than with change — and change is hard. Green succeeds in the marketplace only in the extent that it makes things better — a better company, a better business, a better household, a better quality of life.”
To that end, Greenprint Denver has made a point of not talking up the environmental impact of its work but rather the greenbacks that can be saved.
On Wednesday, it launched an initiative encouraging city residents to take advantage of free energy-efficiency services, including compact fluorescent lightbulbs and low-flow faucets and shower heads that would reduce energy bills.
To help spread the word, the group is going door-to- door in Denver neighborhoods.
“They’re people from the neighborhood, saying, ‘Hey, I live down the street from you, and I’ve taken advantage of this rebate from Xcel Energy. You might want to look into it too,’ ” Morrissey said.
The same approach applies in Greenprint Denver’s work with businesses and corporations — emphasizing the money that can be saved.
An example was Greenprint Denver’s work with the $550 million Better Denver Bond Program. Greenprint was on board with a sustainability committee that helped the various agencies look at the long- term costs and efficiencies of their projects.
So when the Green Valley Ranch Library opened in March, for example, the $11.4 million facility included not only self-checkout stations but also low-flow water fixtures, solar tubes, day-lighting and evaporative cooling systems inside the building.
According to Greenprint Denver, the library will use 60 percent less energy and 40 percent less water annually than buildings using conventional design approaches.
And while that may not have a direct impact on someone living in Washington Park or Five Points, Makower says there’s a cumulative effect.
“We’re all looking for good stories and heroes, whether it’s companies or governments or neighbors or our families,” Makower said. “But civic pride still marks high in people’s minds as something they can point to and be proud of.”
Anthony Cotton: 303-954-1292 or acotton@denverpost.com
