Green Projects and Environmental Initiatives

LEDs represent an emerging solid-state technology that has potential to revolutionize lighting. LEDs are small microchips that produce light very efficiently, more efficiently that either standard incandescent bulbs, fluorescent lights, or other technologies like high pressure sodium lamps and metal halide lamps commonly used in outdoor lighting.

This downtown WaterWise Garden serves as an example of xeriscaping, filled with plants able to thrive in Raleigh's hot and sometimes drought filled summers. Volunteers transformed the derelict flower bed by planting drought resistant trees, shrubs, grasses, and succulents able to store water and nutrients in their roots, stems, and leaves from year to year.

Raleigh's E. M. Johnson Water Treatment Plant is now home to one of the state's largest rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays. This project is made possible by Progress Energy's SunSense Commercial Solar PV program, which encourages the development of renewable energy. The power generated by this array is roughly equal to the annual energy demand of 22 homes.

Raleigh has initiated a new effort to green several fire stations by installing rainwater harvesting systems and rain gardens. The City is partnering with Wake County to sponsor eleven project locations to receive a network of cisterns aimed at collecting rainwater. The goal of this program is to replace uses of our drinking water with the harvested rainwater collected in the cisterns.

The R-Line is Downtown Raleigh's mode to connect employees, residents and visitors to retail, restaurants, entertainment venues and parking in the Central Business District. The service has its own distinct look and feel from regular CAT bus service. The green and blue colors of the hybrid buses emphasize its unique "green" attribute; they stand for blue air and green earth.

A new "green" roof was installed at Raleigh's Fire Station No. 9 and is planted with desert-type sedum plants in an specialized mix of shallow, lightweight soil. The environmentally friendly garden roof is designed to substantially reduce stormwater runoff from the fire station, because the green roof essentially acts like a sponge by soaking up rainwater.

Fire Station No. 15 is now relying on the sun for its hot water. A solar thermal hot water heating system was installed to supplement a natural gas unit that had been the station's only source of hot water. The solar water heating system consists of three solar collectors on top of the station's roof, a solar water tank, heat exchanger and other associated equipment.

While this water garden and wetland naturally filters and cleans stormwater runoff before flowing into Pigeon House Branch, it has also transformed an area of the park into a new amenity with it's variety of evergreen and perennial plants. The new water garden created an ecosystem for butterflies, dragonflies, frogs, ducks, and other new wildlife calling Fred Fletcher Park home.

Raleigh is one of the founding members of the Triangle Clean Cities Coalition whose mission is to encourage and accelerate the use of alternative fuel vehicles in the Triangle by creating partnerships to develop a market and supporting infrastructure for alternative fuel vehicles. The City has used alternative fuel vehicles in its fleet of automobiles for the past eight years.