Cincinnati Zoo and Their Green Initiatives

     

     I chose the Cincinnati Zoo because, almost everyone in Cincinnati, knows about the Zoo's commitment to not only Animals but the environment.  The Zoo is the leading Cincinnati company/organization to be converting its self into a Green Machine. From just one look at the website we can gather how much work the Zoo is actually doing to become more green, and further, more sustainable.

      Green Energy:

     The Zoo began thinking about how to create alternative uses of energy, they turned to solar energy. The question with solar panels is where do we put them? There needs to be enough sun to beat down on the things to convert the heat energy into electric energy. They answered that question with another questions: "What can we do to improve guest experience?" What is the one thing a guest hates more after being in the hot summer sun all day? Getting to an even hotter car. Thus, the answer become apparent: Put the Solar Panels OVER the parking lots. Thus, guests cars will be in the shad for their entire stay, and also the sun hits that parking lot from morning till night.

http://cincinnatizoo.org/conservation/go-green/green-initiative/
"Green Energy" 2.7.2013"

In this picture you can see that the panels are put over hte parking lot affording shade to the cars and a mass amount of potential energy to be created.

http://cincinnatizoo.org/conservation/go-green/green-initiative/ "Green Energy 2.7.2013"

     The Zoo also looks toward Wind Energy to help their reliance of fossil fuels and the electric grid. Wind Turbines are quite simple. The uneven heating of the earth causes wind, the wind moves across the blades of a turbine making it spin. The spinning turns a motor that "generates" electricity from a magnate and positive and negative coils. Now, I am not exactly sure of the effectiveness of wind energy, because for the most part it takes a whole lot of them (usually in "Wind Farms" Like those in Illinois) to make a difference. But every small bit helps, at least theoretically.

     Now, I would like to analyze the two of those alternative energies and decide which one is better. With Solar you generally need one thing: The Sun. We can't really escape it. It's there, it's part of our day to day life. I think Fiddler ON The Roof said it best: "SUNRISE! SUNSET! SUNRISE! SUNSET!". The only time we are given shad is when it is cloudy, but even then it doesn't seem to last too long. With Wind Energy however, you need Wind. I even argue that you need strong winds to actually turn the turbines. Wind isn't as much of apart of our daily life as I would say Sun is. So, in this simplistic view I think that the Zoo should, perhaps, invest more into solar energy and use Wind energy as their back up source.

Water Conservation at The Zoo

     Water is such a scarce resource, and it should be protected. Run off of water is a very serious threat (especially where Animal Habitats are concerned) The Zoo, for the most part, is a place to walk around. It's black top or concrete which is where Run Off happens most. However, the clever people at the zoo figured a way around this. Here they have made pervious pavement that allow water to fall through and soak either into the ground (Zoo 2010).  Or in some cases basins which will slowly allow water to drain back out into the system. (I know in some cases companies will reuse this water to water plants ect). 

     Another simple (and very effective) way of conserving run off is by rain barrels. (My family did this to save on the Water Works Bill in summer). This method involved simply having a (or in our case a rather large Rumpke Trash can) that is connected to the gutter system of a building. Then, once it begins to rain, the water runs from the gutters and collects in this storage bin. (Albeit if it's a rather large storm the barrels tend to over flow). I found this very basic outline of one on very helpful website:

Sample of Rain Barrel
http://www.minnetrista.net/blog/2012/06/22/general/rain-gardens-swales-and-barrels-3-ways-to-combat-stormwater-issues/

     According to this website: Rain Barrels aid in the relief of backyard flooding, saving on water and sewage bills (Vandoski, 2012). 

     All and All I think the Zoo is doing a wonderful job at becoming "Green" of course this sort of thing will take time, and I think in the very near future they may be able to sell BACK their electricity to Duke and even turn a profit. The Zoo has always been a leading edge in Green Initivatives, in 2008 they received The Greenest Zoo in America Award.  They have even made a commitment to working with the local neighborhoods as well as the entire community on how to make a house "green" or just taking small steps to reduce our foot prints, and as noted above The Metro system of Cincinnati (Cincinnati Zootube). 

Works Cited

Cincinnati Zootube.. Go Green Metro Zoo PSA-Cincinnati Zoo. Posted 7.30.2008. You Tube. compact disc, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH264JfBkP8.

http://cincinnatizoo.org/conservation/go-green/green-initiative/

Vandoski, Paige. "Rain Gardens, Swales, and Barrels: Three Ways to Combat Stormwater Issues." Minnetrista (blog), 7 22, 2012. 

Zoo, Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens, "Pervious Pavement: When it Rains, It Drains." Last modified 2010. Accessed February 6, 2013. http://cincinnatizoo.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Rains-it-Drains.pdf.