Wichita and Sedgwick County need a joint sustainability plan | Commentary
The world is going green. Every day there is exciting news about innovations that will help us keep our living standards and reduce the causes of climate change. These innovations also pose economic opportunities for Wichita if we chose to take them.
To help us better prepare and compete in the emerging clean energy economy, I am advocating for a joint sustainability plan between the City of Wichita and Sedgwick County to provide a road map and resources for our metropolitan area to thrive in the upcoming decades.
A sustainability plan creates a road map of a community’s future, promoting forward-thinking economic planning, job creation, and increased competitiveness compared to other communities. Both the environment and economy are positively impacted through more efficient resource utilization and smart investments with identifiable payback periods. If done well, a plan would also address social equity issues within our community by promoting economic opportunities and reducing climate change effects on communities of color.
We need to prepare for economic and energy changes. For example, General Motors recently announced it will stop producing gasoline and diesel-fueled vehicles by 2035. Other car companies are going to make similar pledges in the coming months and years. 2035 is less than 15 years away, and we need to start planning our infrastructure changes to transition to electric cars now.
The discontinuation of Learjet adds to the bad news coming from the aviation sector in Wichita. We need to strategize how we are replacing lost job opportunities, utilizing our workforce’s strengths, and growing our economic sectors. Furthermore, our metropolitan area needs to be ready to compete for some of the 10 million new clean-tech jobs projected to come online by 2030.
New companies are developing zero-emission aviation technology. I’ve been following one company over recent weeks, ZeroAvia, that received an additional $21.4 million in funding and expects to start with 500-mile short-haul trips at half of today’s costs by 2023. By 2030, their goal is to fly 1,000-plus-mile flights.
If Wichita can attract companies like ZeroAvia, it strikes me that this could be one bridge from our historical strength in aviation into a new era of being a center of clean technology, including emission-free aviation.
To pay for a plan and office, the government initially looks at how it can save funds through its own municipal energy conservation measures. Cities that have gone through his process generally save 15-20% on annual energy costs. For example, Reno, Nevada, generates around $50,000 in annual savings through municipal building energy efficiency investments. Its energy benchmarking ordinance is projected to deliver $19 million in energy efficiency investments with $75 million in energy savings by 2030.
As a private citizen, it is my hope to promote a forward-thinking sustainability plan that can help us be better stewards of our environment and grow our economy at the same time. With today’s emerging technologies, it is possible to do both, and I would love to see the Wichita-area emerge as a leader in the new era that is upon us.