With another year in the books, this is the perfect time to look back at the highlights and accomplishments of 2024. The Sustainability Division and the entire General Services Department have been working hard to ensure city services and operations run efficiently and sustainably. Our work can be grouped into five focus areas: Design/Build, Energy, Waste, Mobility, and Water. Follow along and learn about some of our recent projects.
Design/Build
In 2024, General Services constructed two impressive facilities that are pursuing LEED® Gold certification: Donelson Branch Library and Strobel House. Both facilities provide important services to the public, and both were also built to a high standard of sustainability and energy efficiency.
Donelson Branch Library provides access to a wide array of community resources, services, and programs in addition to books. The facility itself utilizes efficient building systems like geo-exchange and LED lighting that will result in energy cost savings of 30%. It also includes a 33 kW rooftop solar array, plumbing fixtures that are expected to reduce water use by over 25%, recycled and low-emitting project materials, and educational Socket sustainability signage dispersed throughout the building. Watch a video tour of the new Donelson Branch Library here.
Strobel House is a permanent supportive housing facility comprising 90 homes for Nashvillians experiencing homelessness. It also houses on-site support services such as medical aid and career assistance. From a building efficiency standpoint, Strobel House includes efficient plumbing fixtures which will result in potable water use reduction of 36%. It was also built with recycled and low-emitting project materials, and 54% of construction waste was diverted from the landfill.
Energy
General Services' now operates 2,136 rooftop solar panels across 13 facilities, totaling 722 kW of installed capacity. This generates over 935,000 kWh of clean electricity and avoids about 800 metric tons of CO2e emissions annually. If you're not familiar with CO2e, this is a unit that takes into account all greenhouse gas emissions (rather than just CO₂), a more comprehensive way to measure climate impact. If you would like to see how much energy our facilities are generating, you can view real-time solar generation for each location.
General Services' 30 LEED facilities are performing very well! In 2023, these LEED certified buildings saved a total of 26,378,910 kBTU of energy and avoided over $525,000 in energy costs while also saving 23,393,487 gallons of water, avoiding more than $1,250,000 in water costs.
In addition to constructing new buildings, General Services also retrofits pre-existing buildings with energy efficient technology. In 2024, 1,967 lights in Howard Office Building were converted to LED. The new bulbs average 60% greater efficiency and are expected to save Metro 134,000 kWh of electricity annually. Plus, all of the old bulbs were recycled!
Waste
The Division's expanded composting program at 15 facilities diverted 7,240 lbs of food scraps and paper products from the landfill in 2024. Sites run the gamut of city services and include fire stations, libraries, and even the courthouse! Those compostable materials will become a beneficial soil amendment for gardens and landscaping. Visit compostcompany.com to learn more about how the compost is made. They even sell the finished compost for you to use in your own garden! Also, note that any Davidson County resident can collect compost at home and drop it off at one of the four convenience centers around town at no cost.
Mobility
General Services operates more than 110 Level 2 electric vehicle charging ports, most of which are available for public use at no cost. In 2024, those charging ports delivered over 316,000 kWh of energy and avoided about 270 metric tons of CO2e. General Services also manages the city's fleet, which now includes 95 fully-electric vehicles. If you are an EV driver and want to find charging stations, visit plugshare.com.
Water
Stormwater is something that most people don't think about until heavy rain events cause localized flooding. Stormwater certainly poses a risk to property, but it also negatively impacts our local waterways. Rapidly flowing water picks up debris and pollutants as it flows toward storm drains and creeks. Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) such as rain gardens and detention ponds can limit the volume, speed, and polluting effects of this water. It is essential, and in many cases legally required, to be prepared with a plan and infrastructure to handle the influx of water during rain events.
General Services manages SCMs on our properties throughout Davidson County, and these features have to be maintained for optimum performance. In 2024, General Services performed routine maintenance of 73 of these stormwater features. This was a 564% increase compared to 2023 when only 13 sites received routine maintenance. The increase is largely thanks to dedicated funding for this important work. These efforts improve public safety, reduce pollution, and decrease the need for costly repairs in the future.
One important way to control stormwater is to plant and care for trees, which absorb massive amounts of water. To ensure the health of Nashville's tree population, trees across General Services' facilities were identified, counted, measured, and assessed for damage in 2024. Across 37 facilities, 2,601 trees and 79 unique species were inventoried, with the most common being Eastern Redcedar (Juniperus virginiana). Members of the public can help plant and protect trees in our community as well; visit rootnashville.org for information. To learn more about SCMs and stormwater management, visit this blog post.
Education and Outreach
In addition to focusing on the five areas highlighted above, education is essential to our work. It is important that we all know the little steps that each of us can take to reduce our environmental and climate impact while also learning about some of the bigger steps that we are taking together as a city. In 2024, Sustainability Division staff interacted with over 1,700 members of the public at community events, led sustainability workshops and trainings for 242 people, and presented to 249 people at eight speaking engagements.
Additionally, the division coordinated MetroConnect 2024. This program for Metro employees and led by Metro employees features tours of innovative and sustainable city projects. The program provided a total of 293 hours of professional development via 16 tours in the fall of 2024. Tour sites included the Donelson Branch Library, Mill Ridge Park and Community Farm, Dr. Ernest Rip Patton North Nashville Transit Center, Department of Emergency Communications, Water Services' Stormwater Campus, and Nashville's District Energy System. The MetroConnect program helps Metro employees engage with each other and with our city, ultimately resulting in a better Metro for all of us.
Thank you for taking a look back at our highlights from 2024, and we look forward to sharing more of our sustainability work with you in the near future.
This blog was authored by Kevin Sykes, Sustainable Practices Manager with the Department of General Services, Sustainability Division.