1. Showcase: Environmental Accounting and
Reporting - A Public Transit Case Study
North County Transit District San Diego, CA
Angela Miller, former Chief Technology Officer/Chief Sustainability Officer
founder, ecology.IT
2. The North County Transit District:
Building Sustainable Public Transit
• North San Diego County, operating bus, commuter rail, light rail, and
paratransit systems
• 12.5 million riders; 107 million annual Passenger Miles Traveled
• 9 million annual Vehicle Miles over 550k annual Revenue Vehicle Hours
3. The North County Transit District:
Building Sustainable Public Transit
• Sustainability and public transit have a natural synergy – economic,
social, and environmental issues all inherently relevant business model
• Plan focused first on cost reductions, then capitalizing on opportunity,
then building the cleanest, most scalable transportation. Sustainability
took on a much different meaning under dire financial circumstances
4. History of the NCTD Sustainability Program
building one step at a time
5. Sustainable Public Transit Operations:
Simple Operational Changes
• All cleaning – both facility and vehicle – biodegradable supplies
• Bombardier Maintenance Team just achieved 5 years accident-free
• Changed lighting and watering protocols
6. Sustainable Public Transit Operations:
Saving Money through Energy Reduction
• Built a Green Data Center – 15-Year Payback Period
• Installed almost a megawatt of Solar Power – SPRINTER Maintenance
Operations runs completely on solar during daylight hours
• Implemented GreenRoads Driver Feedback Tool – 4% CNG Savings
7. Investments in Renewable Power
pilot installations that demonstrated the viability of solar in public transit
8. Measuring Sustainability:
The Climate Registry and APTA
• Wanted to measure using Industry-Standard Methodologies
• Became a member of The Climate Registry and filed first baseline year;
Became a signatory to the APTA Sustainability Commitment and filed
first annual report
• In order to complete these goals, NCTD contracted with external
partners like Trust Element and Cathy Moran – significant consulting
9. Measuring Sustainability:
Assessing the Baseline
• Delivering service on the rails and the streets is the highest emissions-
intensive activity
• Facilities and maintenance activities contribute significantly through
energy consumption, water use, and waste production
11. Implementing Accounting and Reporting:
Leveraging Existing Tools and Process
• Manual effort too expensive and not repeatable; issues with audit
• NCTD wanted to build on their 10-year JD Edwards Investment
• Needed a solution that included extensive data transformation
• Oracle Solution Seemed to fit the need
12. Environmental Accounting and Reporting:
A Case Study
Chose to implement with Oracle Partner TeamCain
Began installation in January and went live in May 2012
NCTD had already completed 9.0 upgrade, which made installation of
EA&R smooth
17. Environmental Accounting and Reporting:
Results
• OBIEE allowed for easier transformation of data
• Automation of data collection allowed for more frequent and cost
effective analytics; payback period for NCTD < 2 years
• Give yourself time to effectively identify all of the scope elements and
business process changes
18. Environmental Accounting and Reporting:
A Case Study
• Starting Small with your sustainable operations plan is effective
• Taking the time to measure results shows accountability and potentially
saves resources and money
• The Oracle JD Edwards EA&R Product allowed us to fit into regular
accounting processes, and to save significant consulting dollars to
measure efficacy
19. For further information:
Fred Knapp, Program Manager
North County Transit District
fknapp@nctd.org
Angela Miller, founder
ecology.IT
angela.miller@ecologyit.net t: @ecologyit www.ecologyit.net