Our Sustainability Efforts to Date Include:
Lighting Improvements
Lighting was one of the first initiatives that the airport tackled. Old, incandescent lights on the airfield were systematically replaced with more energy efficient LEDs as part of each taxiway construction project. Lighting on the exterior of the terminal building was upgraded from metal-halide to compact florescent lights. On the interior of the terminal, lighting was changed to compact florescent lights, and time, motion and light detectors were installed to ensure that lights were only used when needed. With these simple changes, the Chattanooga Airport reduced its electric consumption by one full megawatt each year over the first five years.
Green Practices
Sometimes the smallest changes can have big impacts in our efforts to conserve the earth's resources. The CMAA has evaluated day-to-day operations and made conscious decisions to focus on sustainability in areas like green cleaning products, green pest control, green landscaping practices and recycling programs. All of these efforts minimize the pollution of our air and water and leave a cleaner community for our neighbors to enjoy.
Ground Surfaces
The airport maintains many acres of asphalt on the airfield to support our aviation partners. All asphalt that is removed during reconstruction projects is recycled and reused to produce aggregate for new asphalt at the airport. In 2018, the airport began restoring the pavement with an environmentally safe product instead of traditional coal tar. The new product significantly extends the life of our pavement while protecting our water and environment.
When the airport began the West Airfield Corporate Aviation Campus, a hill stood on the property and had to be removed before construction could start. Instead of trucking the dirt from the hill off the airport, the airport used the dirt as filler in an area of the airfield that was low and unusable. This one decision eliminated the pollution created by trucking the dirt off airport property and it served as the foundation, literally, of the airport's solar farm. That low lying area that was once unusable is now the site of the 2.73 megawatt solar farm.
Read more about our LEED certified facilities and solar farm on their individual pages, complete with photo galleries.
