Environmental Sustainability & Green Parking Flashcards

Which occupancy-based technology reduces parking facility energy consumption by automatically adjusting lighting when areas are unoccupied?

Answer: Occupancy sensors with adaptive lighting controls

Occupancy sensors detect the presence or absence of vehicles and people, triggering lighting systems to dim or turn off in unoccupied areas, which can reduce lighting energy use by 30–60%.

What does 'right-sizing' a parking facility mean from an environmental sustainability perspective?

Answer: Building only the number of spaces actually needed to avoid over-supply and land waste

Right-sizing means providing only the parking supply that demand truly requires, preventing overbuilding that wastes land, increases impervious surface area, and generates unnecessary vehicle trips.

Green roofs installed on top of parking structures primarily provide which environmental benefit?

Answer: Stormwater absorption, insulation, and habitat creation

Green roofs absorb rainwater to reduce stormwater runoff, provide thermal insulation that lowers building energy consumption, and create urban habitat for birds and pollinators.

Which level of EV charging equipment provides the fastest charging speed for electric vehicles in parking facilities?

Answer: DC Fast Charging (Level 3)

DC Fast Chargers (Level 3) deliver direct current at high power (50–350 kW), enabling EVs to charge to 80% in as little as 20–40 minutes, far faster than Level 1 or Level 2 AC charging.

Which metric is most commonly used to measure and report a parking facility's energy performance for sustainability benchmarking?

Answer: Energy use intensity (EUI) measured in kBtu per square foot per year

Energy Use Intensity (EUI) normalizes a building's total energy consumption by its size, allowing facilities to benchmark their performance against industry standards and track improvement over time.

How does a shared parking strategy contribute to environmental sustainability goals?

Answer: It reduces the total amount of parking built by allowing multiple users to share spaces at different times

Shared parking allows different land uses with complementary demand patterns (e.g., offices by day, restaurants by night) to share the same spaces, reducing total parking supply needed and minimizing impervious surface area.

Which of the following best describes the role of a parking facility in a broader urban sustainability plan?

Answer: Parking facilities should be integrated with transit, active transportation, and demand management to reduce car dependency

Sustainable urban planning positions parking as one component of an integrated mobility system that supports transit, walking, and cycling — reducing car dependency, emissions, and land consumed by surface lots.