April 2023 - Parks & Recreation - 37

A Smartflower, installed by Mecklenburg
County at First Ward Park in Charlotte,
North Carolina, is an innovative and
almost sculptural solar collector that
opens in the morning, tracks the sun,
and then closes at night.
Widespread Agency
Adoption Begins
Increasingly, agencies show they
are embracing electrification strategies
as vigorously as the supply
industry. Park and recreation departments
are installing public
electric vehicle charging stations
and upgrading charging capacity
for their own vehicles. " Because
we are a front-facing agency to the
public, city officials are very supportive
of our clean power goals, "
says Stephen Bentley, director of
Raleigh (North Carolina) Department
of Parks, Recreation and
Cultural Resources. " The mayor
has been leading and the city
council is fully behind us. We have
fully embraced the goals of our
climate action plan and [have] fully
integrated them into our budget
process. "
Are workers ready to make the
changeover to electrically powered
equipment and vehicles? Overall,
maintenance supervisors say staff
support it, even if there are some
naysayers.
Andy Phillips, division chief of
facility services for the MarylandNational
Capital Park and Planning
Commission (M-NCPPC),
says some staff have commented
on certain tools being too heavy
for comfortable all-day use, but
most contend new battery-powered
equipment gets the job done. Additionally,
it is reliable and doesn't
require dealing with fumes or hazardous
fuel. Phillips relayed a conversation
he had with his heavy
equipment crew when they first got
a new electric-powered jackhammer
for pavement and concrete
removal, telling them they would
like it. " Yeah, right, that's not gonna
happen, " one operator said. But
after using the breaker on the job,
they quickly became believers. Not
only did the tool do the job well,
but also there was no loud air compressor
constantly running, and no
long cords or hoses to pull around.
Said one of the heavy equipment
crew, " You can even carry on a
conversation. "
Staff are getting into the spirit of
moving to electric power. Bentley
noted that in Raleigh, they have
about 200 employees in field operations.
Battery life for blowers,
weed eaters, chainsaws and other
tools just doesn't make it through
a full day. Park maintenance staff
approached their supervisors with a
plan to outfit one of their landscape
equipment trailers to better handle
all the batteries and tools they needed
on the job. Working with electricians,
they neatly wired-up chargers
and built storage for tools, so that
they could plug in their trailer and
provide overnight charging for all
the tools for a day's work.
Innovation in the Park and
Recreation Space
Innovations in clean power are
exploding with new technologies
being introduced on what seems
to be a monthly basis. Among the
technology advances that will be of
particular importance to parks and
recreation are large battery energy
storage systems,
especially those
using low-tech materials, such as
rocks, bricks and sand; solar photovoltaic
coatings for building roofs,
walls and windows; solar photovoltaic
shingles; and smarter, more
adaptable charging stations, espePARK
S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G | APRIL 2 0 2 3
| Parks & Recreation
37
PHOTO COURTESY OF SMARTFLOWER SOLAR LLC
April 2023 - Parks & Recreation

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