Natural Resources & Resilience

Clean air and clean water are important to maintaining regional quality of life and economic competitiveness. Centralina works with local governments to find opportunities for efficiency and sustainability measures, looking at how our transportation infrastructure and economic development choices impact air and water quality.

In addition to protecting natural resources, Centralina helps equip our local governments with the knowledge and tools needed to prepare for and recover from natural disasters, economic hardships and other unforeseen events. Our goal is to create a sustainable and vibrant region filled with resilient communities.

OUR WORK

Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition

Launched in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Clean Cities program, the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition (CCFC) works to foster economic, environmental and energy security by working locally to advance affordable domestic transportation fuels, energy efficient mobility systems and other fuel-saving technologies and practices. Given the significant cost fleet fueling and vehicle operations can represent, the increasing expectations of city and county fleets to meet local climate and energy goals and the shift from fleet management to “mobility management” professionals, the CCFC is especially focused on ways to support local government fleet operations.

CCFC is comprised of a diverse partnership of public and private stakeholders representing fleets and technology providers from across the region. The CCFC program promotes, accelerates and expands the use of alternative fuels in the transportation sector, which includes biodiesel, electricity, ethanol, hydrogen, natural gas and propane. CCFC services include a comprehensive and alternative fuel/technology provider look at methods to reduce petroleum use. Typical strategies include:

Alternative and renewable fuels
Idle-reduction measures
Fuel economy improvements
Practice and policy changes
Emerging transportation technologies

Learn more on the Centralina Clean Fuels Coalition website.

Lake Wylie Marine Commission Administration

Centralina staff provides administrative support and bookkeeping services for the Lake Wylie Marine Commission. The mission of the Lake Wylie Marine Commission is to promote public policies and support regulations for the preservation of Lake Wylie and its wildlife and for the education and safety of the citizens who use this beautiful natural resource.

Learn More On The Lake Wylie Marine Commission website

Solid Waste and Recycling Managers Network

Centralina convenes quarterly meetings of the region’s municipal and county solid waste and recycling staff to discuss shared challenges, emerging technologies, new legislation and learn about each other’s projects and successes.

E4 Carolinas Alternative Fuel Infrastructure for Storm Resilience Plan

The goal of this project is to develop and implement the Carolina Alternative Fuel Infrastructure for Storm Resilience plan. This plan addresses disaster preparedness, recovery planning and resiliency by increasing the use of alternative fuel vehicles for emergency response fleets. These fleets provide critical post-infrastructure disruption, cleanup, utility restoration and recovery operation services. Centralina is tasked with documenting alternative fuel suppliers, infrastructure and fleet, as well as the impact storms could have on fuel supplies and alternative fuel vehicle infrastructure. We also seek to provide best practices for resilience and future recommendations.

Local Government Fleet Support

Transportation expenses are one of the biggest line items for any city or county. Many local governments are also passing climate and energy goals that require their operations to adopt new technologies, policies and procedures. However, governments do not always have the staff capacity to research best practices for sustainable fleet planning and operations or the time to invest in creating a comprehensive strategy.

Centralina has experience developing efficient fleets and working with the clean transportation sector to reduce service costs, strengthen local economies and improve local and regional air quality. Our staff can provide current research and resources, connect fleet managers with national peer leaders and experts and help them to implement the latest in fleet guidelines.

While every jurisdiction’s fleet is unique, there are commonalities that can be honed for optimal productivity. A typical fleet system review and analysis includes:

Organizational goals or targets
Fleet purpose and related duty cycles
Operation and management systems
Contracting and procurement
Fleet composition
Acquisition and disposal
Maintenance and repair
Fuel efficiency and tracking

Download the Centralina Fleet Technical Assistance flyer

In 2022, the federal government allocated funding to the 60 largest metropolitan areas to develop a series of plans that improve quality of life through cleaner and healthier initiatives. These initiatives could take form in a multitude of ways, such as more walkable communities, expanded transit, sustainable food production and more. Through a regional planning process led by Centralina, stakeholders identified over 100 examples of implementation-ready project ideas that were categorized into seven focus areas.

Alternative Transportation: Reduce single-occupancy vehicle miles traveled and promote alternative transportation, such as transit, walking,
or biking and take actions toward reforming local land use policies to support these activities in the long-term.
Decarbonized Buildings & Facilities: Modernize building technologies and systems that reduce emissions associated with construction, operation and maintenance of buildings and facilities
Clean Fleets & Infrastructure: Transition fossil fuel vehicles to electric and other alternative fuel and clean vehicle technologies and create the infrastructure to support the operation of these vehicles, reduce congestion and improve the efficiency and safety of the region’s transportation system
Renewable Energy & Storage Systems: Promote the use of renewable energy and the appropriate energy storage technologies
Trees & Greenspaces: Increase the number of trees and greenspaces s and provide important community benefits and reform local land use policies to support these activities.
Waste Diversion: Redirect waste away from landfills and incineration by way of waste reduction, recycling and composting.
Sustainable Food Production & Distribution: Incorporate local food sourcing, more efficient supply chains and sustainable food production practices that increase.

Centralina will continue to support local actions that support sustainability and efficiency in alignment with the regional PCAP plan.

Success Story

Environmental Quality:

Land Monitoring Program Ensures Land Conservation Quality for State of North Carolina

Since 2015, Centralina has partnered with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality to help maintain and monitor a major portion of the NC Land Conservation tract inventory. We do this by periodic monitoring inspections of these conservation sites to prevent development, dumping, clearing and other unlawful activities that could negatively affect the land preservation, environmental quality and security. Centralina currently provides monitoring services for approximately 130 conservation sites, ranging in size from two acres to 562 acres, covering 47 counties (practically half the state of North Carolina).