Rapid City Regional Airport Celebrated for Acts of Excellence
Celebrating Acts of Excellence, One Act at a Time
The Acts of Excellence program connects us with individuals and organizations who are building a culture of excellence in South Dakota, one act at a time.Please join us and area inductees to celebrate this Act of Excellence on Wednesday, November 28, 2018, from 4:30 to 6 pm at the Suzie Cappa Art Center in Rapid City, South Dakota. See all of the event details here:
Rapid City Airport Roof Goes Green
Rapid City Regional Airport is going green in an environmentally conscious way. Working with the School of Mines and Technology, the airport is creating a rooftop that is filled with small plants. The so-called green roof helps save water and reduce storm run-off. Green roofs also can help reduce heating and cooling costs, according to a story on KOTA Television. The plants absorb heat during the day to aid cooling the building and release the trapped heat at night, which keeps temperatures somewhat warmer than with a normal roof.An airport official told the television station the project meets the airport’s goals of protecting people, property and the environment and of inspiring innovation to improve the customers’ experience. An article in the October 2018, issue of “Governing’’ magazine said that, while green roofs have been commonplace in Europe for more than 40 years, they only began to catch on in the United States during the past decade or so, and especially in the last couple of years. Cities are setting higher goals for energy efficiency and renewable energy, the magazine said. “Green or living roofs are an obvious solution because they’ve been found to reduce energy costs and absorb stormwater.What’s more, green roofs improve air quality and help reduce the urban heat island effect, a condition in which cities absorb and trap heat at higher rates than rural areas.’’ In Rapid City, School of Mines graduate student Jason Phillips told KOTA he’s happy to use his education to create sustainable change. “Now you've increased your square footage of usable (roof) space so that social aspect of being in on a green roof and growing plants on top of a roof is a pretty cool thing,’’ he said. Phillips worked closely with Dr. Scott Kenner, head of the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Mines, and Dr. Jennifer Benning, faculty at SDSMT Civil and Environmental Engineering Dept. The photo shows Benning and Phillips.
Submit your own Act of Excellence here