The new KCI terminal is going green. Here are 5 ways it’s working toward sustainability

The new Kansas City International Airport opens to the public this week, following much fanfare from local and national leaders alike.

But there’s one more reason to be excited about the new terminal: it’s going green. KCI’s sustainable features have earned it a LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. This recognition, which stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design,” is a leading industry standard for environmentally-friendly buildings.

“It is definitely a momentous occasion,” U.S. Green Building Council CEO Peter Templeton told The Star. “We should be very much looking at this as a model that we want other airport terminals here and around the globe to follow.”

Here are five sustainable features of the new terminal.

1: It’s energy efficient.

The entire terminal is designed to maintain what Templeton calls a “high-performance building envelope.” That means the building is well-insulated against fluctuations in outdoor temperature, requiring minimal heating and cooling to keep it comfortable indoors.

“In this part of the country, you have to look at cold and hot weather,” he said. “And so you want to make sure that the building environment that you’re creating is actually well-insulated and able to manage those significant swings and temperatures.”

A secure structure, high-quality building materials and special glass all ensure the terminal’s interior environment is as insulated as possible, reducing the amount of energy needed to cool the building in the summer and heat it in the winter.

2: It’s powered by renewable energy.

The new terminal features an array of 510 solar panels on its parking garage, providing power to the facility year-round. The panels are expected to generate the same annual electric output as used by twenty standard homes.

While solar power doesn’t account for 100% of the energy used by the airport, Templeton added that additional energy also comes from renewable sources.

“This is a combination of offsite clean energy and the garage is providing a significant portion,” Templeton said. “This project (shows) that you can achieve robust infrastructure that the city needs, while continuing to address, progressively, climate action.”

Solar energy is a renewable resource that produces no greenhouse gas to generate. That makes it a top choice of environmental experts looking to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide and other planet-warming gasses released into the atmosphere

3: It uses high-performance glass.

From the new terminal’s towering windows to its skylights, high-efficiency glass played a key role in the new terminal’s creation.

“We’re talking about glass that has coatings that reduce glare and has greater insulative properties,” Templeton said.

The glass was chosen for its properties that help maintain a strong barrier against outdoor elements and provide plenty of natural light to the terminal. This feature allows for a process called “daylighting,” wherein the terminal is illuminated with as much natural light as possible to reduce the energy used for indoor lighting.

4: It’s served by electric vehicles.

Travelers will soon be shuttled between parking lots, rental car pickup spots and the new MCI terminal by a fleet of electric buses. Templeton added that new charging platforms at bus stops by the airport gates will help these shuttles charge up while they wait for passengers to board.

“These buses can actually operate fully just by charging while they’re collecting passengers,” he said. “It really is progressive in terms of the use of electric vehicles on site.”

Electric vehicles help combat global warming by reducing humans’ reliance on fossil fuels like oil and gasoline. They can also be powered using renewable electricity from sources like solar or wind power.

5: It repurposes old materials.

The new terminal signals the end of an era for old structures like the old KCI terminal and an old parking garage that crews disassembled during the construction process. But Templeton noted that most of the raw construction materials won’t be heading to a landfill — instead, the city intends to salvage them for use in future projects.

“When you’re talking about concrete parking structures, you’re talking about concrete that gets turned into aggregate, so that then gets to be used in the foundation and building materials for the new project,” he said.

He added that 98% of the demolished raw materials from the old terminal’s parking garage were repurposed for use in the new terminal. That comes out to around 85% of all the construction waste, by weight, of the old structure.

This sustainability measure reduces the need for brand-new building materials, which can take a lot of energy to produce and transport to the project site. It also helps reduce the amount of material sent to Kansas City’s landfills, which have limited state for solid waste and construction debris.

Do you have more questions about the new MCI airport terminal? Ask the Service Journalism team at kcq@kcstar.com.