Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson insists that sustainability is the wave of the future and that prosperity will flow to those cities that weave it into their civic and business cultures. That's why Jackson hosted a sustainability summit last summer and plans a follow-up meeting this September.
But to many ears, sustainability remains a mushy concept. Efficiency and environmental stewardship sound good, but in day-to-day terms, what do they really mean?
Jackson is quietly pushing ahead with a project that will help answer that question in ways that could not be more concrete or practical: Cleveland has signed a $1.5 million deal with a New Jersey firm to design a power plant that would use organic waste to produce electricity.
As envisioned by the administration, the plant would be built adjacent to the city's Ridge Road Transfer Station and employ an environmentally friendly Japanese version of a technology known as "gasification."
Organic trash would be turned into a gas that would be burned to power generators and produce about 20 megawatts of electricity, roughly 6 percent of the peak demand for Cleveland Public Power.
Besides power, planners believe the plant would also produce commercially viable byproducts, turn garbage into a valuable commodity and reduce use of landfills -- and not just by the city, given Jackson's interest in having Cleveland bid for suburban trash contracts. It would also create about 100 permanent jobs and put CPP back in the everyday generation business for the first time in decades.
Many regulatory and financial questions remain, notably how to cover an estimated $200 million price tag.
Residents would need to be reassured about safety and odor issues, though city officials who visited Japan last fall saw power plants using this technology in densely populated neighborhoods.
But the upsides are immense, too. Cleveland's would be the first U.S. plant using this technology. The firm that has contracted with the city plans to open an office and perhaps a manufacturing plant here. If the project succeeds, it would help recast Cleveland's rusty image in a new shade of green -- and that would be both welcome and sustainable.