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USS Midway, Old Town Trolley Among Environmentally-Friendly San Diego Bay Attractions

Tuesday, 31 May 2011
Contact: Barbara Moreno (619) 686-6216

Take a tour with Old Town Trolley and San Diego SEAL Tours, or stop by for a visit at the historic USS Midway Museum, and you will be enjoying a couple of San Diego Bay’s “green” attractions.

These San Diego Bay businesses are among more than 60 waterfront businesses participating in the Port of San Diego’s Green Business Challenge – a program to promote environmental practices.

For the next year, participants in the year-long Green Business Challenge will work to reduce energy consumption, water use, minimize waste and prevent pollution.

Sustainable practices not only improve the quality of San Diego Bay, but they also help cut business costs and attract visitors who care about the environment. The Port of San Diego is a steward for San Diego Bay, managing its valuable social, economic and environmental assets.

Old Town Trolley and SEAL Tours, as an organization, has always been mindful of the environment, said Bob Ross, safety officer for the organization.

“Our trolley fleet runs on clean burning propane and we use biodiesel in our amphibious tour vehicles,” Ross said. “Getting involved with the Green Business Challenge gave us the opportunity to look at some of our practices and get better at what we do in being more efficient.”

Old Town Trolley Tours worked with Port partner San Diego Gas and Electric to conduct a comprehensive energy audit. Ross said the company retrofitted their lighting fixtures in their facility, resulting in a 33 percent energy savings.

Additionally, the USS Midway Museum, established on one of America’s longest-serving aircraft carriers, has implemented their own environmentally-friendly business practices.

That includes a successful recycling program, according to Charles Gordon, chief engineer at the USS Midway Museum.

“The Midway has recycled over 20,000 pounds of glass and over 3,000 pounds of plastic just over the last two months,” said Gordon.

The museum also increased the efficiency of their air conditioning facility by improving the duct work onboard, he said.

Gordon also shared some advice for all businesses looking to improve their energy efficiency.

A little effort goes a long way, he said. Initially Gordon thought that the environmentally friendly changes would amount to only a drop in the bucket in energy savings.

“But we found it to have a significant impact on our business because we service over 6 million guests to date,” said Gordon. “Plus, I think our visitors will appreciate what we’re doing to go green here in San Diego.”

The Port has a partnership with KGTV Channel 10 as part of its Sustain San Diego environmental program. In working with the Port of San Diego, Channel 10 news reporter Phoebe Chongchua is providing reports on milestones from the Green Business Challenge each month.

A complete list of all participants in the Green Business Challenge is available at GreenPortChallenge.org.