ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENT
In our 95 years of service to Virginia’s Capital Region, Richmond International Airport (RIC) has been a leader in environmental stewardship. In fact, our commitment to a sustainable future is embedded into everything we do, inside and outside our world-class facilities.
Committed to Being an Environmentally Responsible Partner
With the wide array of projects over the past few years, RIC has incorporated sustainability practices into its daily operations and mission, to the point where it has become part of the Airport’s DNA
“RIC is committed to conserving resources and being an environmentally responsible partner to the community we serve,” said Perry J. Miller, A.A.E., I.A.P., president and CEO of the Airport Commission. “The Airport, certified as a Virginia Green Travel Partner since 2015, continually reviews operations for innovative approaches to sustainability and efficiency.”
Our staff is committed to collaborative, innovative environmental practices, with the health and safety of RIC passengers, employees, and tenants paramount to this focus. Here are some of the many ways we are actively engaged in environmental stewardship:
In its day-to-day operations, RIC encourages pursuit of leading sustainability practices, with an all-hands-on-deck approach to new insights and inventiveness. This includes the implementation of water bottle refilling stations in Concourse A and B, offering an alternative to plastic water bottles. And don’t forget to check out our built-in water bottle counter for real-time tracking of plastic saved as a result of making these stations readily available. Since its debut in 2020, the stations have eliminated the use of more than 500,000 disposable plastic bottles.
RIC has continued to make conserving resources a priority in and around the terminal. This includes reductions in HVAC usage during overnight hours, saving about 3,200 kWh/day or enough energy to power 106 average homes.
Additional RIC initiatives include:
- Energy-efficient white thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO) membrane roofing to reflect heat and to cool roofs.
- Upgrading window and exterior glass elements where practical. RIC has recently installed, and plans to replace nearly 40-year-old glazing, with insulated glazing panels utilizing a low-e coating. The net effect here is reduced heat gain and lower energy use. Additionally, another consideration is the sustainability efforts of manufacturers, emphasizing those that incorporate best practices (such as lower energy consumption during the glass manufacturing process, reusing/recycling of glass products, sourcing products to make the glazing regionally, and taking a sustainable approach to shipment) into the production and delivery processes of the glazing.
- Installing photocells to more efficiently manage outdoor lighting.
- Upgrades to compact florescent lighting in overhead lighting and changing various other significant lighting systems to highly efficient T5, T8, and LED bulbs.
- LED lighting on part of the runways and all taxiways to reduce energy consumption and provide improved lighting and safety conditions on the airfield.
- Installing LED lights throughout the terminal.
- All told, LED conversions already completed (runways, taxiways, airfield signs, rental car garage, terminal phase I, and the first eight gates of Concourse A) save an additional 1,500 kWh/day.
Looking to the future, RIC continues to evaluate new opportunities to reduce its environmental footprint and cut unnecessary costs.
Compressed natural gas (CNG) is the cleanest burning transportation fuel on the market today as it produces less carbon content than petroleum-based options. CNG has the fewest emissions of all fuels and contains significantly less pollutants than diesel. In order to lower emissions, RIC converted its entire fleet of parking shuttles as well as some maintenance vehicles to CNG.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has long mandated that all U.S. commercial service airports, including RIC, use aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) as part of their emergency and training and response programs. All AFFF formulations currently approved and mandated by FAA contain certain PFAS compounds due to their ability to extinguish aircraft fuel fires quickly and effectively, while also preventing fuel from reigniting.
Since 2015, Richmond International Airport (RIC) has been a certified 
The Stormwater Management Facility (SWMF) at RIC involved the construction of a shallow marsh wetlands designed to treat storm water runoff for approximately 1,264 acres of airport land – including a sizable portion of the White Oak Swamp Creek – and nearly 400 acres of adjacent off-airport property. The SWMF consists of two basins, inlet and outlet structures, and shallow marsh plantings to treat storm water runoff.
As RIC expanded in the 1990s and early 2000s with various capital improvement projects, it was required to create mitigation wetlands within the Chickahominy River watershed. In 1994, the Commission purchased a 278-acre tract in neighboring New Kent County.