Upcoming events:
Free Gas Can Giveaway on Thursday, July 12th from 4:30-6pm at Home Depot on Lake/Coliseum. These environmentally friendly gasoline cans reduce the amount of fumes that come out of the cans.
In this July edition of the Green City email newsletter you will find:
*Tips for reducing energy consumption and save money while using your vehicle.
*Information on what the City of Fort Wayne is doing to reduce its own energy consumption.
*An explanation of Air Quality Action Days, what they mean to you, and what you can do to help prevent them.
To get us started, we’d like to offer you some real tips that you can implement today, that will show an immediate impact on reducing energy consumption, and save you money:
The tips in this month’s email newsletter are for your car:
*Keep tires properly inflated - You can improve your gas mileage by around 3.3 percent by keeping your tires inflated to the proper pressure. Under-inflated tires can lower gas mileage by 0.4 percent for every 1 PSI drop in pressure of all four tires. Properly inflated tires are safer and last longer.
*Drive sensibly - Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. It can lower your gas mileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.
*Remove excess weight - Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2%. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle's weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.
*Avoid excessive idling - Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines. The rule of thumb is that if you are going to idle for more than 45 seconds, it’s better to turn off your vehicle. The City actually has a no idling policy, for City employees, which promotes turning off the car and going inside a building instead of using a drive-thru.
*Use public transportation - Consider using public transit when it is available and convenient for you. Citilink offers bus routes over much of Fort Wayne. Bike racks are on all fixed route buses so riders can “Rack & Roll”. They even provide information on where you can get on and off to access the River Greenway system. You can view their schedules and routes at http://www.fwcitilink.com/
The second section of our email newsletter highlights some of the positive changes the City has done to reduce its own energy consumption.
*All 5,800 traffic lights have been converted from incandescent to LED lighting. This has reduced energy consumption by traffic lights by approximately 60%. Savings to the taxpayers have been estimated at $145,000 annually. An estimated 500 tons of CO2 per year is prevented from entering the environment.
*In 2006, 13,000 tons of bio-solids, 43,000 tons of lime, and 6,700 tons of recycled yard waste were reused. For all the reused materials listed above, revenues were over $27,000. It is estimated that for every ton of waste that does not go to landfill 0.113 tons of CO2 are prevented from entering the environment. Therefore in 2006, almost 14,000 tons of CO2 were prevented from entering the environment.
*The City has purchased 22 new hybrid vehicles to replace a selected number of older vehicles. The new vehicles have improved gas mileage over the vehicles they are replacing resulting in less fuel being required to perform the same work. Using an average of 11,000 miles per year traveled per vehicle, approximately 22,000 gallons are conserved every year. This results in a savings of about $65,000 per year (using fuel cost of $2.95/gal). By conserving 22,000 gallons of gasoline each year, approximately 215 tons of CO2 are prevented from being released in to the environment.
*On June 23rd, 2007, Mayor Graham Richard accepted an Honorable Mention aware at the US Conference of Mayors for the City’s climate protection efforts. The awards recognize and honor mayors for their exceptional efforts to increase energy efficiency in their cities and help mitigate climate change.
The last section of our email newsletter explains what Air Quality Action Days are and why you should care about them.
Air Quality Action Days come in two flavors, Ozone and Particulate Matter.
Ozone Air Quality Action Days are likely on days with calm winds, heat, lots of sun. The air becomes filled with volatile hydro carbons (gas fumes), and nitrogen oxides, which react to create ozone, which degrades rubber and constricts air passages, especially in children and people with sensitive systems. Ozone Air Quality Action Days happen only in the summer, whereas Particulate Matter 2.5 Days can happen at any time of the year.
Citilink offers Free Bus Rides on Ozone Air Quality Action Days. We will contact you via email, a day before to let you know when this happens.
Particulate Matter 2.5 Air Quality Action Days are called when super tiny particles that are formed by reactions in the atmosphere accumulate to unhealthy levels. These fine particulates accumulate in the air, when the air becomes stagnant. These particulates are created by burning things such as leaves, wood, diesel, gasoline and at coal power plants. These fine particles get respired deep into your lungs and can cause lung cancer, emphysema, and premature heart attacks.
The City of Fort Wayne was a non-attainment area for ozone, which means our air was dirty. We have recently been upgraded to maintenance, which means we are required to have a plan to keep the air clean, a part of this plan is to ask you to take steps to reduce the formation of ozone on those days when air conditions will create high levels of ozone.
Five actions you can do to help improve air quality are; mow and refuel after 7 PM, avoid idling & drive-thrus, use public transit or carpool, maintain proper air pressure in tires, and conserve electricity by turning off lights.
Thank you very much for being a subscriber to our Green City email newsletter. We hope this has been helpful and informative for you.
We will contact you once per month with the email newsletter, as well as on Air Quality Action Days to alert you when air conditions indicate you need to take action.
If you would like to suggest topics or articles to include in monthly email newsletters, please email
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Please pass this email newsletter on to your friends and family, so that everyone can share in the knowledge and have an impact on reducing energy consumption.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Harter
Energy & Environmental Services
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