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Welcome to the May 2008 Edition of the City of Fort Wayne’s Green City email newsletter.
Upcoming events:
Creating a Pedestrian & Bicycle Friendly Downtown presentation at the Cinema Center
Wednesday, May 7th from 6-8pm
For more information, visit:
http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/energy
Rain Garden Presentation by Carrie Pence
Location: Wells Co. Public Library located at 200 W. Washington in Bluffton, IN
Date: May 20th at 6:30 PM.
For more information, contact Carrie at 260-824-1612
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This edition of the Green City email newsletter contains:
*Green Tip of the Month
*Street Tree Applications
*Reduce Your Paper Consumption
*Change-A-Light Pledge Update
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*Green Tip of the Month
Consider operating costs when purchasing appliances. When you buy an appliance, you pay more than just the sales price – you commit yourself to paying the cost of running that appliance for as long as you own it. These energy costs can add up quickly. For example, running a refrigerator for 15-20 years costs as much as the initial purchase price of the unit.
The sum of the purchase price and the energy cost of running an appliance over its lifetime is called its life-cycle cost. The life-cycle costs of energy-efficient appliances are lower than those of average models even though the latter may cost less to buy. To determine a basic life-cycle cost, use the following equation:
Life-Cycle Cost = Initial Cost + (Annual Operating Cost x Years of Operation)
In the above equation, the operating cost can include energy costs and maintenance and repair. For “years”, you would use the expected life of the equipment in question.
This tip came from the book Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings 9th edition by Jennifer Thorne Amann, Alex Wilson, and Katie Ackerly.
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*Street Tree Applications Now Available
Fort Wayne Parks & Recreation has released their annual Street Tree Application. Residents may now apply for a street tree which the City would plant adjacent to their property, on the street right of way this fall.
The street tree program has been offered annually for more than 15 years. Trees will be offered at $35 on a first-come, first-served basis. This year, the City hopes to plant up to 700 trees through this. The $35 fee per tree may be waived for applicants whose incomes fall below certain limits.
Some interesting facts:
One tree alone can absorb more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide and help Fort Wayne achieve EPA air quality standards by reducing ozone and fine particulate matter.
Trees absorb rainfall, helping reduce the release of sewage into the rivers in heavy rains.
Studies show how shade trees reduce energy consumption in summer by reducing air conditioning loads.
Download an application from http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/ home page under Special Features at the bottom of the page, or call 427-1140 to have an application mailed to you.
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*Reduce Your Paper Consumption – Save Money – Save the Forests – Save the Planet
How to Create Multiple Benefits through Small Actions
by Nicholas Harter
Paper usage in the United States is at an all time high. The U.S. pulp industry is the 3rd largest consumer of chlorine, 2nd largest consumer of energy, and the largest consumer of water per ton of product. Why do we care? Well, half the trees cut down in the U.S. are used for paper. This increases the prices on other products that use trees, as well as the numerous environmental benefits that are lost due to forest destruction. Chlorine, when used to bleach paper creates dioxins and furans, which flow airborne and are known to cause cancer in humans. The majority of the electricity used in the U.S. comes from coal fired power plants, and since paper companies are the 2nd largest consumers of energy, they account for a major portion of the cancer causing air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and toxic mercury, as well as the largest contributor of hazardous air toxics including particulate pollution and CO2. U.S. citizens also pay numerous subsidies to maintain the virgin paper industry through forest services. This means that your tax dollars are going to help the paper industry cut down trees, instead of helping them to use the paper we are recycling. The U.S. also uses more paper than any other country (67 million tons per year or 600 pounds of paper per person). This means that we, as U.S. citizens and paper consumers have the ability to make a significant impact on this problem.
So what can we do about this?
There are several very easy steps you can make towards reducing your paper consumption, which in turn reduces the amount of money you spend on paper, which in turn helps save the forests from deforestation, and helps the U.S. receive the numerous benefits from trees, such as cleaner air, water, and soil, as well as a habitat for wild animals.
The first step in reducing your paper consumption is to think before you print. Is what you’re printing worth all of the above? Is it worth the destruction to the environment, and no matter how inexpensive one single piece of paper is, is the cumulative printing that you do worth the cost? So, think before you print, and if you can save it on your computer, read it on your computer, edit it on your computer, or don’t really need it on paper, then don’t print.
The second step is to reduce the amount of paper each item you print takes up. There are several ways to do this. The first and easiest step is to reduce your printer margins. In Word 2007, click on the Page Layout tab and Margins; choose Narrow to set your margins at .5”. In previous versions of Word, click on File and Page Setup to change print margins. I find that this margin width is ideal for me since I don’t need to bind anything. If you are binding or putting printouts in a three-ring notebook, set your left margin to .75” to allow for the extra space needed. Penn State University recently did the calculation and found that by changing the print margins to .75” through their campus, they would save $120,000 or the equivalent of 72 acres of trees. This is a significant savings, so consider pitching this idea to your boss along with a suggestion for a raise!
The second option for reducing the paper your printing takes up is adjusting your font. Switching from 12 point font to 11 or even 10 point font will save paper over the long run. This in combination with the first step can add up quickly.
The third option usually requires a printer with duplexing capability. Duplexing, or printing on both sides of the paper, reduces your paper consumption. A simple change in your printer default settings usually does the trick. Duplexing can cut your paper consumption by up to 50%. Imagine if everyone in your office duplexed. You’d cut your bill for paper by up to 50%. That might make your boss quite happy!
Here is a chart to illustrate how effective these strategies can be:
From: To:
12 point font 10 point font
1.25”” margins .75” margins
double spaced single spaced
one sided double sided
100 page document 15 page document
Wow, that’s an 85% savings on paper. Imagine creating that kind of savings every year. What’s your current bill for paper? Reduce that by 85%. Is it time to implement some new strategies at home and the office?
I hope I’ve illustrated not only the problems associated with paper use, but some real solutions that will help you avoid using as much paper as you have in the past. Reducing your paper consumption will not only save you money, but will help the environment, and for that we are all appreciative. Consider providing this article to your manager and help them develop policies that take these suggestions into account. Your IT staff could set all computers to default to .75” margins and duplexing. These are easy fixes to a big problem. Thank you for all you do to help the environment!
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*Change-A-Light Pledge Update
The City of Fort Wayne has far surpassed our goal of 500 pledges, and has as of this morning, received 1,237 pledges and has given away over 1,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs at various events including the Home & Garden Show, Earth Day events, and presentations on energy efficiency. This will result in a potential savings of 2.8 million kWh of electricity and prevent over 4 million pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.
To pledge to Change-A-Light in your home or office, visit:
http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?fuseaction=globalwarming.showPledge&cpd_id=785
City staff members are available for presentations on home energy efficiency and Fort Wayne’s green initiatives. To schedule a presentation for an organization, contact City Utilities at 427-1381 or email Nicholas Harter at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Thank you very much for being a subscriber to our Green City email newsletter. We hope this has been helpful and informative to 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
Program Manager
Energy & Environmental Services
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Visit the City’s Energy & Environmental Services Website: http://www.cityoffortwayne.org/energy
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