What enviromental initiatives is local government taking?

[wrobert]

I have made my suggestions to no avail. Does anyone know of any substantive initiatives that local government has taken to do their part for the enviroment?


My suggestions:

Redeploy the code enforcement vehicles to public works. Then purchase small hybrid SUVs for their use. The small ones such as those that Ford Escapes. These could then also be striped up in a manner to educate the public on this technology. Not a new idea, actually a Florida county in the south is doing this.

Replace all incadescent bulbs with CFLs. Pay for themselves in 90 days and then we start saving money.

Use solar to power the TDC beach facilities. They also could be built in such a manner to need very little electricity during the day. Solar could charge the batteries for lights at night. Lights are suppose to be very dim anyway, so using LEDs to illuminate would be possible.

Put a significant portion of the parking lot lights at all government locations and schools on timers so a majority shut off late at night while leaving on just what is needed for security.


Those were my thoughts. Anyone know of anything that they are doing?

 

[Bdarg]

wrobert, if you are asking for ideas beyond just saving energy then, the county needs to work with the other agencies to enforce current environmental laws and scrutinize permits so that we are not paying billions of dollars down the road to restore what should have been truly protected in the first place.

Of course, in the long run, this would save the energy that would otherwise be used to power the future machines of restoration.

 

[seagrovegirl]

I have made my suggestions to no avail. Does anyone know of any substantive initiatives that local government has taken to do their part for the enviroment?


My suggestions:

Redeploy the code enforcement vehicles to public works. Then purchase small hybrid SUVs for their use. The small ones such as those that Ford Escapes. These could then also be striped up in a manner to educate the public on this technology. Not a new idea, actually a Florida county in the south is doing this.

Replace all incadescent bulbs with CFLs. Pay for themselves in 90 days and then we start saving money.

Use solar to power the TDC beach facilities. They also could be built in such a manner to need very little electricity during the day. Solar could charge the batteries for lights at night. Lights are suppose to be very dim anyway, so using LEDs to illuminate would be possible.

Put a significant portion of the parking lot lights at all government locations and schools on timers so a majority shut off late at night while leaving on just what is needed for security.


Those were my thoughts. Anyone know of anything that they are doing?

Very good suggestions...I am sure you know who to contact about implementation

 

[wrobert]

wrobert, if you are asking for ideas beyond just saving energy then, the county needs to work with the other agencies to enforce current environmental laws and scrutinize permits so that we are not paying billions of dollars down the road to restore what should have been truly protected in the first place.

Of course, in the long run, this would save the energy that would otherwise be used to power the future machines of restoration.

Absolutely. There is nothing more aggravating that to go to the trouble of passing thoughtful legislation then watching it be ignored.

I understand that there is going to be a proposal floated to add 13-14 code enforcement officers to the mix to see if they can increase compliance locally. But do you think local leaders are capable of seeing the costs of things now versus the cost of not doing anything?

 

[wrobert]

I have made my suggestions to no avail. Does anyone know of any substantive initiatives that local government has taken to do their part for the enviroment?


My suggestions:

Redeploy the code enforcement vehicles to public works. Then purchase small hybrid SUVs for their use. The small ones such as those that Ford Escapes. These could then also be striped up in a manner to educate the public on this technology. Not a new idea, actually a Florida county in the south is doing this.

Replace all incadescent bulbs with CFLs. Pay for themselves in 90 days and then we start saving money.

Use solar to power the TDC beach facilities. They also could be built in such a manner to need very little electricity during the day. Solar could charge the batteries for lights at night. Lights are suppose to be very dim anyway, so using LEDs to illuminate would be possible.

Put a significant portion of the parking lot lights at all government locations and schools on timers so a majority shut off late at night while leaving on just what is needed for security.


Those were my thoughts. Anyone know of anything that they are doing?

Very good suggestions...I am sure you know who to contact about implementation

I have contacted people repeatedly about implementation to no avail. The only success I will claim is that District 4 now has CFLs throughout the office. Kudos to Sara for taking the initiative.

 

[ckhagen]

Robert, personally I'd like to take a wait and see approach on the CFLs. Their damage to the environment in the long run may be more harmful than the savings in energy. People do not dispose of them properly and they contain mercury. I believe something like only 3% of these bulbs are being properly disposed of.

We know the harmful effects of mercury and heavy metal poisoning in small children and until they come up with something safer, I won't be buying any more of them. If you drop one and break it in your house, it serious business. They're supposed to be destroyed in a vacuum according to the EPA.

That said, I think the solar powered beach facilities make a LOT of sense.

 

[wrobert]

Robert, personally I'd like to take a wait and see approach on the CFLs. Their damage to the environment in the long run may be more harmful than the savings in energy. People do not dispose of them properly and they contain mercury. I believe something like only 3% of these bulbs are being properly disposed of.

From what I have read, the amount of mercury contained in one is considerably less than the mercury released into the atmosphere by the creation of the extra electricity needed to burn a regular bulb so you still have a net loss in mercury exposure if all bulbs were disposed of incorrectly. But education could easily correct that problem.

 

[ckhagen]

Yes Robert, you're partially right (which makes me partially right too, lol). That's the case only when using coal power. Now, I'm pretty sure we're still using coal power (haven't heard otherwise). I think 25ish percent of energy is coal fueled, most of that to electricity IIRC.

Just saying, the immediate threat of an accident involving a CFL bulb is a real danger, especially in a household of small children (which I realize government offices aren't exactly full of!). I wonder how they're coming on cleaning up coal power?

eta: I guess it would be prudent for people concerned about the mercury, living in nuclear (or other) powered areas, to stick with incandescent.