January 2013 - Parks & Recreation - 26

C O N S E RVAT I O N

BY JACKIE CORDAY

Greening the Bottom Lines of Parks
These simple tactics can reduce energy, water, and product use.

HERE ARE MANY GOOD REASONS why park and recreation departments should consider adopting more green and sustainable practices: reducing landﬁll waste; reducing
toxic chemical use to beneﬁt employees, citizens, and the environment; reducing your
department's carbon footprint; and being a leader within the local government for sustainability policies and practices. Another great reason is to help your bottom line.
Parks managers of the 21st century need to run
facilities in more cost-effective ways to counter
rising operating costs, tighter budgets, and the
increased demands of the facilities and services. This article discusses ways to
decrease energy, water, fuel, and
Missoula Parks
product use in ways that help sustain your department and the enutilized GPS
vironment at the same time.
units on park
My work on this topic began in
vehicles for ﬂeet
the fall of 2008, when I volunteered
management
to form the City of Missoula, Montana's Green Team to develop a list
and redrew park
of ways in which the city's approxidistricts to greatly
mately 500 employees could reduce
reduce crossing
energy, fuel, water, and product use
major intersections
that would cost nothing (or very
little) to implement. I began by reor making leftsearching the internet and talking
hand turns
with people in my community who
(the two biggest
are working on climate change.
users of fuel).
Helpful publications included Best
Practices for Climate Protection: A
Local Government Guide (www.broward.org/
NaturalResources/ClimateChange/Documents/
Best_PracticesLocalGov.pdf) and The United
States Conference of Mayors Energy and Environment Best Practices January 2007 (www.usmay
ors.org/bestpractices/eandebp07.pdf).
By early 2009, the team produced a " best ideas "
list of 25 ways that city staff could reduce the cost
of energy, fuel, water, and product use, which was
then sent out by the mayor to all employees as the
city's new Green Policy. Many of the listed items
are applicable to parks departments, but this article will also go beyond this list to address ideas
speciﬁcally targeted at parks departments.
24

Parks & Recreation

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Reducing Utility Bills
This is the area where immediate cost savings can
be seen by implementing the following practices:
■ Turn off lights and electronic equipment when
not in use and use power strips to make it easy
to turn off equipment completely ( " ghost " electric
use can range up to 10 percent of your electric bill).
■ Reduce lighting where possible-many office
areas are often " over-lit " and you may be able
to take out light bulbs or at least not always turn
them on all day, every day.
■ Use more energy-efficient ﬁxtures. The City of
Missoula has changed out nearly 700 incandescent or ﬂourescent lights city-wide. The estimated energy cost savings is just over $20,200
a year; the projected average savings per ﬁxture
is $30 a year. Install automatic light sensors that
turn off ceiling lights in offices where no motion is detected for 10 minutes. Here is a great
cost comparison chart of LED/CFL/incandescent bulbs: www.designrecycleinc.com/led%20
comp%20chart.html.
■ When it's time to replace/upgrade office equipment, purchase Energy Star-rated equipment.
■ Adjusting thermostats saves three percent per
degree-consider 68 degrees during the winter
and 74 during the summer.
■ Make sure all doors and windows are properly
sealed on all park buildings.
■ Replace old HVAC systems with more efficient
models. This is the most costly upgrade on this
list, but the payback period is about eight to
nine years, and after that the cost savings can
really add up. Many cities have achieved this
upgrade through a performance contract with
Johnson Controls. (www.johnsoncontrols.com/
content/us/en/products/building_efficiency/

January 2013 - Parks & Recreation

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