Headquarters Office Welcomes Two New Employees

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa.-Presidential Management Fellow Philip DeSenze and summer student Nephtali Chavez have joined the Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry headquarters staff at 11 Campus Blvd., Suite 200, Newtown Square, PA 19301.

Philip DeSenze, a natural resource planner, has been assigned to the Office of Knowledge Management, where he will focus on planning and sustainability.  "Phil" earned his degrees at Ohio State University-a B.A. in Political Science and dual Master's between the School of Environmental and Natural Resources, and the John Glenn School of Public Affairs. His studies focused on environmental and natural resource management and policy, with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture. 

Phil has worked as a senior legislative aide to the majority floor leader in the Ohio House of Representatives, as legislative liaison for the Ohio Lottery Commission, and as Special Assistant to the Executive Director for the White House Initiative for Tribal Colleges and Universities at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, DC. 

Phil and his wife Kristina, who recently earned her J.D. from Ohio State's Moritz College of Law, have relocated from Columbus, OH, to eastern Pennsylvania along with their Dalmation Zach and cat Sophie. Phil and Kristina both enjoy gardening and cooking, as well as biking and hiking in the great outdoors. 

You can reach Phil at e-mail padesenze@fs.fed.us.

Nephtali Chavez has joined the Newtown Square staff for the summer, as part of the Hispanic Association of College and Universities (HACU) Program. She is working with Jan Polasky on the Fire Staff and Jada Jackson in Forest Management, providing both technical and field support to Forest Legacy, Forest Fire and Emergency Response, and Urban and Community Forestry Programs. She will also spend some time working in the Northern Research Station's new Urban Field Station in Philadelphia.

From Germantown, MD, Nephtali is an undergraduate senior studying Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Maryland, College Park Campus, where she has done ecological plant and insect research. She holds a passion for the environment.

Nephtali is bilingual in English and Spanish, and enjoys photography, exploring new architecture, and being with friends.  

You can reach Nephtali by phone at 610-557-4138.

Please join us in welcoming Phil and Nephtali!

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Beetle Traps Deployed at National Arboretum

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.-The Northeastern Area State and Private Forestry is assisting the National Arboretum in Washington, DC, with deploying detection traps for Asian longhorned beetle and emerald ash borer. The emerald ash borer traps are part of a delimitation survey following detection of the beetles in the southeast section of the city last year. The Asian longhorned beetle traps are the result of a cooperative project funded by the Forest Service and Pennsylvania State University. This is the first national deployment of this trapping system, which is being conducted through the Sentinel Plant Network working with 11 Federal, State, and private arboretums across the Northeast and Midwest United States.

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Sustainable Operations Tip:

Energy Efficient Lighting Technology

By Mike Nichols

Durham, N.H.-One of the largest energy uses in a typical building is lighting. In nonresidential buildings, lighting accounts for 20-25 percent or more of total energy expenditures. Improving energy efficiency in lighting should be a goal of all facilities managers and local green teams.

An emerging type of lighting promises to make a huge change in energy use. LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, have long been used in items such as exit signs, traffic lights, and even the small lights on PCs and monitors. Recent advances, however, have enabled the development of LED light fixtures that can illuminate large areas. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that, in 15 years, LED lighting could reduce electricity use for lighting by 33 percent and result in a savings of $265 billion.

One reason that LEDs save energy is that their light is more focused than light from incandescent and CFL bulbs, which emit light (and heat) in all directions. LEDs produce only a small amount of heat, which is captured in a heat sink within the fixture. The LED itself is generally cool to the touch.

In an LED light, electrons pass through a semiconductor material causing the LED chip (or multiple chips) to emit light in one direction. (Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)

LED technology is constantly improving. Some poorly designed LED products currently on the market do not deliver energy savings or even acceptable lighting performance. Many LED products may show rapid deterioration of light output with 1 year of use. One way to avoid these products is to shop for Energy Star products. A certified product must meet many criteria, including having a constant output of light over a rated lifetime of at least 25,000 hours.

The Delaware, OH, lab of the Forest Service's Northern Research Station recently replaced five 250-watt outdoor lights with high performance LEDs that use only 52 watts. Specs show that they will maintain 70 percent of their initial 3,429 lumens out to 50,000 hours!

Estimates are that the lights will last from 13 to 27 years and save 3,613.5 kWh per year, at a total cost savings of somewhere between $4,973 and $9,946 at today's prices.

Information in this article was taken from the following Web sites; please refer to them for additional information: