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| Live Green in Plano Volunteer News
Summer 2008 |
Live Green in Plano Volunteers,  You were awesome at pitching in to make our Live Green Expo so successful this year! We estimate that 12,000 people attended the event. We read every evaluation and received many praises for your knowledge and helpfulness. More than 350 volunteers worked to prepare and run the Expo. Those of you who attended our Master Composter and Live Green in Plano trainings provided the majority of support. Thank you!
There are two events in May to add to your calendars:  Saturday, May 17, 8:30-11:30 a.m.
This community garden is one of the first in the Metroplex and has been very successul! After strolling among the plots and speaking with the gardeners, you will have time to shop at the farmer's market. We will carpool from 4100 W. Plano Parkway at Commerce, from the City Warehouse parking lot. RSVP to Deb Bliss at debb@plano.gov (972) 769-4313 by Thursday, May 15. Speak up if you can drive and let us know how many passengers you can take. 
Thursday, May 29, 6 to 8 p.m.
Volunteer Recognition Picnic
Plano Community Gardens
4030 W. Plano Parkway
Bring picnic food to share. Our theme is low impact food: seasonal, local, low on the food chain. Beverages, plates and utensils will be provided. Besides sharing a bountiful potluck picnic, we'd like you to share conservation tips you've found successful at your home. You will meet other fascinating volunteers and help us recognize those who have completed their hours towards Master Composter Certification and the Live Green in Plano Volunteer requirement.
I've heard many of your concerns about neighbors who don't recycle or who are using chemicals in a dangerous way in the yard next to yours. Consider helping us get the word out about green lifestyles by hosting a Backyard Talk this summer. You simply gather a group of friends or neighbors together for a social, then city staff or volunteers will provide a brief presentation on an environmental topic of your choice. Some of the topics we can address include: yardcare, saving money and energy, water conservation, water pollution, backyard composting, recycling, litter prevention and city environmental services. Contact Deb Bliss at debb@plano.gov (972) 769-4313 if you are interested in setting up a Backyard Talk.
If you belong to a civic, social or religious organization that would be interested in a presentation about city services or environmental topics, contact Patty Stewart at pattyst@plano.gov or (972) 769-4130.
Maria Gant is guest writer for this issue. Most of her volunteer hours have been earned researching topics of interest. Her 8 year old daughter, Samantha, joined her for many of the Live Green in Plano classes. Samantha was recently invited to participate in the third grade Ready Writing division of the Private Schools Interscholastic Association District competition. The students were given two topics to choose from: describe a trip to the shopping mall or discuss energy saving ideas. Samantha chose the latter topic and placed third out of 24 entrants. Her suggestions included turning off unused lights, reducing one's use of television and computers, driving cars that get good mileage and minimizing car trips with only one occupant. Maria is proud of her little "green girl!"
I welcome suggestions for new topics and encourage others interested in researching and/or writing for this newsletter to keep us informed of current technology and best practices. | |
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| My Butts Experience |
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by Maria Gant
When the spreadsheet of volunteer opportunities arrives each week, I usually scan the options to find things with flexible times, like doing research and writing articles. I first skipped right over the chance to pick up cigarette butts, "Eewwww!" But when a second call came to help with the initiative, I gave it some serious thought.
It would be flexible in timing. Long tweezers and a sealable bag would make it easier. But where could I find a lot of butts? I pondered these issues as I was running one morning. I remembered seeing hemostats at Elliott's Hardware, and then thought a DART rail station might be a good place to find littered cigarette remnants.
My son and I bought hemostats at Elliott's and immediately collected 100 cigarette butts in the strip shopping center where the hardware store is located beginning with the parking lot and front entries. I visited Haggard Park, across from the Downtown Plano DART rail station, and snagged 600 butts in about an hour. My family helped me scour Longhorn Park, across from our house, and we collected another 44. I picked up 127 over two days, while walking through the parking garage at work. Butts are easy to find once you really open your eyes, just try looking at the expansion joints in parking lots and streets You will be amazed at how many of those offensive, toxic stubs are there. My hemostats made the pickings easy.
I went back to Haggard Park and downtown Plano. With my children, Samantha (8) and Ethan (5), we picked up another 1,000. At the west end of the George Bush DART Rail Station parking lot, I picked up 850 butts in just one hour. I told Casey Eckert, from Keep Plano Beautiful, I'd try to pick up another 650 butts the same weekend. I wanted to get her a total of 7,300. That's the number a pack-a-day smoker generates in one year. My personal total at that point would be 4,200 butts since 4/17/08.
The Texas Department of Transportation is quoted as saying 130 million cigarette butts hit Texas roads each year. Here are a few other facts from Get Your Butt off the Road: · Cigarette butts are the most littered item in Texas.
· Cigarette butts can take up to 25 years to decompose.
· There are over 176,000,000 pounds of discarded cigarette butts in the United States each year.
· Approximately 5.2 trillion cigarettes are manufactured every year worldwide, 1 in 3 of these butts will become litter.
· The toxic fumes from cigarette filters can pollute our water and kill fish, animals and even children who mistake the butts for food.
· There are over 165 chemicals in a single cigarette.
In case you see someone toss a butt out their car window, please feel free to report them to the State of Texas. You just need the date, time, location, vehicle make, Texas license plate, what was littered and which occupant of the vehicle was the offender. Enter that information and the registered owner of the vehicle will get a nice letter asking them not to litter, along with a free car litterbag.
It's nice to know we've removed 4,300 cigarette butts from the roads and landscape. We've had some good conversations with passersby who have stopped to ask us about our work. Perhaps they'll help to spread the message. Casey Eckert's project will provide a visual and convincing message that cigarette butts must be put in a proper receptacle. | |
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| A Tankless Job |
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 by Maria Gant
Tankless or instant hot water heaters produce hot water more efficiently. But what is the payback period on such a device? Consumer Reports magazine has written about these devices on a few occasions, and here's what they reported:
Tankless water heaters save energy by heating only the water you draw. Those savings can add up to some $50 per year compared with conventional heaters. But even at that rate, it will take more than 25 years for an average household to recoup the extra $1,300 or so those units cost to buy, install and maintain. See payback.
Smaller, cheaper (tankless) units probably won't produce enough hot water to serve a typical family. Larger, gas-fired units cost $1,000 or more and are expensive to install because they often require larger gas supply lines and special venting. See installation.
The following link will take you to a good article that contains a general discussion of water heaters, and has a section that addresses tankless water heaters. Some important considerations are: getting the right size to serve your family's hot water consumption needs; potential pipe and gas-line renovations to accommodate the tankless unit; and being aware that flow rates vary depending upon how cold the incoming groundwater is. See consumer considerations. |
| Creating an Optimal CFL Habitat |
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 by Maria Gant
Conscientious consumers seek to maximize Compact Flourescent Lightbulbs' (CFLs) useful lives, but humidity, containment, temperature extremes and short usage time have an impact on the life of CFLs.
High humidity, often found in bathrooms, can shorten the life of CFL bulbs. Control humidity in your bathroom by running your ventilating fan during baths and showers, and for an additional 15 minutes afterwards. See National Public Radio and KCPL. CFLs can fail prematurely if overheated. Thus, current recommendations for fully enclosed, unventilated light fixtures, such as those found recessed into some insulated ceilings, are either to use "reflector CFLs" (R-CFL) or to replace such fixtures with those designed for normal CFLs. See Wikipedia.
Extreme temperatures can affect CFLs. Some CFLs can be used outside in temperatures down to -10 degrees Fahrenheit and up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, though when it is very cold they may take longer to reach full brightness. There are some Energy Star qualified CFLs that are weatherproof and can be used outside where exposed to rain, so check for "weatherproof" models before installing them in your outdoor spot light. See Save-n-Energy.
The life of a CFL lamp is significantly shorter if it is only turned on for a few minutes at a time; in the case of a five-minute on/off cycle the lifespan of a CFL can be up to 85 percent shorter, reducing its lifespan to the level of an incandescent lamp. The United States Energy Star Program says to leave them on at least 15 minutes at a time to eliminate this problem. See Wikipedia.
Finally, most consumers are aware CFLs contain mercury. Thus, if you break one in your home, there are specific instructions recommended for cleaning it up. The first step is to open a window and leave the room for at least 15 minutes. The following link to the Energy Star Web site contains the complete instructions for cleaning up after a CFL bulb breaks, as well as other general information about CFLs. See CFL Clean-up.
Elliott's Hardware at 2049 Coit Rd. in Plano will accept dead CFLs for recycling. |
| Wind Energy in Plano |
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 research by Maria Gant
Have you seen the wind turbine between Commerce, Plano Parkway and 15th Street? This new Skystream 3.7 meter 1.9 KW power appliance sits atop a 33 foot monopole tower, the height limit set by the City of Plano. Solar Wind Technologies installed it and it is privately-owned. With an average 12 MPH wind, it produces about 400 KWHrs a month. |
 Working with Your HOA |
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| Increasing Your Home Value with Renewable Retrofits
Jim Duncan of North Texas Renewable Energy, Inc. recently provided some tips on working with Home Owner's Associations (HOA's) to make energy efficient changes to a home. If the proposed improvement is not HOA approved:
- Begin the process with a face-to-face conversation seeking a variance of the deed contract.
- Over-negotiate, ask for more than one really wants. This allows for some give and take and improves one's chances of getting what is really being requested.
- Asking a court for a temporary injunction to move the issue to good faith arbitration, puts each party on a more equal footing.
- Read the deed contract for vagueness. Phrases such as "improve the value of property" can work in the home owner's favor as "renewable" improvements increase the property value of a home.
- Remember that the court will take the literal interpretation of the contract, not necessarily the HOA's interpretation.
- Hiring an attorney could prove worth the investment because most HOA's will concede if there is push back from the home owner.
- Be pro-active. Suggest new contract language that allows green improvements or at the very least makes negotiation of such issues mandatory.
Jim suggests HOA's are 90 percent intimidation and 10 percent authority, but it is unwise to ignore their letter or challenge. Begin the conversation and it will most likely pay off in many ways. |
Bees: What's the Buzz? 
Brandon and Susan Pollard, speakers at our March Learn Green to Live Green session, describe themselves as urban beekeepers "in the hood". They adopt-out pairs of hives in Dallas to produce Zip Code honey that is shared with the adopting sponsor. This couple is passionate about bees. They brought lots of props and provided a wealth of information.
One out of every three bites we eat and more than 90 common food crops we depend upon require pollination by bees. (Some are wind-pollinated.) Bees are the most productive pollinators. China has poisoned so many bees by spraying pesticides that they now have to hand-pollinate pear trees to produce a pear crop. It takes 50 people working eight hours to accomplish what one bee can do in a day. The value of bees to American farmers is estimated at $15 billion.
The bee is the only insect that makes food humans eat. There can be 80,000 bees in one hive. The hive is actually a brood chamber. The queen lays her eggs in the bottom box. The upper boxes are the honey frames or supers. A hive may also contain a pollen trap (to collect pollen as a product), a queen excluder (to keep her from laying eggs in the honey frames) and a feeder (for providing food if the hive needs it to survive harsh weather).
It costs about $300 to start up a hive. Linseed oil is used on the wooden ware. In placing the hives, you want to avoid grassy areas where mowing would disturb them. Once placed, they don't like to be moved.
Colony Collapse Disorder, the sudden disappearance of entire hives is most probably a result of many things:
· Loss of clean habitat, environmental negligence
· Stresses creating immune deficiency
· Loss of bee diet
· Part of the normal dearth cycle
· Viruses
· Parasitic mites
· Pesticide-treated lumber
African bees are in Texas. They do produce honey but less of it and are stronger and more resistant to disease, meaner and more aggressive. The best defense strategy is to keep the breeding pool dilute by having lots of honeybees in the area.
Did you know that honey has an anti-bacterial property and has long been used for healing? You can find the Pollards at the Dallas Farmer's Market each weekend and contact them through their email texashoneybeeguild@yahoo.com. Books: The Forgotten Pollinators by Stephen L. Buchmann, Robbing Bees by Holley Bishop
Sincerely,
Deb Bliss
Sustainability Volunteer Coordinator Sustainability and Environmental Services
City of Plano | |
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