April is Earth Month!
Earthday was founded in 1970 to foster environmental awareness. Earthday is celebrated by nearly one billion people and events and activities span the entire month of April.
The Department of General Services (DGS), as the steward of County operations, is committed to embedding green service into all county activities.
A small sample of County greening activities include:
- All major County facilities are built to achieve silver under the United States Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Most facilities strive to achieve gold. Learn more about green features in new County facilities
- Over 75% of the County’s transit bus fleet uses hybrid, clean diesel, or compressed natural gas. Clean fuel vehicles reduce air pollution and carbon dioxide emissions.
- County technicians adjust thermostats and shut down unnecessary equipment during hot some days when our regional utility grid is strained. Reducing the need for additional power plants and lines. Learn more about the County’s automated energy management.
- The County’s Office of Procurement, and partners from other County agencies, have developed a comprehensive green purchasing toolkit. This toolkit provides standards for products, such as recycled and elemental chlorine free paper, that have a lower impact on the environment.
- Currently 30% of the County’s electricity consumption comes from clean, renewable wind energy.
- Over 20 buildings are scheduled for retrofits using Energy Performance Contracting. Each facility is expected to use at least 30% less energy and utility savings pay for the cost of improvements.
In the next few months new initiatives will be launched to reduce energy consumption, install solar photovoltaic systems and more will be launched. Please visit the Office of Energy and Sustainability (OES) website for more information.
For actions you can take to reduce your personal impact on the environment visit www.mygreenmontgomery.org.