What the City is Doing

When cost-effective, the City of Birmingham seeks to incorporate sustainable practices into operations through collaborative efforts among city departments. There are a number of efforts currently under way or being studied by staff for potential future use.

Public Services

• Participating in a multi-jurisdictional effort to study use of biodiesel in municipal vehicles.
• GeoMelt 55  - Beet Juice Product
  • Use of agricultural byproduct from sugar beet processing as a pre-wetting agent for road de-icing. 
  • Makes the salt more effective at melting ice & snow.
  • Lowers the amount of salt needed.
  • Lowers the effective temperature of salt.
  • Breaks the bond between ice/snow and road surface, making plowing easier and more efficient.
  • More environmentally-safe & less corrosive than traditional products.
  • Local Michigan product.

Facilities & Building Maintenance

• Use of timed, programmable thermostats to control building temperature based on scheduled use, season, and time of day.  
  • Cut natural gas consumption at City Hall by approx. 40% in the past 4 years, saving approx. $7,000 in 2006.
• Installation of motion-detection equipment to limit lighting when building, hallways, and rooms are empty.
• Retro-fitting of lighting equipment to more energy-efficient technologies.
• Recycling of materials through SOCRRA, including paper, cardboard, and other items used in city operations.
• Continuing to pursue more environmentally sustainable materials for use in repairs & upgrades to existing facilities.

Police Department

• Use of Electric Vehicle for parking enforcement activities.

Purchasing

• Currently purchase recycled paper goods/products
  • In continuing with the City of Birmingham’s commitment to environmental responsibility, all attempts to purchase supplies, materials and equipment with recycled materials will be incorporated and aggressively pursued.” – City Commission Resolution May 14, 1990
• Working with Tri-County Cooperative to increase availability of recycled/environmentally preferred goods offered by vendors.

Planning

• Incorporation of LEED standards & best practices into Triangle District Master Plan.
• Public presentations to educate Planning Board Members, Developers, and the General Public.
  • LEED Certifications
  • Pervious Concrete
  • LED lighting
  • Future presentations planned for topics such as the use of native plantings, green roofs, incorporating alternative energy into development, green alleys and pedestrian passages, demolition & deconstruction, and value of historic resources.
• Work with Oakland County and other local governments in creating “Best Practices” documents for landscaping, lighting, demolition/deconstruction, solar/wind power, historic buildings, site selection/planning.
• Explore the expanded use of native plantings in parks, golf courses, and medians to limit need for excessive watering.
• Continue to explore the use of alternative-fuel vehicles in city operations.
• Continue to pursue cost-effective technological advances that lead to reduced energy consumption and lower operation costs for facilities.
• Participate in regional transportation initiatives such as the development of the Regional Transit Center.
• Continue to promote walkable development in the downtown and neighborhoods.
• Encouraging recycling from local businesses.

Information Technology

• Encourage recycling of toner and ink jet cartridges.
• Implemented power saving measures using Energy-Star features on computers and monitors.
• Monitors are shut down at night and put into a sleep mode after 30 minutes of inactivity.
• Harddisks put into a sleep mode after 60 minutes of inactivity.
• The EPA estimates that putting monitors into a low power mode can save $10 to $30 in energy costs per monitor per year.
• Activating power saving features on hard disks can save $15 to $40 annually per machine.
• Multi Function Machines
• Several departments have requested the functionality of all-in-one printers (fax, printer, scanner, copier).
• IT department has has standardized the all-in-one machines and in an effort to reduce the amount of paper used by these and other department printers, the IT Department has adopted a requirement for duplex ability in printers wherever possible.
• Equipment Disposal
• IT believes it is wasteful to dispose of equipment that could be upgraded or repaired.
• Equipment is repaired when possible, however occasionally it is determined that a user would benefit from a newer, more powerful machine.
• In this circumstance, the old computer is reformatted, rebuilt and redeployed to a location for re-use.
• Most often, this results in switching computers and upgrading equipment so that only the oldest computers are disposed.
• Disposal of computer equipment is done via the MITN auction or recycled through SOCRRA.
• Staff Intranet
• Used as a repository for internal forms and documents to reduce paper usage.