Fleet Services initiated the use of soy-based biodiesel in June of 2007 for a targeted portion of the City’ fleet of diesel units at the rate of 5% at the main fueling station at East 5th and Market, WRA Wastewater Reclamation Facility, and outlying Parks remote storage facilities. Diesel engine performance and fuel related maintenance was monitored throughout the fleet that utilizes these fueling facilities. No observed negative effects on performance or maintenance were experienced.
The 5% rate of soy-base biodiesel was continued through the cold weather months with the addition of a chemical fuel additive to enhance the fuel characteristics for cold weather operation. The cold filter plug point was reduced to -30 degrees Fahrenheit through the use of chemical additives in lieu of higher costing #1 petroleum diesel fuel. This resulted in 40 cents per gallon savings in diesel fuel costs during winter months. Fleet staff is not aware of any other Midwestern municipality that adopted this strategy of continued biodiesel use in winter months.
The concentration of biodiesel was increased to B10 (10% soy-based biodiesel) in the spring of 2008, and subsequently increased to B20 for summer months. The use of biodiesel is reduced to B10 and B5 for fall and winter respectively to maintain fuel properties appropriate for the season. This strategy results in an average use of 10% biodiesel based on annual consumptions of #2 petroleum diesel, and reduces the use of #2 petroleum diesel fuel by 50,000 gallons.
Currently, biodiesel costs a premium of 70 cents per gallon, but reduces emissions from diesel engines and results in fewer tons of CO 2 released into the atmosphere. Fleet receives biodiesel from its current fuel supplier KECK Energy who contracts with Renewal Energy Group to produce biodiesel at its Iowa production plants. Biodiesel used in the City’s fleet is produced from Iowa grown soybeans.
Des Moines Parks and Recreation and Drake University students kicked off a joint effort to restore populations of the Eastern bluebird in Des Moines’
parks through a public education and monitoring program. A bluebird monitoring program was introduced in Greenwood, Gray’s Lake, Prospect, and
Grandview Parks and Glendale Cemetery. In this program, volunteers take care of nesting boxes placed for them in an assigned park, by periodically
inspecting, cleaning and repairing the units. Monitors report their findings to Des Moines Parks and Recreation to help designate prime bluebird
areas and confirm project success, which will be measured by an eventual increase in bluebirds in the city. Park sites in Des Moines provide
preferred habitat of Eastern bluebirds in the form of open grasslands with scattered trees for perching, nesting, and feeding. The conservation
program has been developed with Des Moines Parks and Recreation as a senior group project in Drake University’s Environmental Science Department,
with the expectation that it will be a long-term effort that will expand to encompass other threatened species. This new program will be featured
in an article in an upcoming edition of the DNR’s Iowa Outdoors magazine.
The Parks and Recreation Department has been engaging the public in the care and restoration of our environment through various volunteer opportunities.
Citizens have been helping with building sustainable nature trails in Greenwood and MacRae Parks, helping with flood recovery, beautifying neighborhoods
and cemeteries, volunteering at community centers and much more.
MacRae Park Bridge
Eagle Scout Bradey Daugherty, Gray’s Lake Neighborhood Association and the City of Des Moines-Parks and Recreation staff gathered, in MacRae Park, on
Thursday, October 16, 2008 to dedicate Daugherty’s recently completed Eagle Scout project. Daugherty’s bridge crosses a ravine which is filled with
trees and plants that made crossing difficult. It also connects two ends of a nature trail, built by Eagle Scout Jacob Hibbard, and now allows visitors
to safely enjoy the park. Hibbard worked with consulting botanist Tre Wilson on trail layout, while Daugherty drew preliminary bridge sketches,
surveyed the area and took measurements working with his Eagle Scout Counselor to produce construction plan drawings which were approved by a City
Project Engineer. Daugherty raised funds to pay for a portion of the bridge and organized 27 volunteers that spent 4-5 days constructing the bridge
out of lumber and supplies donated by Gilcrest/Jewett Lumber Co. and Beisser Lumber. The entire bridge project including research, planning,
construction and documentation took over 400 hours to complete.
Daugherty’s completion of the bridge connecting the nature trail supports citizen’s desires for more experiences in City of Des Moines parks. Nature
trails and hiking ranked 2nd in the Parks and Recreation Citizen Survey, which can be found at
www.dmparks.org under “Citizen Survey Results”.
CITA
Central Iowa Trails Association has donated over 400 hours this quarter to build and maintain trails in Greenwood and Ashworth Parks. CITA held a
volunteer workday on October 11, 2008 where 34 volunteers from CITA, the 5th Judicial District and the community worked side by side to repair
water-damaged trails. Their work has helped to create more sustainable recreational opportunities on our nature trails, which ranked 2nd in the
Parks and Recreation Citizen Survey.
INVASIVE SPECIES REMOVAL
16 Students from Des Moines Area Community College volunteered in November to remove honeysuckle, an invasive plant, which is crowding out native plants
in the woods of Greenwood Park. The students used hand saws and loppers to cut the honeysuckle and pile it for removal by City staff.
COHEN PARK CLEAN-UP
Cohen Park, a small neighborhood park, on the south side became home to an illegal dump. 10 Drake Students from Alpha Phi joined together with the
City to remove the litter and debris.
ARBOR DAY
20 volunteers from the St. Paul Women’s Missionary Society and 14 volunteers from Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) celebrated Arbor Day and Earth Day by
planting trees at Gray’s Lake and the Greater Des Moines Softball Complex. ADM planted 275 red oak trees.
The City of Des Moines vehicle fleet has 10 hybrid vehicles in the Police Department. In addition to the hybrids, there are 2 small electric trucks at the wastewater facility and 2 electric utility vehicles in cemetery operations. Where it is operationally feasible, vehicles have been replaced with more fuel efficient models and diesel engines.
The Economic Development Division of the City Manager’s Office has referenced LEED standards when city financial assistance is sought. By experimenting
with a tiered system, the city ties higher LEED levels to greater financial assistance. For example, the City of Des Moines has proposed the following
incentives should Wellmark choose to construct their campus in accordance with the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design Green Building Rating System
• Certified = $25,000 per year x 10 years
• Silver = $50,000 per year x 10 years
• Gold = $100,000 per year x 10 years
• Platinum = $150,000 per year x 10 years
The City is a member of Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI). This association provides the opportunity to gather new ideas from other cities about how they are improving their local environments. In addition, they also provide assistance in developing an organizations and community wide carbon footprints.
This spring the city has had an intern working on gathering the necessary information so the carbon footprints can be entered in the ICLEI software. When that information is available an update will be provided on this site.
In the past several years the city has been moving towards purchasing more green products. When purchasing new appliances Energy Star certified are specified. Degreaser for cleaning equipment us citrus based that does not hurt the environment. Water based paint is used for most street stripping operations. The use of the water based paint is based on the painting machines used. As the paint vehicles are retired the new machines are specified for water based paints.
The staff continues to look for opportunities to purchase green products if economically feasible.
The Parks Department began an energy conservation project in 2004 which focused on lighting retrofits in 3 city buildings (City Hall, Armory, and the Police Station).
In the last year, the project has saved the city:
• Dollars saved (or additional) - $27,000
• Energy not used – 500,000 kilowatt hours
• Carbon Dioxide not released into the air - 1 Million pounds
The Parks Department has initiated a test of the use of low or non-toxic paint (low or no VOC paint (Volatile Organic Compound). Thirty-seven (37) gallons have been
used to date through the winter indoor painting cycle. This paint costs roughly $5 more per gallon. If this paint truly has a measurable impact on indoor air quality,
staff will investigate a bulk purchase to attempt to reduce the cost.
The City of Des Moines has constructed its first LEED rated building. The Glendale West Zone Maintenance Facility has achieved a certified level. This facility
is also the first LEED rated building in Des Moines. The Park and Recreation Department will be hosting an open house to celebrate this achievement.
Construction of the new enclosed shelter and congregate meal site located at 1650 Garfield in the Martin Luther King Jr. Park has recently been completed. The
LEED certification documentation will be submitted soon. This building is also attempting to achieve the certified level.
Of the known LEED costs for the shelter, pursuing certification is at least 4% more than typical project costs.
As of the date of this letter, the quantifiable impacts of this LEED building have not been calculated. This will be done in a future report and appear in the
“Measurable Impact” section.
For the past couple of years the Park and Recreation Department has been installing and maintaining rain gardens. A rain garden is a landscaping feature that
is planted with native perennial plants and is used to manage storm water runoff from impervious surfaces such as roofs, sidewalks, and parking lots. In addition
to the existing rain gardens at Ewing, Crivaro, and Sargent’s parks, new or renovated rain gardens can be found at Union and Ashby parks and Glendale Cemetery.
The City has been using 30% post consumer waste recycled paper for all of it’s printing needs since September, 2007. This choice will cost $2,720 more in the
coming year than the use of non-recycled paper; however, it will also produce the following environmental impacts:
• saves 252 trees per year
• uses 155 Million BTUs less energy to produce than virgin paper
• produces 73 fewer tons of carbon dioxide emissions than virgin paper
• fills 51 cubic yards less landfill space
Sixteen communities in the Des Moines metro area are joint owners of the Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority (WRA) and together they have installed
a technology that processes sewage sludge and converts that to biogas which contains methane that can be used by power generators.
The process consists of 6 anaerobic (without oxygen) digesters, control buildings, and associated equipment and facilities. Concentrated wastes that are
biodegradable are fed into the digesters which produce a flammable biogas that contains 60 – 65% methane.
The gas produced made it feasible to build a gas pipeline to Cargill, the WRF’s neighbor. The pipeline, in use since April 2007, makes it possible for the WRF
to sell excess biogas to Cargill. The biogas is used in Cargill’s steam boiler and substitutes for natural gas.
The Wastewater Facility uses biogas as a primary fuel for hot water boilers (heat), engine generators (heat and electricity). Beneficial use of biogas reduces
the plant’s need for electricity and natural gas and generates a revenue stream which decreases the annual cost of utilities.
Where possible, vehicles have been replaced with smaller (more fuel efficient) models and switched to Diesel engines (also more fuel efficient). These
changes have the following impacts:
• Dollars saved (or additional) – ($22,064)
• Carbon Dioxide not released into the air annually – 10.4 Tons
• Fossil Fuel not consumed annually – 1,043 Gallons
We have replaced incandescent traffic signals with more energy-efficient LED bulbs at over 300 intersections to reduce consumption of electricity. This
alone is saving the City:
• $120,000 on energy costs
• 2.9 Million Kilowatt-hours of electricity
• 4.7 Million pounds of carbon dioxide
In this quarter, 140 trees were removed by the City. However, 248 trees were planted. This equates to a net increase of 108 trees. For a running
total of the amount of trees removed and planted, see page one of this report under the heading, “Measureable Impact – To Date”.
The Parks and Public Works Departments are participating in a newly formed Four Mile Creek Watershed Planning group. The second annual Four Mile
Creek Sweep will be held this September. In addition to clean-up activities, the Parks Department will provide educational opportunities to assist
neighbors in understanding the quality of the water in the creek and what they can do to help improve it. The City is playing a key role in the 7th
Annual River Run Garbage Grab – a community-wide effort to get volunteers on the Des Moines River and adjacent trails to clean up trash.
The City has implemented a high-profile website to communicate the work of the City in the area of sustainability and also what residents can do to
reduce their consumption of natural resources and their contribution to global warming. That web site is located at:
http://www.greendm.org/
The City recently received the results of a study of the greenhouse gas emissions of the yard waste program. That study was completed by Sebesta
Blomberg (a leader in environmental impact analysis) and can be found here:
Yard Waste Final Assessment.
Summarized, that study states that while composting yard waste has a positive impact on the environment (decreases carbon-dioxide equivalent gases
by 892 metric tons per year), ending this practice and returning yard waste to the landfill would reduce nearly triple the amount of greenhouse
gases (3,234 metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalents). This is due primarily to the fact that our particular landfill uses the gases that are
produced by the landfill to produce electricity.
To be able to implement the finding of the study State law will need to be changed. Presently State law prohibits the land disposal yard waste.
Des Moines has a unique situation because the landfill generates electricity from the gas captured from the landfill. The addition of the yard waste would only generate more gas and in turn more electricity.