Lean and Green Purchasing Green purchasing options that will save money NOW. Julie Weiss City of Palo Alto Environmental Compliance October 15, 2003

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1 Lean and Green Purchasing Green purchasing options that will save money NOW. Julie Weiss City of Palo Alto Environmental Compliance October 15, 2003

2 Overview The bigger picture of the City s sustainability efforts What is lean-and-green Purchasing Projects with an immediate payback or no extra cost Projects with longer-term payback Benefits beyond money and the environment Where to start

3 Environmental Purchasing products or services that have the least negative impact on human health and the environment when compared with competing products or services that serve the same purpose..." Lean and Green Purchasing Environmental purchasing that saves money in the short/long term or breaks even when compared with a non-environmentally sensitive product. There are few perfect products or services. Ask: Which option yields the most positive outcome?

4 Environmental purchasing is part of a larger Palo Alto goal ABAG Green Government Pledge (1999) 2001 Sustainability Policy Green Business Pledge (2002) Green Business Certification Printshop- May 2002 City-wide-October 2002 This year: environmental procurement policy and details Palo Alto Printshop staff Certified in May 2002

5 Disclaimer We re not there yet.

6 AND you don t need all that stuff anyway Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can. -Paul Burnet State of Oregon Assistant to the Director (Admin) on Sustainability

7 Plus we have no money Governor s cuts have widened the projected budget gap from $6.5 million to $9 million PERS costs may double in two years Transient occupancy tax is down by 13% over last year; sales tax base is changing Hiring freeze became effective 12/02 (vacanciesincluding retirement- shall be reviewed) Departments reduced budgets by 3-5% to help close the gap

8 Benefits of looking at lean and green purchasing Reduced costs: Waste= Lost $$$ Reducing materials consumption can mean reduced costs (energy and water use, disposal costs) Improved environmental performance: reduced energy, water use, reduced pollution in water bodies where waste water discharged Employee health: reduced toxic material use Staff morale, public image, market generation Positive snowballing effect

9 The approach Look for opportunities where there s interest to impact: Water, energy, resource conservation Solid and hazardous waste reduction Pollution prevention (keeping toxins out of the air and water) Much of this instigated by other departments e.g., Utilities, Water Quality

Energy Reduced energy use by 17% Tom Auzenne-Utilities $255,000 reduction in energy costsenough to power over 400 Palo Alto homes per year Traffic signal system retrofit: incandescent lamps to LEDs.

10 Energy Reduced energy use by 17% Tom Auzenne-Utilities $255,000 reduction in energy costsenough to power over 400 Palo Alto homes per year Traffic signal system retrofit: incandescent lamps to LEDs. $120,000/yr Lighting systems retrofitted at 60 City buildings. $118,000/yr EMS for City Hall-temperature control and load shedding EZ save software: centralized sleep control ($17,000/yr; it s free)

Solid waste: Recycled content products: Increasing recycled-content carpet, carpet reuse and recycling 100% recycled (PCF) copy, letterhead paper citywide

11 Solid waste: Recycled content products: Increasing recycled-content carpet, carpet reuse and recycling 100% recycled (PCF) copy, letterhead paper citywide 40%-100% recycled content bathroom papers Karen Smith- Facilities Manager Paper switch= savings of: 511 trees 209,000 gallons of water Energy to power 30 homes for a year

12 Water pollution prevention Printshop switched to all soy inks and four less-toxic printing chemicals Custodial staff switched out twelve products to least-toxic alternatives Low mercury fluorescent lights Less-toxic pest management plan and policy/annual report

13 Product changes with an immediate payback or no extra cost, or what can I do now? 1. EZ Save software (it s FREE from the EPA) 2. Unbleached bathroom papers Handtowels Toilet tissue 3. Low Mercury fluorescent lights 4. Custodial supplies and/or Printshop chemicals

14 Monitor Power Management (MPM) (a.k.a. EZ Save software) Saved Palo Alto $17,000 per year Cost: Free

15 Waste=lost $$$ (again) 54 million office computers and monitors use 1% of the nation s electricity More than half of electricity used to power monitors is wasted: 60 percent left on at night 45 percent not enabled for power management MPM places active monitors (60 to 90 watts) in lowpower sleep mode (2 to 10 watts) after a period of inactivity

16 Potential MPM Savings A 1,000-computer organization typically saves 200,000 kwh by enabling MPM. Equivalent to... $20,000/year (at 10 cents/kwh) Emissions from 27 cars, or 18,000 gallons of gasoline Other users include AOL, Harvard, Alameda County. Cisco Systems will save $1,000,000.

17 EZ Save software-impacts to Palo Alto Central control of 1,000 computers Saved the City $17,000/year in energy costs Enough to power 30 Palo Alto homes for one year. Can market to other agencies that the City IT Dept supports

18 2. Unbleached bathroom papers* Pollution issue: dioxin and increased recycled content The response (less expensive): Hand towels Toilet paper *See factsheet

19 Unbleached bathroom papers Hand towels: Bay West EcoSoft 100% recycled 40% post-consumer waste, bleached using hydrogen peroxide and sodium hydrosulfite (Fort James) Cost: $16.33-$18/cs (cost decreased 6-14% from previous unbleached product) Envision Acclaim- 100% recycled >20% post consumer content, ECF, (Fort James) Cost: $37.00/cs of 96 rolls (cost decreased 5% from previous product).

20 3. Low mercury fluorescent lights Cost the same Approximately 60% less mercury Can be recycled using in-house hazardous waste recycling program Ask your light distributor. They ll have a low mercury model.

4. Printshop or custodial products Printshop Soy inks Alternative press cleaners Achieved Green Business Certification Custodial products (see factsheet) Acid free cleaners Palo Alto Printshop

21 4. Printshop or custodial products Printshop Soy inks Alternative press cleaners Achieved Green Business Certification Custodial products (see factsheet) Acid free cleaners Palo Alto Printshop staff Certified in May 2002 Zinc free floor products (requires more product initially) Avoiding chemicals known to cause health/env. problems How do you measure cost savings of avoided health issues?

22 Changes with payback time Facility and Traffic Lighting* Traffic signal system retrofit: incandescent lamps to LEDs. $120,000/yr, 8 year payback ($225,000 in CEC grant funding to offset initial cost) Lighting systems retrofitted at 60 City buildings. $118,000/yr (includes annual avoided maintenance) EMS for City Hall-temperature control and load shedding * Figures don t include maintenance or reduced bulb replacement cost savings (e.g., LEDS last seven years instead compared to seven months for incandescent lights).

EPP helps make cultural changes Lisa Mainarick-ITS Improves economic, social, and environmental bottom line Practicing what we preach, modeling to public, swapping info with other cities Not just the

23 EPP helps make cultural changes Lisa Mainarick-ITS Improves economic, social, and environmental bottom line Practicing what we preach, modeling to public, swapping info with other cities Not just the environmental people greening the City Morale/Rolling snowball Marketable internally/externally Demonstrates tangible results of a city s environmental/sustainability/cross departmental successes to public, staff and Council

24 What s next for Palo Alto? Purchasing policy Continue greening Specific products CIP Fund Green Building Outreach Current/Challenges: Staffing/funding Program monitoring, publicizing Reaching higher hanging fruit

25 What can you do?....words of wisdom Select one thing to improve Green specifications for a product you have a reason to champion Find other department champions who s goals will benefit from the same purchase change

26 Vision without action is dreaming, Action without vision is random activity, Vision and action together can change the world. - Joel Barker, Futurist Be the change you wish to see in the world. -Mahatma Ghandi

27 Contacts EZ Save Software Cadmus Group (EPA Technical Contractor) Robert Huang (617) Palo Alto IT supervisor Lisa Mainarick/ Custodial Product Information City of Palo Alto-Building Supervisor Thom Macway/ Western Regional Pollution Prevention Network (provides overview of product concerns) Green Seal Product Review GPCle aners.pdf CPA Green Printshop/less-toxic printing chemicals) Ty Campbell/ Traffic light and office lighting energy savings Tom Auzenne/ CPA Purchasing Johnella Walker-Purchasing Manager/ Unbleached bathroom paper products and other environmental purchasing information Julie Weiss (speaker)/ CPA sustainability accomplishments

Buying Smart: Environmental Products That Save Money. Green Summit

Buying Smart: Environmental Products That Save Money Green Summit March 16, 2009 Sacramento, CA Alicia Culver Green Purchasing Institute Tel: 510-547-5475 Alicia@GreenPurchasing.org Sustainable Products