WOODBRIDGE TOWNSHIP GREEN TEAM ANNUAL REPORT

Brief summary of activities undertaken by the Woodbridge Township Green Team’s “Greenable

Woodbridge” program in 2012-13.

1) Awards/Achievements:

Friends of Greenable Woodbridge, Inc. received official 501(c)(3) status.

Woodbridge Township was named 2012 Sustainable Jersey Champion - New Jersey League of

Municipalities

STAR pilot program (“Sustainability Tools for Assessing & Rating Communities”); Woodbridge

has been selected to be a pilot municipality in this nationwide program. We are doing this program

in partnership with Sustainable Jersey and Rutgers University

The Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainable Plan element was adopted to Master Plan

2) Transportation an Circulation:

This year

˗ Safe Routes, Walk Your Child to School Day at Ross Street and School 18, received Bronze

Award from Rutgers

˗ The Green Team ABC Committee (Anything But Cars) sponsored a monthly Bicycle Club

ride

˗ The Sidewalk program made sidewalk improvements in 17 locations

˗ Merrill Park benefitted from a County program to improve circulation so that the walking trail

and the car traffic are completely separate

˗ Middlesex County Greenway opened

˗ Municipal Fleet Inventory was updated

Future

˗ Establish a town wide bike network

˗ Implement a bike share program

˗ Create a town wide trail system

˗ Purchase more bike racks

3) Energy Conservation & Green Buildings

This year

˗ Cooper Tower upgrades new windows, lights

˗ Town hall upgrades

˗ New energy efficient air conditioner in data center

˗ New ceiling tiles in the data center to hold cooling

˗ Completed an Energy Star audit of all equipment in the data center and township wide to

review legacy equipment and move towards a replacement schedule for efficiencies in

power/electric and maintenance costs for end of life equipment.

˗ In the Shared Data Center for the Township, Police and School District –virtualization of

over 74 servers to VM (vitual machines) across only 6 physical servers which is a major

cost, footprint and energy savings. One data center instead of three also saves in cost and

energy with maximization of space

˗ Moving away from individual personal printers, faxes and scanners to departmental ones

˗ VPN (Virtual Private Network)/remote access from any internet capable device-less

traveling; less gas usage and more uptime and efficiencies

˗ Facilitate residential energy audits and upgrades-Ciel Power

˗ Facilitate business energy upgrades-Direct Install

˗ Energy usage data for municipal buildings is compiled through a contract with Facility Dude

Facility Management Software. This allows us to track our usage, see if we are achieving

our goals and target for higher priorities

Future

- Energy upgrades to municipal buildings - The list is extensive-over time the savings from the

energy efficiencies cover the costs of the projects-new HVAC, upgrade parking lot and

exterior lights, continue the light replacement and occupancy sensor installation, water heater

replacement

- IT Department

Virtualization of all new servers

Replace aging workstations

BYOD (bring your own device) and Mobile Device Management implementation

allowing less municipal hardware to be purchased and reducing carbon footprint.

More convergence of voice, data and video to scale down streamlining operations

Cloud computing initiative.

Work with utility companies and new power companies to improve the reliability of energy

transmission and distribution

CPV

Develop a town wide smart grid infrastructure

Modernize electricity infrastructure to enable expansion of local energy generation projects

4) Water Management, Trees & Open Space

This year

- Tree grants-replace trees lost during Sandy and Verizon grant for Arbor Day tree planting

- El Paso-wetlands restoration, flood mitigation, climate change

- El Paso-shovels down

- Cooper Tower-faucet aerators, water efficient shower heads, low flow toilets

- EPA grant-science family nights-27,8000

- Community Gardens-There are several in Town including one at Parker Press run by the

Environmental Commission and one at St. John Vianney Church. The produce from both

gardens goes to our food pantries. In 2012 and 2012 the Environmental Commission donated

over 200 pounds worth of fresh vegetables to the food banks and kitchens.

Future

- Plan for and improve infrastructure to protect against climate change impacts

- Greenhouses

- Brownfields

Inventory

Create a mini-documentary about the benefits of remediating and reusing brownfields

and show the status and progress of brownfields in Woodbridge

5) Green Purchasing, Recycling & Materials Management

This year

- Tonnage from before automation and single stream was fully in place at the end of 2010

until the end of last year has gone down by over 8000 tons

- Placed recycling bins in downtowns and parks

- Recycling dumpsters at schools

- New Recycling ordinance that includes rigid plastics-So far we have removed 16.5 tones of

rigid plastic from the free bulk pickup which comes to a savings of $1,609.50

- Buy Local bags-resident idea-Bernise Lock

6) Engaging and Educating Businesses and Growing the Economy

This year

- Green Childcare Certification

- Woodbridge News Green Page

- Non-profit group training

- Incubator-WIN

Ciel Power-energy efficiency

Audra Franks Associates-recycled paint

Eco Cycle Creations-jewelery from recycled beverage cans

Using Life-diagnostic technology

Future Home Technologies-Green, prefab housing developer

- Colonia Business Community-is made up of local businesses in the Colonia. This group of

business owners plans various fundraising events throughout the year that benefit different

local charities such as the food pantries and the Blue Star Military Families. The CBE also

attends business grand openings, ribbon cuttings and often refers their customers to other

local businesses to support the local economy and Buy Local campaign.-Activities included:

Sponsoring a child to go the YMCA summer camp. Taste if Colonia-Have a Heart Food

Drive, welcoming Committee for new businesses, Colonia Clean UP

- Christmas Tree Lighting

Future

- Recognize “Best Places to Work”

- Continue to recognize the work of businesses in sustainability (Woodbridge News,

Greenable Woodbridge TV, website)

- Create training opportunities for businesses and industries to learn about sustainability best

practices

7) Engaging and Educating Residents

This year

- School 21-Green Challenges-Cheryl Mecka

- Arts & Sustainability-Dodge Grant-$7500

EcoRhythm

Writing Jersey Green-poetry reading about the environment

School Arts Grants

Recycling Arts Grants Contest-Each student-made project employed the arts to

express the concept of sustainability. Topic areas included: environmental

science, computers, aquaculture, math, solar technology and world history

Show us your Green School Challenge

- Barron Arts Programs

Lecture Series: Gardens in Art-How artists have imagined and depicted gardens

and lost paradises and Earth Art-Large scale works of art place in nature rather

than on walls

- Library programs-Bag it

- New Greenable website-interns and Beth

- The Environmental Commission participated in the St. James Street Fair educating

thousands of people about sustainability and green initiatives and opportunities within

the Township.

- Annual Earth Day Fair sponsored by the Environmental Commission

27 eco-friendly vendors

Distributed indoor potted plants and seeds to those who completed the green

initiatives survey

Children spun the Carbon Wheel to learn a quick eco fact and win a prize

Raffled off a Children’s Gardening Basket and Green Cleaning Products basket

to people who visited various tables

Presented the Bag-It video on behalf of the NJ Environmental Lobby to educate

the public about plastic bags

- Wellness

New playgrounds

New monthly Wellness TV show

Supported the Farmers Market

Go RED Heart Health Awareness

Pizza Run, Tour de Woodbridge, Crossroads Race

Mayors Healthy Cook-Off at Wegmans

Mayor’s Spring into Shape Weight Loss Challenge-almost 100 participants

Future

- Recognize the sustainable practices of our residents (Woodbridge News, Greenable

Woodbridge TV, website)

- Incorporate best practices with the use of healthy menus in our schools and the

Community Center

LIST OF GREEN TEAM MEMBERS 2012-13

CHAIR: Caroline Ehrlich, Woodbridge Township Mayor’s Office

Aloke Chakravarti, Indus American Bank

Amy Bellisano, Woodbridge Center Mall

Andre Sayegh, Professor, Bergen Community College

Andrew Rubin, Attorney

Angela Polites, Automated Medical Products Corp.

Bernadette Sohler, Middlesex Water Co.

Bernie McLaughlin, Zoning Board Chair

Beth Schreier, Woodbridge Township Information Services

Robert Bonsignore, Woodbridge Township Resident

Jennifer Burns, Woodbridge Township Comptroller Office

Carole Hila, Woodbridge Metro Chamber of Commerce

Chantel Greffer, Woodbridge Township School District

Charlene Schnepf, Phone Arena

Chetan Shah, Mayor’s Advisory Committee

Chris Adornato, Woodbridge Township Environmental Commission

Clayton Gunheim, Lockheed Martin

Daniel Harris, Office of Assemblyman Craig Coughlin

Dennis Green, Woodbridge Township Health Dept.

Dennis Henry, Woodbridge Township Public Works

Michael Esolda, Woodbridge Township Information Services

Fr. William Smith, St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church

Frank Zappia, Realtor

George Celantano, Provident Bank

George Vollmann, Woodbridge Township Resident

Ginger Haithcox, Girls Scouts Southern-Central NJ

Haigo Mouradian, Provident Bank

James Major, Woodbridge Township Council

Janet Feeley, Hoboken Brownstone Co.

J.C. Sherman, Woodbridge Township Resident

Jessica Hernandez, Woodbridge Township Student

Jessica Lynch, Mulberry Street Restaurant

Jill Gallo, Woodbridge Township Resident

Joanna Rozborska, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals

John Hagerty, Woodbridge Township Communications Director

John McCormac, Woodbridge Township Mayor

Karan A. Lander, Woodbridge Township School District

Karen Kubulak, Attorney

Karen Quigley, HSBC

Kelly Aker-Bolin, Woodbridge Township School District

Ken Galvach, Woodbridge Township Resident

Larry McCullough, Woodbridge Township Mayor’s Office

Lauren Drumm, Mayor’s Youth Council

Lois Rotella, Woodbridge Township School District

Mansi Vira, Woodbridge Township student

Marianne Horta, Woodbridge Township Purchasing

Mark Duczeminskyj, Woodbridge Township Resident

Marta Lefsky, Woodbridge Township Planning & Development

Maureen MacArthur, General Copiers

Melanie Alterado, Architect

Michael Gadd, Grainger Products

Michael R. Kessell, SRS Metals

Pat Osborne, Woodbridge Township Council (retired)

Patrick Durek, Woodbridge Township Resident

Paula Kopcho, Woodbridge Elks Club

Pete Dalina, Middlesex County Deputy Freeholder

Raymond Miller, Woodbridge Township Planning Board

Sangeeta Malik, New York Life Insurance Co.

Sanjay Agrawal, S3 Software

Scott Thompson, Woodbridge Township Engineering

Sunita Purushottam, SENES Environmental Consulting

Sweta Sukhadia, Woodbridge Township Student

Valerie Montecalvo, Bayshore Recycling

Vito Mazza, Vito Mazza Salon

GREENABLE WOODBRIDGE VISIONING-2013

INTRODUCTION

Welcome

Green Team

Thanks to Mayor, Township Directors and staff, Environmental Commission

Mission statement

Sustainable Community Plan-This report addresses the progress we made this year and

actions for the future

Friends of Greenable Woodbridge-an official 501c3.

Thanks to largest corporate sponsor-Bayshore Recycling

Sustainable Jersey Champion- 765 points –going for 1000

STAR pilot program-“Sustainability Tools for Assessing & Rating Communities”-

Woodbridge has been selected to be a pilot municipality in this nationwide program. We

are doing this program in partnership with Sustainable Jersey and Rutgers University

Adopted Green Buildings and Environmental Sustainable Plan element to Master Plan

TRANSPORTATION & CIRCULATION

o This year

Safe routes-Walk Your Child to School Day-Bronze Award from Rutgers-Ross Street

and School 18

ABC Committee-bicycle club

Sidewalk program-sidewalk improvements in 17 locations

Merrill Park-County program to improve circulation so that the walking trail and the car

traffic are completely separate

Middlesex County Greenway opening

Municipal Fleet Inventory

o Future

Establish a town wide bike network

Implement a bike share program

Create a town wide trail system

Purchase more bike racks

ENERGY CONSERVATION IN GREEN BUILDINGS

o This year

Cooper Tower-new windows, lights

Town hall upgrades

New energy efficient air conditioner in data center

New ceiling tiles in the data center to hold cooling

Completed an Energy Star audit of all equipment in the data center and township wide to

review legacy equipment and move towards a replacement schedule for efficiencies in

power/electric and maintenance costs for end of life equipment.

In the Shared Data Center for the Township, Police and School District –virtualization of

over 74 servers to VM (vitual machines) across only 6 physical servers which is a major

cost, footprint and energy savings. One data center instead of three also saves in cost and

energy with maximization of space

Moving away from individual personal printers, faxes and scanners to departmental ones

VPN (Virtual Private Network)/remote access from any internet capable device-less

traveling; less gas usage and more uptime and efficiencies

Facilitate residential energy audits and upgrades-Ciel Power

Facilitate business energy upgrades-Direct Install

Energy usage data for municipal buildings is compiled through a contract with Facility

Dude Facility Management Software. This allows us to track our usage, see if we are

achieving our goals and target for higher priorities

o Future

Energy upgrades to municipal buildings-The list is extensive-over time the savings from

the energy efficiencies cover the costs of the projects-new HVAC, upgrade parking lot

and exterior lights, continue the light replacement and occupancy sensor installation,

water heater replacement

IT

Virtualization of all new servers

Replace aging workstations

BYOD (bring your own device) and Mobile Device Management implementation

allowing less municipal hardware to be purchased and reducing carbon footprint.

More convergence of voice, data and video to scale down streamlining operations

Cloud computing initiative.

Work with utility companies and new power companies to improve the reliability of

energy transmission and distribution

CPV

Develop a town wide smart grid infrastructure

Modernize electricity infrastructure to enable expansion of local energy generation

projects

WATER MANAGEMENT, TREES AND OPEN SPACE

o This year

Tree grants-replace trees lost during Sandy and Verizon grant for Arbor Day tree

planting

El Paso-wetlands restoration, flood mitigation, climate change

El Paso-shovels down

Cooper Tower-faucet aerators, water efficient shower heads, low flow toilets

EPA grant-science family nights-27,8000

Community Gardens-There are several in Town including one at Parker Press run by

the Environmental Commission and one at St. John Vianney Church. The produce

from both gardens goes to our food pantries. In 2012 and 2012 the Environmental

Commission donated over 200 pounds worth of fresh vegetables to the food banks and

kitchens.

o Future

Plan for and improve infrastructure to protect against climate change impacts

Greenhouses

Brownfields

Inventory

Create a mini-documentary about the benefits of remediating and reusing

brownfields and show the status and progress of brownfields in Woodbridge

GREEN PURCHASING, RECYCLING & MATERIALS MANAGEMENT

o This year

Tonnage from before automation and single stream was fully in place at the end of 2010

until the end of last year has gone down by over 8000 tons

Placed recycling bins in downtowns and parks

Recycling dumpsters at schools

New Recycling ordinance that includes rigid plastics-So far we have removed 16.5 tones

of rigid plastic from the free bulk pickup which comes to a savings of $1,609.50

Buy Local bags-resident idea-Bernise Lock

o Future

ENGAGING AND EDUCATING BUSINESSES AND GROWING THE ECONOMY

This year

Green Childcare Certification

Woodbridge News Green Page

Non-profit group training

Incubator-WIN

Ciel Power-energy efficiency

Audra Franks Associates-recycled paint

Eco Cycle Creations-jewelery from recycled beverage cans

Usin Life-diagnostic technology

Future Home Technologies-Green, prefab housing developer

Colonia Business Community-is made up of local businesses in the Colonia. This group

of business owners plans various fundraising events throughout the year that benefit

different local charities such as the food pantries and the Blue Star Military Families.

The CBE also attends business grand openings, ribbon cuttings and often refers their

customers to other local businesses to support the local economy and Buy Local

campaign.-Activities included: Sponsoring a child to go the YMCA summer camp. Taste

if Colonia-Have a Heart Food Drive, welcoming Committee for new businesses, Colonia

Clean UP

Christmas Tree Lighting

Future

Recognize “Best Places to Work”

Continue to recognize the work of businesses in sustainability (Woodbridge News,

Greenable Woodbridge TV, website)

Create training opportunities for businesses and industries to learn about sustainability

best practices

ENGAGING AND EDUCATING RESIDENTS

o This year

School 21-Green Challenges-Cheryl Mecka

Arts & Sustainability-Dodge Grant-$7500

EcoRhythm

Writing Jersey Green-poetry reading about the environment

School Arts Grants

Recycling Arts Grants Contest-Each student-made project employed the arts to

express the concept of sustainability. Topic areas included: environmental

science, computers, aquaculture, math, solar technology and world history

Show us your Green School Challenge

Baron Arts Programs

Lecture Series: Gardens in Art-How artists have imagined and depicted gardens

and lost paradises and Earth Art-Large scale works of art place in nature rather

than on walls

Library programs-Bag it

New Greenable website-interns and Beth

The Environmental Commission participated in the St. James Street Fair educating

thousands of people about sustainability and green initiatives and opportunities within

the Township.

Annual Earth Day Fair sponsored by the Environmental Commission

27 eco friendly vendors

Distributed indoor potted plants and seeds to those who completed the green

initiatives survey

Children spun the Carbon Wheel to learn a quick eco fact and win a prize

Raffled off a Children’s Gardening Basket and Green Cleaning Products basket

to people who visited various tables

Presented the Bag-It video on behalf of the NJ Environmental Lobby to educate

the public about plastic bags

Wellness

New playgrounds

New monthly Wellness TV show

Supported the Farmers Market

Go RED Heart Health Awareness

Pizza Run, Tour de Woodbridge, Crossroads Race

Mayors Healthy Cook-Off at Wegmans

Mayor’s Spring into Shape Weight Loss Challenge-almost 100 participants

o Future

Recognize the sustainable practices of our residents (Woodbridge News, Greenable

Woodbridge TV, website)

Incorporate best practices with the use of healthy menus in our schools and the

Community Center