County Calculates Which Green Purchasing Efforts Pay Off

Five years into Clark County, Washington's green purchasing program, the county government is picking its battles. Pesticide spraying is down. EPA-compliant toilet paper is being swapped into the bathrooms. Buying retread tires instead of new ones saved $12,000 last year. Switching from bottled to

But it's not clear that the county's nine hybrid cars are saving taxpayers money, and the county's sustainability manager thinks the money spent on "green" electricity might be better spent on recycled paper. "There are savings out there by doing the right thing," Pete DuBois, the county's sustainability manager, said last week. But other times, the "right thing" costs extra - and it's not always clear how much. For example, out of 85 office printers the county bought in 2008, 68 were fitted for double-sided printing. Cost: $3,177. DuBois said that's almost certain to cut some of the county's $100,000 in annual paper costs. But the county can't calculate how many workers are actually printing double-sided, and its records haven't yet shown a clear drop in paper usage. Switching from 30 percent to 50 percent recycled paper would cost $19,000 a year, but would cut greenhouse gas emissions from the county's paper stock by 10 percent. That's about the equivalent of taking five cars off the road. "The solution, always, is to use less," DuBois said. That's why he thinks recycled paper might be a better use of the county's money than the $21,708 annual cost of buying renewable electricity from Clark Public Utilities. As for the hybrids, DuBois's rough figures show that although a Toyota Prius gets twice the mileage of a Ford Taurus and costs 40 percent less to maintain, that's offset by an extra $8,000 in its purchase price. Factor in the county's lost investments, and at $2.50 a gallon, the Taurus would be cheaper. The county will keep watching its numbers, DuBois said. "This is definitely a first step that all organizations should be making, because all organizations are buying something," he said. Four lessons for your company from Clark County's green buying report * Recheck prices regularly. "Prices have improved dramatically for Green Seal products," the county reported. * Think twice about "green power." Clark Public Utilities charges extra for renewably-generated electricity, but spending that money to cut consumption might do more good. * Mandate two-sided printing. Spending $90 on a double-sided printer is a waste if nobody prints double-sided. The county doesn't have a way to track this, so it doesn't know if money's being saved. * Hybrids might not save cash. When you factor in purchase price, estimates show that a Taurus and a Prius cost the same over 10,000 miles. Why not invest the $8,000 price difference?