Rockville leadership and the community have worked hard to become leaders in environmental stewardship. Here are some of our accomplishments:

• Rockville was named the 2018 Sustainability Champion for amassing the highest points of all cities in the Maryland Sustainable Communities Certification program. Learn more at RockvilleReports.com/sustainable-rockville.
• The city now has 10 times as many green buildings and 50 times as many solar panel installations as it did a decade ago.
• The city purchases wind renewable energy certificates to offset 100% of the electricity used by our municipal operations.
• The city is working with Pepco to install public electric-vehicle charging stations at Thomas Farm Community Center.

But there’s always plenty more to do! Sign up to receive the city’s Environment and Sustainability quarterly email newsletter in your inbox. Visit www.rockvillemd.gov/newsletters and select “Environment and Sustainability.”

Buy Energy-saving Products Feb. 15-17 or Apply for Energy Rebates

Homeowners thinking about upgrading an appliance, replacing a water heater, or even changing a light bulb, can do so tax free on Presidents Day weekend.

On Feb. 15-17, purchases of the following energy-efficient Energy Star products are free from Maryland’s 6% sales tax:

• Air conditioners.
• Washers and dryers.
• Furnaces.
• Heat pumps.
• Boilers.
• Solar water heaters (tax exempt at all times).
• Standard-size refrigerators.
• Dehumidifiers.
• Programmable thermostats.
• Compact fluorescent light bulbs.

Learn more about Energy Star products at www.energystar.gov. Learn more about the tax-free weekend by visiting www.marylandtaxes.com and searching “Shop Maryland Energy.”

In addition, Pepco offers customers rebates on Energy Star appliances. Learn more at homeenergysavings.pepco.com/appliance-rebate-program.

Washington Gas also offers residential and commercial rebates, including, for residential customers, rebates on furnaces, gas clothes dryers and standard or tankless water heaters. Learn more at washingtongas.com/rebates.

Energy assistance may be available for customers having trouble paying their utility bills. Visit bit.ly/utilityassistance.

Find more energy-saving tips at www.washingtongas.com/safety-education/education/winter-preparedness.

Environmentally Friendly Snow- and Ice-Removal Tips

Follow these tips to keep your driveway and sidewalks ice-free this winter, while minimizing the environmental impact:

Shovel Early, Shovel Often
Removing fresh snow before it has a chance to harden into ice is the best way to keep your pavement clear. Deicers work best on thin layers of snow or ice that need to be melted, so shovel first, break up any ice patches you can and then add the salt.

Apply Salt Sparingly
Scatter the deicer and leave space between the grains. A 12-ounce coffee mug full of salt is enough to treat a 20-foot driveway or 10 sidewalk squares. Using more than the recommended amount of salt won’t speed up melting. And when temperatures drop below 15 degrees, skip it altogether, because salt won’t work at all.

Buy Early and Check Labels
Buy your deicing product before the big storm, so you don’t end up staring at empty shelves in the stores. Check the label before you buy. A deicer with calcium magnesium, or CMA, is the most ecofriendly deicer. Although slightly more expensive, calcium chloride (CaCl2) requires less salt, works at lower temperatures and does not contain cyanide, unlike sodium chloride (NaCl, rock salt), which does. Urea is sometimes promoted as “lawn-friendly,” as excess urea will act as a fertilizer. However, the application rate for urea is far greater than your lawn would require, and most of the excess urea will only end up “fertilizing” the stream.

Avoid Kitty Litter and Ashes
While these products are environmentally friendly, they are only marginally effective at adding traction, and don’t melt ice. If you need traction, mixing in a small amount of sand and using even less salt is a better option.

Learn more at bit.ly/saltwise.

The city’s RainScapes Rebates program offers single-family homeowners and nonprofits, including religious institutions, private schools and homeowners associations, up to $2,500 in rebates for landscaping that is designed to green your backyard and reduce pollution.

The program offers rebates for planting trees and conservation landscaping, installing rain barrels, or removing pavement and installing permeable pavers – actions that can reduce flooding, decrease pollution in local streams, and support wildlife. To learn more, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/rainscapes or contact
rainscapes@rockvillemd.gov or 240-314-8877.

Looking to get even closer to nature? Homeowners, businesses, schools, universities, places of worship, parks, civic and community organizations, and others can create wildlife-friendly landscapes and earn National Wildlife Federation certification.

Certified wildlife habitats must provide food, water, cover and places for wildlife to raise young. These certified habitats help to create corridors for wildlife to thrive throughout the community. Like RainScapes Rebates, the program encourages gardening in an environmentally friendly way, planting native species of plants and replacing lawns with trees, shrubs and other plants.

To find resources and learn more about becoming certified, visit www.rockvillemd.gov/wildlifehabitat.

Throwing out plastic bags or medical sharps? Please don’t use the brown recycling cart – put them in the gray trash cart.

“Tanglers,” such as plastic bags or wrap, rope, wire, clothes, cords, hoses, holiday lights, and chains can become tangled in recycling equipment, bringing processing to a grinding halt.

Do not put recyclables in plastic bags and do not put plastic bags in your brown recycling cart. Instead, place bags in the gray trash cart, or find a grocery store that accepts plastic bags for recycling by visiting bit.ly/howtorecyclebags.

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