Stoplights To Parks, Annapolis Greens Up

Employees can choose to work 40 hours in four days or 80 hours in nine days. That makes sense to Samantha Stoney, a community planner from Baltimore who is considering a condensed workweek. She said her 17-mile commute usually takes 40 minutes because of traffic on Interstate 95.

"Going through the tunnel every day is painful, so to not have to do it once every two weeks would be great, and it would definitely save on gas," said Stoney, who works in the Department of Planning and Zoning.

The scheduling is one of several initiatives Ulman has introduced in recent weeks in a bid to find energy-efficient and, over the long term, cost-effective approaches. Also last week, he announced the creation of the Green Business Council, which he said could help Howard capitalize on the nationwide growth of "green-collar" jobs.

"If there is something we can do to encourage environmental sustainability and business growth, then this is where our focus should be. We need to make sure Howard County is seen as a place to locate and grow green business," Ulman said.

The county already owns a fleet of hybrid cars and uses LED traffic lights, said Joshua Feldmark, director of the county's Office of Environmental Sustainability. The county recently installed solar panels at the East Columbia Branch of the public library, and in a few months it will do the same at Worthington Elementary School in Ellicott City.

"It's not as much about saving money as it is about saving energy and doing the right thing. But as energy prices rise, it is likely we are paying less for energy than if we bought off the grid," Feldmark said.

The county is also instituting a plan to measure and reduce carbon emissions, he said.

"We need to be building from the ground up, so we have an infrastructure that takes energy efficiency into consideration," Feldmark said.