Frisco Weather Station. Image: Frisco Public Works

By Bill Sullivan

You’ve probably seen it somewhere in your neighborhood: A sprinkler system going full blast, watering the yard, sidewalk and street, wasting untold gallons and taxing water districts and reservoirs in the process.

Thanks to some creative thinking by the City of Frisco, such scenes should become less common. By mining data from its own weather station, Frisco Public Works can provide residents with real and practical advice on how much they need to water to keep yards healthy and green, even in the hottest months.

Hint: It’s a lot less than you may think.

“What we found since we installed this weather station is that, for a large portion of the 52 weeks of the year, we recommend no watering at all,” says Melody Emadiazar, the city’s Water Education Coordinator. “That’s information we wouldn’t have known if we didn’t have this weather station.”

Frisco's Weather Station collects data that is used to produce irrigation recommendations for homeowners. Image: Frisco Public Works

The evapotranspiration (or ET) weather station, which is set adjacent to one of the city’s four elevated storage tanks, was put into operation in November of 2007 at a cost of about $15,000. It measures five factors: wind speed, solar radiation, temperature, humidity and rainfall. Real-time data is transmitted every five minutes by radio signal. The city uploads the data to an FTP site and uses it to come up with the weekly watering recommendations posted on its web site and distributed to e-mail subscribers.

“When you know all those elements, you know essentially whether you do or don’t need to water,” Emadiazar says.

The station helps make Frisco residents some of the best informed in the North Texas region. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, only Irving and Dallas have made similar investments in technology that can help conserve our most precious resource. (Previously, Frisco used information from the Irving station.)

Essentially, the data allows the city to measure rainfall — taking the average of the readings of four gauges placed at the four elevated storage tanks within the city — while subtracting water loss due to evapotranspiration (the amount of moisture lost to the atmosphere through evaporation and plant transpiration). Using formulas developed by the Texas A&M Irrigation Technology Center, the city is able to factor in the kinds of plant material common for the area and the growth factor (more in warmer months, less in the winter) into an “ET rate.”

That ET rate, minus the amount of rainfall measured each week, produces the figure for how much irrigation a yard should require. When rainfall exceeds the ET rate, it’s time to give the sprinkler system a rest.

“Your sprinkler system is only for supplemental irrigation,” Emadiazar says. “It isn’t necessary to treat it like a potted indoor houseplant that doesn’t receive any outdoor natural rainfall. That’s really the concept behind that.”

You can find Public Works’ weekly watering recommendation on the city’s web site. There, you also can sign up to receive a weekly e-mail containing watering recommendations and other useful information, including how homeowners can set their system to deliver the desired amount. Nearly 1,300 Frisco residents already have taken advantage of the free service.

Some of the new smart controllers available for home use can receive data directly from the weather station. Others that employ soil sensors to measure individual needs can be effective tools as well. The city cross-references its own data with other smart controller data to be sure its findings are within a reasonable margin of error.

If the city’s watering recommendations seem a little light, harken back to the image of your neighbor sending thousands of gallons of water skipping across soaked grass, over pavements, and on down the street.

Dumb? Pretty much. But so is grass. Water too much, and you’ll produce shallow roots. By keeping the water level deeper underground, the roots will have to dig deeper, too, producing richer, healthier grass.

Bottom line: You don’t have to drown your yard to keep it green. It may actually be one of the worst things you can do.

Using the tools and information just an e-mail away, make technology work for you and your landscape. You’ll be doing your bit for a more sustainable Frisco, too.

Weather data displayed. Image: Frisco Public Works

If it’s summer in North Texas, you can usually count on two things: Searing heat and soaring utility costs.

You can mitigate the second part of that equation somewhat by following a few tips put out by the Alliance to Save Energy. Changing out filters and caulking windows may not be not the icy cold splash of water you’re craving right now, but these tweaks can save you dollars — before the dog days of August arrive to claim more cash.

• Make sure your AC equipment is in top running order, since cooling puts the greatest stress on your summer energy bills. A professional “tune-up” could save money and the misery of a breakdown on the hottest days.

• Use or get a programmable thermostat, which can automatically coordinate temperatures in your home with your living patterns, reducing air conditioning when you’re away and moderating it at night. Just this alone can reduce your cooling bills by 10 percent.

• Use ceiling fans to circulate air, making you feel cooler so you can raise the temperature on the AC a notch or two. Turn the fan off when you leave the room, however, because fans only help cool people, not rooms.

• If your AC unit is older than 12 years, replacing it with an ENERGY STAR-qualified model could cut your cooling costs by 30%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

• Make sure your central air conditioning system or window unit is not too large. That could impair performance because of frequent on/off cycling.

• Buy an AC unit with the highest Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio or SEER level you can afford. By federal law, it must be at least a 13 SEER. The money you save going forward will help cover the upfront costs.

• Clean or replace Central Air system filters monthly – and do the same for window unit filters even more frequently – to allow free air flow.

• Plug leaks around windows with weather stripping and caulking, which is just as important in the summer as in the winter.

• Draw curtains and shade on the sunny side of your home. (This is a no-brainer, so we’ll add another tip of our own: Keep the thermostat at 78 or higher. It will still feel very cool in contrast to outside air in the 90s or 100s. And it could save you a bundle.

• Use energy efficient light bulbs, like CFLs and LEDs, to reduce your electricity use, and to tamp down the heat from incandescent light bulbs, which emit 90 percent of their energy as heat instead of light.

• Clean the coils of your refrigerator (hadn’t thought about that recently, eh?) to reduce energy bills and extend the life of the appliance. A fridge, because it runs around the clock, accounts for about 10 percent of your total home electricity bill. If your fridge dates to the 1980s, you can save around $100 a year by replacing it with an ENERGY STAR model.

• Shift energy-intensive household chores to off-peak hours – nights, mornings and weekends – when there is less strain on the power grid. Operating dishwashers and washing machines at these times with full loads will get you the most for your energy dollars because providers charge lower rates for off-peak use.

Mindbender Academy campers learn how to make biodiesel fuel. Image: friscogreenliving.com

By Bill Sullivan

When Mindbender Academy sets its annual registration date, Frisco residents know they need to be ready to act, and quickly. A one-week math, science, engineering and technology camp for Frisco Independent School District middle school students, Mindbender is a program of the Frisco Education Foundation, which provides financial resources to maximize student potential in FISD through educational programs, student scholarships, and grants for innovative educators.Is also has become quite the hot summertime ticket in just four years of existence.

In 2008, the camp signed up 100 students over a six to seven week enrollment period, according to chairman Peter Burns – a healthy but hardly unmanageable turnout. The following year, however, the same number of slots filled in about half that time.

Then things started getting a little crazy.

Last year, 174 applications appeared in just four days, and organizers expanded enrollment to 150. This year, after registration moved to an online system, 150 applications appeared in the cue in just 102 minutes. Another 60 poured in over the following eight minutes. The Foundation ultimately accepted 160 students, 10 of those on scholarship.

Mindbender Chairman Peter Burns addresses the campers. Image: friscogreenliving.com

“They know they have to get in early,” said Burns, a Frisco Education Foundation Board Member and chairman of Mindbender. “One mother said it was like signing up for the Super Bowl.”

Small wonder. Mindbender offers a unique blend of stimulation, education, and just plain fun, all of which were plain to see on a midweek visit to its “green” day last month. Students moved from room to room at the Frisco ISD Career and Technical Education Center in 30-minute intervals, taking in a variety of presentations.

Among them:

• Professor Dave Galley of Collin College offered a lively multi-media presentation on energy sources and renewable energy options.
• Across the hall, Helen Dulac from the Grease Abatement Program of Dallas Water Utilities showed how to make bio-diesel fuel and took students through the process of the urban water cycle.
• Another classroom featured a recycling talk by Vanessa Lepice of Frisco’s Quest Recycling. Just a few feet away, Jeff Witt of Frisco Planning & Development Services entertained his group by using a plastic bin, sand, water and miniature cars and houses to illustrate stream processes and the dangers of building your home in a flood plain.

Professor Dave Galley of Collin College enlightens campers on the virtues of more energy-efficient lighting. Image: friscogreenliving.com

If all that sounds pretty hands-on, that’s the idea. From the middle school perspective, it’s also a good part of the appeal.

“You still learn things, but you’re inclined to be more focused because it’s more fun,” said Alex Quinn, a 13-year-old Fowler Middle School student.

For Brett Cumnock, a 10-year-old from Wester Middle School, Mindbender came highly recommended from a good source – his sister, Abbey, who attended last year.

“She said she had a lot of fun,” Brett said. “She said she’d like to do it again, but she aged out.”

Abbey Cumnock enjoyed Mindbender so much that she decided to return as a volunteer. Image: friscogreenliving.com

Undaunted, Abbey — now 14 and preparing for her freshman year at Centennial High — found a way around that, serving this time as a volunteer.

“It’s fun to see (Brett) here,” she said. “He heard all about my experiences last year and he really wanted to come.”

For Abbey, Mindbender may prove to be the start of even bigger things.

“There’s a broadcast station where you film your own show and get to bring it home on DVD,” she said. “I decided that’s what I want to do in high school. Next year, I’m taking broadcast journalism.  My junior and senior year, I’ll come back here.”

Abbey Cumnock says the hands-on aspect of Mindbender makes all the difference.

“It’s not textbook work,” she said. “It helps you remember the concept because you’re more interested.”

According to Peter Burns, repeat campers are common. Of this year’s group, he estimated as many as 20 had attended in a previous year.

Shayla Bond of Roach Middle School was a return camper. Image: friscogreenliving.com

One of those returnees was Shayla Bond, an 11-year-old from Roach Middle School.  Mindful that enrollment fills up fast, she made sure her father was ready at the computer keyboard when sign-ups opened for 2011.

Shayla, too, was a happy camper.

“We got to build a robot on Monday,” she said. “It’s cool.”

Mindbender runs for a half day (1 to 5 p.m.) Monday through Friday. Burns said it’s not unusual to see 80 percent or more of enrollees on campus by 12:30, if not earlier.

The ever-growing demand has convinced the Foundation to consider expanding the event. In the future, Burns envisions having an entire month of camps.

“There’s a need,” he said. “There’s nothing like this in the community for middle school students.”

Clearly, those students have gotten the message: Even in the heat of the summer, this kind of school can be cool. But be sure to circle that registration date. Blink, and you just might miss it.