Dailycsr.com – 23 October 2017 – Electricity and gas are the two items on which the whole of North America banks as electricity is needed for cooking, gas heats up houses, streetlights as well as traffic lights run on power. Therefore, Utility Arborist Association’s executive Ph.D. director, Phil Charlton, says:
“Our jobs, factories, and every other part of life are possible because of the electric and gas infrastructure that supplies our homes and businesses”.
It is unfortunate that planting vegetation everywhere may not always contribute to “our energy needs”. Crisscrossing the country of North America “high-voltage distribution lines” network covering around “5 million miles”, has around “300,000 miles” underground network carrying “liquid and gas pipelines” while, “450,000 miles of very high-voltage transmission lines” run on “natural landscape”.
Given this scenario, trees near such “enormous system” are undesirable and harbinger of “several” problems. For example Charlton adds:
“Kids climb trees and can be exposed to dangerous electrical lines. Tree care workers and homeowners might not know the danger that these lines pose to them as they do their daily work. Trees can interfere with and damage overhead powerlines, interrupting service to our homes and businesses. Tree roots can damage underground gas and liquid fuel lines. Forest fires in the west are often attributed to trees contacting powerlines”.
Therefore, there should be a utilitarian control over vegetation growth, says Charlton, whereby one can “ensure public and worker safety as well as service reliability”. In fact, the blackout faced by the city of New York and the “surrounding states” were caused by “three electric transmission lines contacting three trees” which resulted in “11 fatalities” and landed a blow on the economy damaging worth “billions of dollars”.
Sadly, balancing “vegetation maintenance” keeping safety in mind often comes at the cost of aesthesis or “energy conservation” while other times it effects the “diverse wildlife habitats”. However, Charlton encourages saying:
“The good news is that utilities, communities, environmental groups, and the public are learning that some strategies can help minimize the conflicts and generate so many positive benefits. Utilities and communities are working together to plant trees compatible with utility lines and promote sustainable ecosystem services such as energy conservation, CO2 sequestration, aesthetics, and storm water management”.
When met with conflicting “utility corridors” encroaching into landscapes, companies are turning to IVM, meaning “integrated vegetation management”. In this endeavour, government as well as environmental NGOs along with the public and landowners are collaborating with corporate bodies, whereby synthesising utility with “protection of cultural resources; protection and encouragement of rare, threatened and endangered species; creation of improved wildlife habitat” to name a few.
Furthermore, Charlton informs:
“To help ensure that challenges and successes with IVM are being shared more broadly, the Arbor Day Foundation and the Utility Arborist Association developed the Trees & Utilities Conference. This will be the premier education, training, and networking event bringing together utility vegetation managers with other stakeholders interested in both the urban forest and rural landscape”.
References:
ethicalperformance.com
“Our jobs, factories, and every other part of life are possible because of the electric and gas infrastructure that supplies our homes and businesses”.
It is unfortunate that planting vegetation everywhere may not always contribute to “our energy needs”. Crisscrossing the country of North America “high-voltage distribution lines” network covering around “5 million miles”, has around “300,000 miles” underground network carrying “liquid and gas pipelines” while, “450,000 miles of very high-voltage transmission lines” run on “natural landscape”.
Given this scenario, trees near such “enormous system” are undesirable and harbinger of “several” problems. For example Charlton adds:
“Kids climb trees and can be exposed to dangerous electrical lines. Tree care workers and homeowners might not know the danger that these lines pose to them as they do their daily work. Trees can interfere with and damage overhead powerlines, interrupting service to our homes and businesses. Tree roots can damage underground gas and liquid fuel lines. Forest fires in the west are often attributed to trees contacting powerlines”.
Therefore, there should be a utilitarian control over vegetation growth, says Charlton, whereby one can “ensure public and worker safety as well as service reliability”. In fact, the blackout faced by the city of New York and the “surrounding states” were caused by “three electric transmission lines contacting three trees” which resulted in “11 fatalities” and landed a blow on the economy damaging worth “billions of dollars”.
Sadly, balancing “vegetation maintenance” keeping safety in mind often comes at the cost of aesthesis or “energy conservation” while other times it effects the “diverse wildlife habitats”. However, Charlton encourages saying:
“The good news is that utilities, communities, environmental groups, and the public are learning that some strategies can help minimize the conflicts and generate so many positive benefits. Utilities and communities are working together to plant trees compatible with utility lines and promote sustainable ecosystem services such as energy conservation, CO2 sequestration, aesthetics, and storm water management”.
When met with conflicting “utility corridors” encroaching into landscapes, companies are turning to IVM, meaning “integrated vegetation management”. In this endeavour, government as well as environmental NGOs along with the public and landowners are collaborating with corporate bodies, whereby synthesising utility with “protection of cultural resources; protection and encouragement of rare, threatened and endangered species; creation of improved wildlife habitat” to name a few.
Furthermore, Charlton informs:
“To help ensure that challenges and successes with IVM are being shared more broadly, the Arbor Day Foundation and the Utility Arborist Association developed the Trees & Utilities Conference. This will be the premier education, training, and networking event bringing together utility vegetation managers with other stakeholders interested in both the urban forest and rural landscape”.
References:
ethicalperformance.com