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WINSTON-SALEM — There’s Old Salem, and there’s the gleaming new downtown and the rest of the modern city.

Turns out both are figuring out ways to get greener.

The city’s work to become environmentally conscious and more efficient has included efforts across a broad spectrum of activities: Planting 1,000 trees each year. Reducing the use of pesticides. Purchasing vehicles that sip, not slurp, gas.

“Anything we could reduce, we did,” said Randy Rorers, Winston-Salem’s property maintenance superintendent.

The city even created a position dedicated specifically to managing its energy use. It estimates that move alone has created more than $300,000 in savings.

Gasoline use is watched carefully, Rogers said, and the fleet now includes more fuel-efficient vehicles.

In Old Salem, it’s a similar story. The institution began buying electric vehicles a few years ago. Not only do they have no emissions, but they also don’t disturb the quiet of the historic area.

Green efforts are a natural fit with the history of Old Salem, according to the group’s Web site.

“The Moravians were very careful with their natural resources when they first came to this area,” including limiting how many trees could be cut, it says.

Other key city efforts include installing high-efficiency motors in water and wastewater plants and high-efficiency HVAC systems in city buildings.

Some of the efforts go beyond a focus on just the monthly power bill.

The city is working on encouraging other means of getting from place to place rather than always driving.

The goal is to make the city more bike- and pedestrian-friendly by creating new greenways, bike lanes and sidewalks.

Generally speaking, the city began with a focus on the “low-hanging fruit,” Rogers said — the least costly ways to become more efficient — and is now moving into larger projects, such as a new and more efficient water-treatment plant.

Some future efforts, according to the city’s sustainability plan, include “cool roofs,” which are designed with materials that reduce “heat islands.”

They also include steps such as low-flow water fixtures and reforesting open spaces, both to create more trees and cut down on mowing.

The city’s elected officials have made their position clear.

In 2007, Winston-Salem adopted a resolution supporting the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Climate Protection Agreement and has committed itself to working toward stabilizing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

The city is committed to becoming more efficient, Rogers said, and the benefits are clear.

“Anytime we can get more efficient, it not only helps us, it helps the taxpayers,” Rogers said.

Contact Jason Hardin at 373-7021 or at jason.hardin @news-record.com