North Quabbin Energy

Ad Hoc Town Energy Committee for Orange

The Orange Town Energy Committee was formed in December 2007 and first met in February 2008. Mission: The Ad Hoc Energy Committee for the Town of Orange is organized to encourage conservation, recycling, efficient energy practices, and the use of renewable energy where possible in public buildings, homes and businesses of Orange.
Members: Steve Adam, Robert Haigh, Sharon Hatstat, Paul Kaplan, Pat Larson, Dianne Salcedo, and Sandra Warren.

Annual Report (Oct. 2008-Nov. 2009) with Highlights of the Year
The work of the Orange Town Energy Committee during the past year centered around three areas. These included education, energy audits on town buildings and work with Siemens and out-reach. The committee usually met monthly and had informal discussions about projects and work people could do. Below are some of the highlights of this work.
Education –
• A proposal to purchase energy related books for the Orange Elementary School libraries was submitted to the Clean Energy Choice Program (MTC Renewable Energy Trust) for $460. (Other money from grant program was used to purchase a solar trash compactor for Mattawa Beach.)
• Two Energy kits were put together for the Orange Libraries and put into circulation in May 2009. Each kit contains books and a Kill-A-Watt meter (meters bought by Library Friends) with instructions. Also the bibliography of books available at the Orange Libraries related to energy, global warming and the environment by grade level was up-dated by Dianne Salcedo.
• Energy committee members helped with various activities in the elementary schools during the 2009 school year. These included: 1) setting up boxes to collect ink cartridges for school fundraising efforts. Through this effort over 60 ink cartridges were turned in to Butterfield to add to their on-going effort. 2) At Fisher Hill Paul Kaplan worked with a school energy committee to develop school programs for Environment Month during April and other school-wide projects. The whole school signed up for the “Green Team” project sponsored by the MA DEP. 3) At Dexter Park Deb Taylor and Pat Larson taught an after-school workshop with ten 3-4th graders for 10 weeks (“Energy Wise Kids Club”).
Energy audits on town buildings and work with Siemens –
• Members of the Energy Committee attended selectboard and school committee meetings in December and January to support going forward with an investment audit of all town buildings by Siemens.
• Investment grade audits of 15 town buildings were completed by Siemens in June. Energy committee members met with Roland Butzke from Siemens before the Town Meeting to help them understand the workings of a performance contract and the warrants concerned with this on the town warrant. Articles on the town meeting warrant asked the town to allow for the town to negotiate a loan of up to $2 million dollars for beginning work with Siemens. The payments on the loan will be paid from energy savings the town receives from work done as part of a performance contract with Siemens with a possible savings to the town of $100,000 a year.
• This performance contract is part of a collaborative effort that involves the FRCOG and other towns. Each town has to decide on whether to negotiate a performance contract with Siemens. At this point Orange is negotiating with the USDA regarding a loan agreement (payments to be made from energy savings money) so a contract can be signed with Siemens.
• Along with learning about a performance contract and what it involves, members of the town energy committee are currently involved with meetings regarding technical assistance from FRCOG staff on developing an Action Plan for Green Communities designation for Orange and have also attended SDAT meetings related to a sustainable plan for Orange.
Outreach –
• Members had an information table at the October 2008 Celebrate the Harvest event and at Family Fun Day in May 2009. Information about home energy audits was distributed to people.
Currently working on p

Attending: Neil Anders, Hal Gillam, John Jackson, Janice Kurkorski, Pat Larson, Brian Nugent, Linda Paquet, Tom Rich, Cathy Stanton

ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Brian is doing winsert workshops at Wheeler Library in Orange on the third Saturday of each month, October through February, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Greenworks for North Quabbin is holding a symposium on Oct. 21-23

CET is holding a Greening Your Community meeting for municipalities on Oct. 29, 8 a.m. to noon, in South Hadley.

Janice pointed out that there was a good editorial in the new issue of Northeast Sun by Fred Unger, commenting on the Waxman Markey bill.

We have about $110 in our treasury, along with a considerable collection of winsert-making materials (foam, plastic, tape, and some wood).

GARLIC FESTIVAL DEBRIEF
Overall, we felt that this was a good weekend and would definitely want to be involved again. The table was not as busy as in the previous couple of years (weather was not as good, particularly on Saturday), but we had many interesting and in-depth conversations, including some that were opppositional but productive. Brian noted that many of the people he talked to about winserts thought that just installing replacement windows would solve all their window/insulation problems. The presentations in the tent were quite well attended, with between 9 and 18 people per presentation on Saturday and 20-40 on Sunday. Steve and Janice are definitely planning to offer the presentations again, and welcome new ideas for speakers or topics before May.

BIOMASS DEBATE
We’ve had a request to support a ballot initiative effort that redefines biomass plants for purposes of funding with public investment money. The new language would require that energy-producers be defined in terms of their carbon emissions, rather than certifying biomass plants as automatically “green” and able to receive funding as such. We read the ballot initiative and found the wording extremely hard to understand, which made us reluctant to take this up as a project (how can we promote something that people aren’t able to grasp?) although we support the initiative in principle and will continue to raise questions about biomass where appropriate.

NEIGHBOR-TO-NEIGHBOR WEATHERIZING/RESIDENTIAL RETROFITS
We talked briefly about our idea for a possible “neighbor-to-neighbor” weatherizing project, similar to what HEET does in Cambridge with their “Weatherization Barn-Raisings.”

We scheduled a gathering at Cathy’s house (1141 Chestnut Street, Athol) on Dec. 5 to begin thinking about this in relation to an actual home, and will try to find other buildings that we might practice on. It wil be important to get figures for energy use before and after weatherizing, to track the effectiveness of what we’re doing. This may be something that we can do in partnership with Neil’s infrared diagnostic business.

Neil will check to see whether we can make copies of the Larry Harmon DVD on residential retrofits and circulate it (for example, to libraries, interested homeowners, etc.).

TOWN ENERGY COMMITTEE MEETING
We talked about a possible date for getting people from the existing and new town energy committees in the region (North Quabbin towns + possibly Barre and Shutesbury) together. The format would likely be a panel discussion with brief presentations by members of the established committees to highlight what they’ve done so far. A broader agenda would be generated by new people’s specific concerns or questions. We talked about possible venues and other people who should be invited (for example, representatives from FRCOG, since they are giving technical assistance on the “Green Communities” collaboration). Hal will work with Pat to get lists of all the committees, and Pat will contact people individually to invite them. Linda will help with food. Cathy will work on making contacts within committees who may want to share our web space or link in some way with our website so we can publicize what they’re doing.

We agreed that the basic agenda format should look something like this:

1. getting started/lessons learned – report from panel of “veterans”
2. ideas about how to build momentum
3. ideas about how to sustain effort
4. collaborating regionally – FRCOG
5. time at end for networking

350.ORG
Our event for the October 24 worldwide “350” effort will be a walk from the Athol Town Hall to the Orange Town Hall between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., rain or shine. Cathy will send a press release out and make a poster that we can send as a PDF to our list. It sounds as though we have at least half a dozen people committed to being there.

Next meeting:
Saturday, Dec. 5, 10 a.m., Cathy Stanton’s house (1141 Chestnut Street, Athol) followed by potluck lunch at noon.

Back to North Quabbin Energy home.

You can download a copy of the MA stretch code at the following site:

http://www.mass.gov/Eeops/docs/dps/inf/appendix_120_aa_jul09_09_final.pdf

Two local vigils are being held in support of the attempt to reach a science-based international climate treaty during the current negotiations in Copenhagen.

In Petersham, Earthlands is sponsoring a “Vigil for Survival” on Friday, December 11 from 5-6 p.m. on the Common. Participants are asked to bring candles and cups for wind shields. For more information contact 978-855-1420 or email larrybuell@earthlands.org.

In Greenfield, Greening Greenfield is organizing a “Vigil for Survival” on the Town Common from 5-6:15 p.m. Bring candles, cups for wind shields, lighters if you can. Or pick up a candle on site at no cost. Amandala Choir and singer/songwriter Annie Hassett will provide music and invite attendees to sing with them. Pick up a voucher for a FREE cup of hot cocoa from Bart’s Café And come to Bart’s after the Vigil for cocoa and snacks.

Warwick Buildings & Energy Committee
Annual Report for FY ‘09
The purpose of the Warwick Buildings and Energy Committee is to assess town buildings and maintenance needs, research options for the select board and Warwick citizens to encourage efficient energy consumption and optimal maintenance of town properties, and encourage Warwick townspeople’s own efforts in renewable energy production and carbon footprint reduction.
The committee was established by the Selectboard on December 4, 2006, as an ad hoc Town Buildings Committee. In May of ’07 it began to meet as the Buildings and Energy Committee. The Selectboard voted on June 30, 2008, to make it an official town committee with six members appointed for staggered three-year terms. Currently, the committee meets at 6:30 p.m. on the 3rd Wednesday of the month.

Members, as of the end of FY ’09 are:
Janice Kurkoski ‘11 – chair
Steve Kurkoski ‘11– scribe
Jim Toth ‘10
Jack Cadwell’12
Dan Dibble’10
Les Goodman’12
Our accomplishments in the past year resulted in many repairs to the town hall, as well as acting in an advisory capacity to other departments.
In December we accompanied the long awaited Siemens Building Technologies team on a free walk-through audit of all town buildings. This was part of FRCOG’s performance contract (or ESCO – Energy Service Company) proposal. After reviewing the audit results, this committee recommended that the selectboard pursue a performance grade audit on only the Community School, as we felt that the proposed upgrades to the other town buildings were inappropriate at this time. Our strategy was – and continues to be – to make much needed, low cost improvements to our building shells first, then consider future new heating equipment based on lower heating loads.
In June we received our free energy audit through the DOER (Dept. of Energy Resources). Bowman Engineering conducted the audit, and sent an engineer at a later date to follow up on details in the town hall – the only building that met the criteria for a more thorough audit. Besides the possibility of using new high efficiency bio-mass heating equipment for future heating needs in all of the town buildings, the auditor recommended insulating the walls of the town hall, and suspected that much heat is being lost through the elevator shaft.
In late June/early July we solicited bids to air seal and insulate the town hall.
Highlights:
Town Hall: oil use is down 40%, electricity use is down 13%
Highway Dept.: truck garage oil use down 49%, equip garage oil use down 29% – the highway department asked our committee for advice, then followed through with their own efforts to add insulation to both attics, as well as caulk and seal the many holes and cracks. New doors and a window helped as well. Their electricity use is down 56%.
Community School: electricity use is down 36% from a high two years ago
Still needs help:
Warwick Community School (esp. with oil use), Fire station, and Police station
The following charts track our progress in energy consumed. Note the effectiveness of the improvements that were done on the town hall and highway dept buildings. (degree days are not considered in these charts)

Other Committee Projects:
The Committee held two volunteer work days on July 26 and Oct 18.
Here are some of the things that were accomplished (thanks to the many folks who came to help besides those on the committee):
• Made & hung beautiful (recycled!) insulated drapes in the main hall
• Prepped and painted the electric heater in the restroom next to the kitchen
• Air sealed the chimney chase that runs through the kitchen
• Built new insulated interior bulkhead entry doors and air sealed same
• Dug out the foundation under the fire escape to clear rain drain
• Insulated the attic access trap door
• Installed base board backstage
• Remove parts of unused heating systems in cellar
• Replaced chimney cleanout door (done by contract labor)
• Insulate rim joists in cellar
• Air sealed outlets and switches along outside walls in dining room
• Moved town clerks’ thermostat to upstairs hall
• Installed programmable thermostat in dining room
• Sealed some of the ductwork in the basement
• Made and installed interior storms windows (winserts) for dining rm and kitchen
• Installed foam panels to seal the bathroom windows and 1 cellar window
• A mystery volunteer made and installed 2 cellar windows in the boiler room
• Jack operated on an office window to explore how to best repair & insulate these
• Blocked off the airway above the pipes in the bottom of the southwest chimney
• Major Town Hall repairs still needed:
Chimneys and foundation – repair, re-point, re-flash, install chimney caps, seal and vent the one unused chimney $3,000
Roof – the tin on the roof was in bad shape, and there was some water leaking into the building, but there is no major structural damage reported at this time (the shingles are 24 years old). Interim repairs were made by removing the tin work and placing ice and water shield as a temporary roof cap as well as by applying roofing cement to all chimney flashings.
Strip roof, apply water and ice shield, install 50 year shingles
or install 25 year shingles over existing roofing ($23,000)
$37,000
Insulation–auditorium and office walls and additional in the attic (done in FY10)
New heavy duty Storm Windows (half are in progress in FY10 – approx $5K) $4,670
Re-glaze and paint interior windows $5,500
Repair/replace bathroom windows ?
TOTAL cost estimate $50,170

Ongoing Activities:
• Susan Wright stepped forward as liaison to the Community School. She conducted a survey, engaging both the students and the staff, on current and historical comfort levels in various parts of the building. The school continues to be the ‘elephant in the room’ in terms of energy consumption, repair and maintenance strategy. (Barbara Walker has been named new liaison as of 6/30/09 – thank you Susan and welcome aboard Barbara)
• Continue to obtain and inventory past oil use and electric data using the EPA’s Energy Star Portfolio Manager to track energy use.
• Discussed the appropriate use of Warwick’s “Clean Energy Choice” funds. This fund grew quickly to over $5,000 because 6.48% of the households in town participate, and the matching grants from the Renewable Energy Trust (now discontinued) helped as well. We have concluded that a solar electric system on a town building, though small, would be a good use of this money.
• Warwick still rocks!

North Quabbin Energy
Meeting minutes
Sept. 17, 2009
Millers River Environmental Center

Attending: Judy Northrup Bennett, Donna Caisse, Steve and Janice Kurkoski, Pat Larson, Jane Manring, Brian Nugent, Cathy Stanton

Garlic and Arts Festival, Oct. 3 and 4
Planning is well underway for this. Steve and Janice will be picking up pop-up tents and other things from NESEA for set-up the week before the festival. (Set-up starts on Sunday, Sept. 27 from 2-5 p.m., continues Tuesday, Sept. 29 from 10 a.m. on, and goes all day Friday, Oct. 2.) We still need additional volunteers for our table, particularly on Sunday afternoon. Pat will send a reminder email about this to our list. Janice will make name tags for volunteers.

We are in pretty good shape for literature to hand out. We will use up what materials we have on hand and will print or acquire a few more (biomass info sheet, 350.org flyer, etc.). We will have postcards for Massachusetts residents to sign asking Senator Kerry to support the inclusion of full environmental reckoning for any new biomass plants built with federal funding. Jane will donate stamps to be put on the postcards. Pat will get the copy for the cards from Tina Clarke, who is working on this campaign.

Brian will bring winserts to demonstrate, and we will have winsert manuals available for people to take (with a donation encouraged). Brian is also working on a prototype of a hot air window heater that he will try to bring and demonstrate at our table.

We talked about what kind of activity we should sponsor to publicize 350.org’s international day of action on Oct. 24, and decided that we would have a walk from the Athol town hall to the Orange town hall from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Oct. 24 with a banner that we will get people to help with during the Garlic and Arts Festival. People can write resolutions on strips of cloth that we will fasten to a long banner saying, “Stop the climate crisis: 350 ppm.” Janice and Donna will bring safety pins to fasten the streamers. Pat will register our event on the 350.org website.

Brian came up with a good, succinct explanation about what 350 means: “350 is the parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere at approximately the 1990 level; today it’s about 390 ppm. If we get back to 350, the temperature rise that is currently happening is expected to stay two degrees above today’s temperature, which is bad enough but not as bad as what will happen with a rise above that level. October 24 is an international day of action designed to raise awareness of the figure and the crisis, and to give people a definite target level to bear in mind.”

Town energy committees
Royalston: Donna reported that the new committee is in the process of being formed.
New Salem: The new committee there has started meeting.
The FRCOG representative who is providing technical assistance to the towns collaborating in our regional “Green Communities” consortium will be in the area on Oct. 29. North Quabbin Energy will try to find a meeting date when we can host people from the various town energy committees, as a way of supporting what they’re doing, strengthening the connections among towns and people, and talking about Green Communities and other things. We will work on planning this at our next meeting.

Winsert manuals
People took copies of the manual to donate to area libraries. We still need to distribute them to Petersham, Erving, and Phillipston libraries. Cathy will take care of this.

Next meeting
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Millers River Environmental Center
Potluck at 6 p.m., meeting at 6:30

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The Northeast Organic Farming Association’s annual summer conference is always a goldmine of ideas about local food systems and growing/finding/marketing good, organic food. For information about this year’s conference, to be held at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst from August 7 to 9, click here.

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July 14, 2009
Millers River Environmental Center

Attending:
Neil Anders, Judy Bennett, Donna Caisse, Hal Gillam, John Jackson, Steve and Janice Kurkoski, Brian Nugent, Linda Paquet, Pat Roix, Bruce Spencer, Cathy Stanton

Announcements:
• The GreenStart program has undergone some changes. There will no longer be matching funds for towns from the Renewable Energy Trust, and towns need to submit plans between August 21 and Nov. 30 for using their existing funds for energy-related projects. Towns can find the amount they’ve raised by visiting the Renewable Energy Trust website.
• Cathy is interested in reading E.F. Schumacher’s Small is Beautiful and possibly discussing it with others in the group. Contact her by email (cstanton@tiac.net) or phone (978-249-5174) if you are interested in pursuing this.

Possible regional North Quabbin collaborations and projects:
The remainder of the evening’s agenda was taken up with a wide-ranging discussion sparked by an announcement about a call for applications from the Franklin County Regional Council of Governments, which has been named a “technical assistance provider” for the Green Communities Act and which is inviting municipalities to submit applications to be designated as Green Communities. This designation will be a step toward applying for various kinds of funding for energy-related projects.

Hal spoke about a proposal that has emerged from Athol town government to see whether other towns in the nine-town region want to join together to have the North Quabbin as a whole become a Green Community. Apparently multi-town proposals will be looked on with favor by the state. Municipalities need to meet various criteria and to show they are working on reducing energy use in order to be eligible, but the application process is not labor-intensive. Phil Delorey in the Athol planning department has offered to contact the towns’ selectboards and see if we can get this onto a meeting agenda before the August 7 deadline. Hal is working on this with Phil and asked if North Quabbin Energy would like to be involved. It also seems to make sense to involve other groups thinking about energy issues—the town committees, Hands Across North Quabbin/Green Economy Task Force, North Quabbin Community Coalition, and perhaps others.

Overall, response to the idea was positive. We discussed the pros and cons of this kind of regional collaboration. On the plus side, it seems like a way to bring together the somewhat scattered efforts that are already going on, and to pursue projects that might start in one town but be replicated in others and/or benefit the region as a whole. Questions were raised about the work involved in coordinating a multi-town effort, the possibility that towns might not want to support projects outside their own borders, and what happens if towns want to opt in or out of the process once it starts.

In brainstorming possible ways to build on this idea of a more regional approach to energy issues, we touched on a number of topics:

• Pat and John brought an idea to the table that the Athol town energy committee has been considering, which is to find a way of capitalizing a local business producing an energy product or service. The committee was originally thinking of ways to attract “green businesses” to town, but Brian proposed the idea of focusing more on low-tech than high-tech, and perhaps starting a coop or business that could employ local people without a great deal of training. Lynn Benander from Coop Power spoke to the group about how the coop could help with this. One possibility is to get 50 new Coop Power members (at about $1000 per share) which would allow us to have a North Quabbin regional affiliate and to tap into Coop Power’s financing options for a new business or coop. Winsert production and weatherization were two of the ideas that have been proposed for this. The Athol committee would like to know whether this is something they might pursue along with others in the region.
• A committee from Coop Power has been continuing to work on the idea of having a pellet production facility in Greenfield. Bruce is involved in this. We talked about the possibility of promoting district heating systems for municipal facilities in the nine NQ towns (or however many wanted to sign on for the Green Communities designation) which could provide a steady market for pellets produced in Greenfield, benefiting both the towns and the proposed plant.
• Steve argued for being realistic about future big projects, and for continuing to emphasize conservation and reducing energy use wherever possible, rather than pursuing new technologies as a first step.
• Cathy suggested that we come up with a compelling project or set of connected projects (for example, getting a weatherizing coop/business going plus working with towns to tighten up their buildings and move toward biomass-fueled district heating) and use that to generate interest in the towns.
• We returned to an old idea that keeps coming up, which is to work on doing some public education and consciousness-raising about the actual amounts of electricity that people use in a month, how that compares with others’ use, and how it can be gradually reduced. Janice noted that we can fairly readily get figures broken down by town and type of use from National Grid, which might serve as a starting-point for this kind of effort. Bruce mentioned a recent Boston Globe article about a controversial plan to have low-income customers pre-pay for a limited amount of electricity each month. Steve and Janice mentioned the Washington Electric Cooperative in Vermont which charges incremental rates for electricity depending on the amount of use (the rate goes up with heavier use). This approach might be something we could work on on a regional basis, by showing what the averages are in the different NQ towns and challenging people to lower the figures.

After this discussion, we decided that NQ Energy will support the Athol-initiated FCRCOG application process by writing a letter of support and by working on getting people from our list of contacts to attend selectboard meetings in support of the proposal. It is our hope that this will strengthen the network of connections with other groups thinking about energy in the region. As this progresses, we will work on thinking about feasible regional projects or ideas that would benefit the whole nine-town region, including perhaps creating a Coop Power affiliate in the North Quabbin, and working on creating a coop or other business doing weatherization (which might train people to make winserts, particularly the wooden frames). As this is developing, we’ll continue trying to articulate a larger-scale vision for how these ideas might fit within longer-term plans that are applicable to all of the nine towns (for example, a replicable district heating plant model that could provide a market for locally-produced pellets). Cathy will work with Hal and others to draft a letter of support before the August deadline.

Other business:
• Linda asked for ideas and suggestions for how to respond to the Petersham town government’s request that she and her town energy committee work on getting some kind of renewable energy system for the Center School. Bruce suggested speaking with Rob Rizzo who is now working at DOER. Other people mentioned the Green Schools initiative through the Mass. Technology Collaborative.
• We approved in principle the idea of having Randy Kehler come and speak about the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in September, but no one at the meeting stepped forward to organize the event. We will see if Elaine Reardon, who proposed the idea, wants to take the lead on proposing a date, finding a location, doing publicity, etc. A library or the Environmental Center were suggested as possible venues. Pat Roix will speak to others in the local area who are working on nuclear-power related activism, to make sure our efforts would not step on their toes.

Next meeting:
Following up on a previous discussion, we decided to pursue the idea of seeing whether Tina Clarke of Montague, whose new home recently won a recent Zero Energy award for most energy-efficient new home in the state, would give us a tour. The first choice for this was Aug. 26, with a backup date of Sept. 2. Steve and Janice will check to see if this will work. There were some unanswered questions about whether or how to combine this with a meeting, which we will need to resolve.

North Quabbin Energy
June 10, 2009 meeting
Wendell Library

Attending: Donna Caisse, Janice and Steve Kurkoski, Pat Larson, Brian Nugent, Elaine Reardon, Bruce Spencer, Jonathan van Ranson, Cathy Stanton

We began the evening with a tour of the new Wendell Library by library director Rosie Heidcamp. For some photos from the tour, click here.

Announcements:
• The new North Quabbin Food Coop is getting ready to start up. Organizers have been meeting weekly and are planning to start ordering soon. Anyone interested in being in their Yahoo group can do so by going to the group’s home page.
• We have heard from a state DOER worker who is looking for energy group contacts in order to spread the word about the Green Communities act and possible future funding possibilities. It looks as though it would be good for town energy committees to get onto their radar in some way.
• Seeds of Solidarity is doing a garden tour and workshop this Saturday on no-till gardening.
• While Wendell does not have a town energy committee per se, it does have a group called Wendell Sustainable which is doing similar work. This group is promoting the idea of Wendell as an “intentional energy-saving community” and will work to get a resolution on energy conservation onto the next town warrant, with the possibility of asking the selectboard to appoint a town committee.
• This year’s SolarFest in Tinmouth, Vermont will be on July 10-12. There will be almost 100 workshops! Steve and Janice will be there, as always.

“Going Green at Red Apple Farm“
We are invited to be part of the ribbon-cutting festivities for Red Apple Farm’s new 15 kw wind turbine in Phillipston on June 24 from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. We will have a table, Brian will demonstrate winserts, and we will hand out various things including our new biomass statement, the local food brochure, and our pledge form. There will be a panel discussion as part of the event. Pat, Brian, Cathy, and perhaps others will be there.

Survey of electricity use
Elaine and Janice have been gathering data about electricity use in our area. This is part of an effort to present evidence to counter the Entergy and Madera Companies’ assertion that their nuclear plant expansions or big biomass plants are needed because of demand that has been calculated using the average figure of about 650 kwh per household per month. We discussed this effort, and it was suggested that it might be more effective to try to get this information from National Grid (i.e. town-specific averages). The overall goal is to make the case that people in the area can use much less if they put their minds to it, and to support conservation over construction of big generating facilities.

Possible nuclear information session
Randy Kehler is interested in doing a presentation to our group on Vermont Yankee. We will send an email asking if there’s interest. Elaine will write a paragraph about it. This might be an informational event, perhaps held at a library, for the fall.

Biomass plant
We discussed the Pioneer Renewable Energy plant proposal in Greenfield at some length. The Greenfield Zoning Board of Appeals meeting has been rescheduled for Monday, June 15 at 7 p.m. in the Middle School cafeteria. A citizens’ group is recruiting experts to talk about various aspects of the plan; this is part of the strategic opposition to the proposal. Bruce pointed out that state forest management policy is in some disarray at the moment, with no consistent management plans or policies, which is making it difficult to assess what might happen with biomass harvesting on public lands. After considerable discussion, we refined our basic statement as we have been drafting it. We focused on two key points: that expanded biomass harvesting is likely to damage the long-term health of the forest, given current harvesting methods and prices, and that the proposal as it stands is simply too big. Ideas that circulated in this discussion included:
• We need to walk before we can run – there is a “panic push” for green energy now, but this kind of big facility is too large and it poses too many unanswered questions.
• This idea is premature at best – we should start smaller, and probably stay smaller.
• Sound ecology has to be the base for green energy – large, centralized power generation is inherently not green!
• This project is likely to take the wind out of the sails of any potential smaller or more local biomass plants
Janice and Bruce will work on coming up with a list of names of officials that we can send our letter/statement to. Cathy will re-draft the statement for letters, and will customize the statement for specific officials or agencies. Cathy will also finalize a two-sided handout for the general public.

Next meeting
Tuesday, July 14, 2009. Potluck dinner at 6, meeting at 6:30. Millers River Environmental Center, 100 Main Street, Athol.

Red Apple Farm is hosting a Green Talk and Ribbon Cutting for its 15kW Wind Turbine on Wednesday, June 24 from 4 to 7:30 p.m.
Celebrate – Educate – Rejuvenate!
Panel registration begins at 3:45 p.m.
Your hosts: The Rose Family
Red Apple Farm
455 Highland Avenue, Phillipston, MA 01331

Please Pre-Register today by calling Monica Elefterion at 508-755-7400 ext. 229 or emailing melefterion@worcester.org (so that the hosts can get an accurate count for food)
SCHEDULE:
4:00 pm: Panel discussion and Q & A on topics including:
Sustainable and renewable energies, Green & Agri-tourism, Farm Energy Programs for MA agriculture, new energy related state regulations and federal incentives.. and more.
Participants will include:
. MA Office of Travel and Tourism, Jonathan Hyde, Green Tourism
. MA Dept. of Agriculture, Gerald Palano, Renewable Energy Coordinator
. NEXAMP, Will Thompson, project managers on the turbine
. MA Renewable Energy Trust – represented by a state expert on renewable energy
. USDA – Dick Burke, Director of Business and Community Programs
6:15 pm: Ribbon Cutting on 15kW Wind Turbine (click here to see pictures of the turbine)
Followed by: FREE “Business After Hours”

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