Arlington Advocate 

May 19, 2005

Environmentalists preach benefits of going green

By Jennifer Mann

STAFF WRITER

Arlington is not the only town "going green."

It is joined by municipalities across the state - like Newton, Northampton and Worcester, for example - that are slowly buying their way toward clean energy, and an ultimate payback for the land and its citizens.

That was the message of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network and Sustainable Arlington, the town's own renewable energy task force, when they hosted a "Clean Power Training Day" in the Whittemore-Robbins House last Saturday.

Attendees heard from local officials, such as Mayor David Cohen of Newton, who described how his city had installed solar panels to help power its high school and purchased wind power certificates to "put the pressure on" local energy companies to find alternative sources of renewable energy.

Peggy MacLeod from the Center for Ecological Technology in Northampton, told how her organization worked with the media to spread its message, and established local coalitions to implement its green power goals.

And the clean energy coordinator for Worcester, Carissa Williams, explained a pledge her city took, promising to reach 20 percent energy sustainability by 2010. Attendees learned that 11 cities and towns in Connecticut have done the same.

The purpose of all of their presentations was to show not only that green is good, but also that green is possible.

"If we are going to maintain our lifestyles, and we are going to pass our lifestyles on to our children and grandchildren...then there is simply not enough oil to go around and we have to be looking for alternate sources of energy," Cohen said. "It is a matter of our long-term survival."

Cohen said as oil becomes more expensive, the notion of solar power will become more attractive - and his city hopes to be one of the first to harness that trend.

"The times and tide are with us," he said. "We are heavily committed to the notion that green power will work."

He said the immediate investment - approximately $20,000 per year out of a tight $60 million annual city budget - is worthwhile in light of the long-term return. Even in the beginning of the five-year expected payout, he said, the town will reap the benefits of state and federal tax credits and energy savings.

And he said the less tangible benefits are also aplenty: nationwide, green energy could promote a healthier environment, improved foreign policy and an eventual return to economic stability.

Because unlike oil, the supply of the sun is boundless, he said.

"The sun always rises and there are always going to be enough clear days," he said.

And the same goes for the wind.

Jim Gordon, president of Cape Wind Associates, the group trying to bring wind turbines to Nantucket Sound, said his project, if approved, will produce enough electricity to power two-thirds of the Cape and Islands' needs.

The project is touted to be able to replace 113 million gallons of oil per year, and bring between 600 to 1,000 new jobs to the area.

And after years worth of wrangling for a place in the coastal waters, the project is finally inching toward approval. It just recently cleared its latest regulatory hurdle in gaining siting board approval for transmission cables linking the turbines to the shore.

Gordon said all the efforts will pay off in the end.

"We know this project can be a model for our nation's energy and environmental future," he said.

Andrew Stern, vice president of Hull Citizens Advocating for Renewable Energy, said a wind turbine in his town was already bestowing benefits upon the area. He said it had been so successful that the town was in the process of securing another turbine, expecting to bring in a combined savings of more than $140 per year.

In Arlington, Selectman Kevin Greeley has said he is open to investigating the use of wind power in town, and Sustainable Arlington has been urging town officials to explore the option. In March, the group led Greeley, School Committee member Paul Schlichtman and other residents on a tour of the wind turbine in Hull.

Sustainable Arlington has also been drafting a plan to incorporate sustainability into the town's policies and has formed a "Climate Wise" task force comprised of town officials and group members. Thus far, they have replaced the library's lights with energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, which they say saves about $9,000 per year in electricity bills, and replaced all of the town's traffic lights with LEDs (light omitting diodes), conserving an estimated 85 percent of power.

Marc Breslow, director of MCAN and a founding member of Sustainable Arlington, said the lessons learned on Saturday could apply to all towns and cities like Arlington, which are trying to incorporate more clean energy into their town infrastructures.

"These cities prove municipal governments can easily make the switch to clean power and take the lead in fighting climate change," he said. "Now we want more cities in the state to make the same commitment."