June 2, 2005

Tufts report recommends ways for town to go green

By Jennifer Mann

STAFF WRITER

The Board of Selectmen will soon be presented with a blueprint for making the town more fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly.

As a part of their graduate coursework, four Tufts University students in the Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning program have been working with Sustainable Arlington to develop a sustainability action plan for the town.

Included in the plan are recommendations to reduce Arlington's carbon dioxide emissions, pursue solar and wind power energy sources and improve energy efficiency through town management or oversight. There is also a section that looks at ways to educate residents and town officials and encourage them to adopt sustainable practices.

"The plan provides a comprehensive look at all of the things that can be done," said Ryan Katofsky, a member of Sustainable Arlington who assisted with the energy efficiency section of the report. "It (also) gives a blueprint for continuing to do many of the things we've already been doing."

Under Sustainable Arlington's recommendation, the town has already replaced the lights in the Robbins Library with more efficient fluorescent bulbs (which the group believes saves $9,000 per year in energy bills) and installed light emitting diodes in traffic lights (which they say conserves 85 percent of expended energy).

Town Meeting has also passed two resolutions proposed by the group: In 2002, it required the town to consider the most fuel-efficient opportunities when purchasing new vehicles, and in 2003, made it a goal to get LEED certification (a standard for "green" buildings) on all new and renovated town properties.

Marc Breslow, director of the Massachusetts Climate Action Network and a member of Sustainable Arlington, said the group hopes to have the action plan with its newest recommendations in front of the selectmen within the next month. He said the board previously encouraged Sustainable Arlington to establish such a roadmap, and the meeting would allow the two groups to discuss specific recommendations that have since been outlined.

In particular, the plan proposes the town:

· Establish a sustainability program manager position, funded by current savings in energy efficiency, and create an energy management task force.

· Continue to investigate the possibility of bringing a wind turbine to the town as a source of clean energy.

· Undertake educational and promotional activities to encourage residents to utilize clean energy and energy-saving techniques for their homes and vehicles.

· Implement a "No-Idling Policy" for municipal and school vehicles and parents dropping their children off at school-consistent with a state law mandating a five-minute maximum idling time for vehicles.

· Convert Department of Public Works trucks to biodiesel fuel.

Far more is laid out in the hefty report, which stacks to more than 50 pages. But Katofsky emphasized that the majority of the proposals-if followed-would end up costing little money, and would in fact, bring back additional revenue to the town.

"There are a lot of things you can do that are not only good for the environment, but also good for the pocketbook," he said. As an example, he pointed to the street light program, which "essentially pays for itself after a year."

"After that, it's all savings," he said.

He said similar to the street lighting program, some of the clean energy sourcing proposals in the plan might involve "incremental" costs initially, but would be paid off over time in savings and government-backed rebates.

He added contrary to what some might believe, the use of clean energy can act as a protection for the town budget: As gas and oil prices continue to rise, he said, or if they happen to do so unpredictably at any point in time, a green power-based town would be shielded from the blow.

"You can think of it as a way to hedge the value of energy efficiency," he said.

Breslow said one of the panel's key recommendations would come at no cost at all-that is, educating the public on the benefits of clean energy and fuel efficiency.

He said residents and commercial properties in town account for the majority of carbon dioxide emissions, and simply educating townspeople in this regard and providing an array of possible solutions, can go a long way toward creating a cleaner and more efficient town. He said this could be done by posting information on the town Web site or inserting information sheets in town-distributed materials.

"The town government is only a small percentage of energy usage in Arlington," he said. "If you are going to achieve the goals of the plan, you have to address the residential sector."

The proposals launched by the Tufts students navigate through four different areas: Benjamin Lee investigated methods for energy-saving, Sinan Seyhun looked at clean energy resources, Tara Santimauro considered means of reducing emissions in transportation and Jessica Erickson identified ways to market the project. Members of Sustainable Arlington also contributed to the plan. More information can be found on the group's Web site: http://www.massclimateaction.org/arlington.htm