| DECEMBER 3, 2010 -- Being “green” is a concept taking hold in many places in the United States but perhaps nowhere on the East Coast is the idea more deeply entrenched than in Cornwall, the first town in Connecticut and one of only three communities on the Eastern Seaboard to earn Green Power Community (GPC) designation.
GPCs are towns, cities, counties or Native American tribes in which the local government, businesses, and residents col lectively buy green power in amounts that meet or exceed the EPA’s Green Power Community purchase requirements.
Cornwall celebrated its achievement recently with a dinner program presented by its energy task force in an effort to help to spread the word about energy efficiency and renewable energy sources to its own residents and to surrounding towns.
Bob Wall, Connecticut Energy Fund director of Energy Marketing Initiatives, attended the meeting to offer his congratulations to Cornwall and to challenge the surrounding towns to undertake similar programs.
He noted that there are many more Green Power communities on the West Coast and said it is time for Easterners to follow suit. “Being designated a Green Power community adds credibility to your efforts,” he said. “It establishes high standards so everyone knows that what you have done is legitimate. There are. 33 towns throughout country who have earned this designation, with more than half of them in Oregon. There is only one—Cornwall—in Connecticut and only three on the East Coast. We need to change that.”
“This program, developed by the EPA, takes the Clean Energy program and goes deeper,” he continued. “We think Connecticut towns are well positioned for this challenge.” At present, 103 towns in Connecticut have taken the Clean Energy Fund Challenge.
He noted that the EPA has a number of ways in which it helps communities to motivate townspeople to join in the effort, including marketing their achievements and supplying tools and resources. He urged towns to use town Web sites, social media, cable community access channels and newspapers to get the word out and to inspire other communities to join in.
The EPA has kicked off a year-long challenge to double the amount of green power and will post the standings every quarter. There will be two awards in 2011 for communities who have achieved the highest levels of green power and, he said, Cornwall is in a good position to challenge other towns for one of those awards.
Also attending the meeting was Linda Darveau, EPA New England representative, who had traveled from Boston for the program. For those attending from other towns, she said the first step in reducing energy usage is to determine current levels. “You have to benchmark your current use,” she said. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Benchmarking gives you an idea of how much energy your town is currently using and helps you set priorities for energy efficiency projects.”
She said it is possible for towns to cut their energy use by 30 percent. She recommended that towns look for the easiest ways to cut first—perhaps changing incandescent light bulbs for compact florescent bulbs. Then, when the audit of municipal buildings had been completed, to start by retrofitting the worst buildings first.
“What I tell people is that they get their energy efficiency vegetables before they get their renewable energy desserts,” she said. Communities that reduce their energy use by 10 percent or more are rewarded with an Energy Star.
But there are other, more immediate rewards for towns that cut back. Ms. Darveau reported that electric rates in Connecticut are 40 percent higher than the rest of the country. “The demand for energy is increasing,” she said. “There is a strong need to slow the increase in demand and to provide cleaner sources. We don’t want to be building new power plants.”
Failure to find less damaging forms of energy production will cause problems in many areas, she said. “We already see the health impacts, the impacts on agriculture, water and forests. New England is basically washing into the ocean and the cost of adaptation is enormous. We have to realize that the cheapest energy is what you do not use.”
Cornwall has been effective in cutting its energy use, according to Catherine Freygang, the sparkplug behind Cornwall’s program. The town joined in the Connecticut Clean Energy Challenge and pledged to reduce its energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010. Communities successful at reducing their energy use earn photovoltaic solar panels, a reward Cornwall has already qualified for twice.
Ms. Freygang said another solar array will be installed on town hall to “net zero” energy costs in the building. Cornwall Consolidated School produced 6 percent of its power over the past six months from solar energy.
First Selectman Gordon Ridgway said the town’s energy task force has worked diligently, but most of the credit must go to the people. “It is interesting to drive around and see a few solar panels popping up here and there,” he said. “That is the strength of the whole idea.”
Beyond the use of solar power, many families on Cornwall have turned to wood for heat, “an old tradition, but now a renewable energy resource.” He noted that attention to renewable sources has occurred elsewhere as well, with even large institutions such as The Hotchkiss School installing a biomass furnace to heat its campus with wood products. |
