Brattleboro Climate Protection

Saturday, April 30 – 9:00 am to 1:00 pm
Windham Solid Waste Management District, 327 Old Ferry Rd., Brattleboro

Brattleboro residents are being offered the opportunity to go green at a discounted price. Thanks to a special offer by Vermont-based Country Home Products and Central Vermont Public Service, Brattleboro-area homeowners will get a chance to exchange their gas-guzzling lawn mower for a brand new, discounted Neuton, the leading battery-powered lawnmower.

The discounted price will be offered for both the Neuton ® CE 5 (14” blade) and CE 6 (19” blade) to be sold at the discounted rate of $264 and $349 (includes VT sales tax). Retail prices for the two are $399 and $499, respectively. Once there, residents can dispose of their old gasoline mowers for free. The discount price is available even if participants do not have a gas mower to turn in.

This project is made possible through the collaboration of Brattleboro Climate Protection, Country Home Products, Central Vermont Public Service, and the Windham Solid Waste Management District. Country Home Products, a Vermont company, supports lawnmower clean air programs across the U.S. and is proud to be a major sponsor of this project.

To learn more, visit www.neutonpower.com or contact Paul Cameron at 802-251-8135 or at pcameron@brattleboro.org. No advanced reservation of mowers is necessary – simply show up.

The goal of the Mow Down Pollution project is to empower consumers to do their part for cleaner air and less noise, something very achievable considering that:

• A typical gasoline-powered lawn mower emits more than 87 lbs. of climate changing carbon dioxide a year
• Mowing with a gasoline-powered mower can pollute 100 acres of a neighborhood with noise
• With over 54 million Americans mowing their lawns every weekend, a staggering 4.6 billion lbs. of CO2 is contributed to the atmosphere each year
• Gasoline-powered lawn mowers cause at least five percent of the nation’s total air pollutants
• Just one gas-powered lawn mower used for a year can pollute as much as 43 new cars driven for a year
• Each year homeowners spill 17 million gallons of gasoline when refilling their lawn equipment, which contaminates soil and groundwater
• By putting 4,000 working gasoline mowers out of commission, smog-forming volatile organic compound emissions will be reduced by up to 19.7 tons per year

About Country Home Products

Country Home Products, located in Vergennes, Vermont, designs and markets the nation’s leading line of battery-powered lawn mowers. Since 2003, NEUTON mowers have helped prevent over 33 million pounds of greenhouse gas pollution from entering the atmosphere. For more information on the complete line of NEUTON® products, please visit www.neutonpower.com.

For more information on the Neuton Battery-Powered Mower, or the Mow Down Pollution program, please contact Allison Cranmer, acranmer@neutonpower.com, 866-751-7372.

The Brattleboro Area Chamber of Commerce is teaming up with Efficiency Vermont and with Brattleboro Climate Protection to implement a new program to help Vermont small businesses save energy and money.

Under this program, called Business Energy Ambassadors, trained volunteers will conduct on-site “business energy visits” to identify opportunities for helping small businesses save energy and money, with a primary focus on lighting, which can also increase the customer appeal of retail and office spaces. The Chamber will work with those businesses that can benefit from the limited-time and enhanced financial incentives currently being offered by Efficiency Vermont.

“Efficiency Vermont is offering significant rebates right now for replacing inefficient lighting and other equipment, and we want to make sure that Vermont’s small businesses take full advantage of this program,” said Bill Bowman, Director, Customer Support & Development at Efficiency Vermont. “For example, under our newLIGHT program, Efficiency Vermont will cover a significant portion of the equipment cost for replacing inefficient T12 fluorescent lighting.”

T12 fluorescent lamps are common in many businesses throughout Vermont. They are usually 4 or 8 foot long tubes mounted horizontally in a ceiling fixture and are always 1.5 inches in diameter.

Under the Business Energy Ambassador program, volunteers will also provide information to businesses and property owners on other steps they can take to pursue energy saving opportunities and on how to access Efficiency Vermont’s rebates. Business energy visits are free-of-charge and last approximately 1 – 1 ½ hours.

“In today’s economy, small businesses really have to look for savings wherever they can find them,” said Jerry Goldberg, Executive Director of the Brattleboro Area Chamber. “We are pleased to be able to co-sponsor this program with Efficiency Vermont to help our members and other small businesses in our region save energy and money.”

The required volunteer training for the program is scheduled for Tuesday, October 26 from 6:00 p.m – 9:00 p.m. at the Windham Regional Career Center in Brattleboro. Each volunteer will be asked to commit to approximately 10 hours of their time, which includes scheduling visits and conducting 4-5 business energy visits in addition to the training.

If you are a small business and interested in having a business energy visit scheduled, or you are interested in serving as a volunteer, please contact Paul Cameron at 802-251-8135 or pcameron@brattleboro.org.

The results are in. According to data released by Efficiency Vermont, recent Brattleboro-area energy-saving efforts are, by any measure, a success. The Vermont Community Energy Mobilization (VCEM) Project, a four-month campaign that ended in the spring of 2009, is now reducing local energy costs by more than $6,500 per year, based on average Vermont residential electricity rates.

Organized locally by Brattleboro Climate Protection and the Windham Regional Career Center, the campaign was one of nine VCEM projects in the state. Together, the nine communities’ efforts are saving as much electricity, annually, as 43 Vermont households use in a year.

“Brattleboro’s success is due to the commitment of this community’s people and to the leadership of Paul Cameron of Brattleboro Climate Protection,” says Gabrielle Stebbins, VCEM statewide co-coordinator for Efficiency Vermont. “Not only are households saving energy dollars, but they’re also contributing to a cleaner environment by demanding less energy from polluting power plants.”

The Brattleboro efforts brought 39 Efficiency Vermont-trained local volunteers into a total of 100 homes, in Brattleboro and Dummerston, to identify potential energy-saving improvements, install efficient products — such as compact fluorescent light bulbs — and to educate residents about ways to further reduce energy costs.

“A great component of this project is that it truly reflects Vermont’s state ethos of ‘neighbors helping neighbors’,” says VCEM statewide co-coordinator, Paul Markowitz, of Vermont Energy and Climate Action Network.

Brattleboro will again participate in the Vermont Community Energy Mobilization Project in 2010. Brattleboro Climate Protection and the Windham Regional Career Center are seeking volunteers to participate in the program, which will be held during February and March. Volunteers are asked to volunteer a minimum of eight hours (or approximately 4-5 home visits). The volunteer training is scheduled for Sunday, January 31 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm in the Windham Regional Career Center at Brattleboro Union High School, and pre-registration is required. To register, or for more information, contact Paul Cameron at 802-251-8135 or pcameron@brattleboro.org.

In 1998, the Northern Hemisphere’s climate was warmer than it has been anytime in the past 1,000 years. Now the debate on global warming is heating up. If you’re like most people, you’ve probably heard a lot of opposing views about global warming. Some say it’s a menace, others claim it’s a myth. Who’s right? To help make sense of these diverse views, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has summarized some of the most commonly heard misunderstandings about global warming, together with responses based on the best available scientific research.

Myth: Scientists aren’t sure that the world is really getting warmer.

Reality: Skeptics question scientists’ conclusion that the world has warmed by about 1 degree Fahrenheit over the past 100 years. Instead of attributing this apparently hotter climate to global warming, the skeptics blame some of the warming trend on the expansion of cities around formerly rural or suburban weather monitoring stations. According to these skeptics, heat generated by urban areas has caused an artificial or imagined warming trend. But researchers have found that ground-based temperature records show the same global warming trends even when adjusted for data from urban weather stations. Other skeptics consider the measured warming to be part of natural short-term cycles of temperature variation. But the longer the warming trend continues, the more difficult it is to attribute it to natural variation.

Myth: Emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities are so tiny in comparison with natural sources that humans can’t have any effect on climate.

Reality: Natural sources of heat-trapping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide are largely balanced by natural “sinks” for greenhouse gases, like oceans and forests that remove the gases from the atmosphere by absorption. People are adding more to the atmosphere than these sinks can absorb and at the same time are removing the forests. We know this because greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels carry a chemical “finger-print” that scientists can use to trace the source of emissions. These chemical tracers show that the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the past century has been caused by people.
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• Drive smart! Purchase a fuel-efficient car. Forget jackrabbit starts and long idles. Make sure your vehicles are tuned up and the tires are properly inflated. If you have two cars, drive the more efficient one whenever possible. Better yet, skip the drive and take public transit, walk or bicycle when you can. The more gasoline we burn, the more carbon dioxide (CO2) we put into the air. And CO2 is the primary global warming pollutant.

• Write your leaders now. Urge them to raise mile per gallon standards for cars to 45 mpg and sport utility vehicles and other light trucks to 34 mpg. It’s the biggest single step we can take to slow global warming. And by saving gas, you save money at the pump.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs – especially those that burn the longest each day. These produce the same amount of light as normal bulbs, use about a quarter of the electricity, and last ten times as long. Each compact fluorescent bulb saves 500 pounds of coal, helping to clean the air today, curb global warming, and save you money on your electricity bill.

• Button up your house. Start with caulking and weather-stripping on doorways and windows. Then wrap your water heater in an insulation jacket (available at most hardware stores). You can also install energy-efficient windows and improve the insulation of your home. Ask your utility company to do an energy audit of your home to show you how to save even more money.
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How can Brattleboro significantly reduce its carbon pollution and dependence on fossil fuels, while saving money for residents, businesses and Town government?  The newly formed Brattleboro Energy Committee has some ideas and a plan for putting them into action.

The seven-member committee, made up of Brattleboro residents, was appointed by the Brattleboro Selectboard in June 2009 from a slate of ten applicants, and has met monthly thereafter. “This is a great group to work with” says Paul Cameron, Director of Brattleboro Climate Protection, who serves as the Town’s liaison to the committee. Cameron describes the committee as a natural outgrowth of the Town’s existing climate and energy program, which dates to 2002. The Brattleboro Selectboard approved a Climate Action Plan in 2003, and a number of the plan’s measures have been implemented, such as an energy-efficiency upgrade of municipal and school buildings, a no-idling campaign, and annual workshops on renewable energy and energy efficiency. However, this is the first time Brattleboro has had an official energy committee, which joins nearly 80 others across the state of Vermont. “The rapid growth in energy committees reflects the concern that Vermonters have about unstable and rising energy prices, as well as climate change”, says Cameron.

The Brattleboro Energy Committee’s mission is to assist Brattleboro residents, businesses and Town government in reducing energy consumption and costs through conservation, increased energy efficiency and conversion to renewable energy sources. The committee assists the Town Energy Coordinator in planning and carrying out projects to advance these goals and serves as a resource to the Town on energy-related issues.

The goals of the committee are to:

• Improve energy efficiency in commercial buildings and homes by encouraging upgrades in lighting, heating systems, motors, and weatherization.
• Reduce fossil fuel use in motor vehicles and lawn equipment by promoting the use of alternative fuels, carpooling, reduced idling, expanded mass transit, and smart-growth practices.
• Promote the use of renewable energy sources such as biomass and solar to generate electricity and heat.
• Provide information to the public about sustainable technologies and practices.
• Collaborate with energy organizations in other towns to share information, strategies, and best practices.

During the coming year, the committee is looking to give input into the revision of the current Town Plan, and explore the potential for solar energy in town, among other projects. The committee has a particular interest in improving energy efficiency in homes and businesses. “Brattleboro has a lot of old, leaky buildings, and there are a lot of opportunities to save energy and money”, says Lester Humphreys, chair of the energy committee. The committee will be participating in the Vermont Community Energy Mobilization project, where teams of community volunteers are trained to perform free energy consultations in area homes.

“Investing now in clean energy can create good-paying jobs in our local economy, and helps build a safe, equitable, and sustainable future for ourselves and our children”, says Cameron. “Brattleboro is setting a great example for our region and we need to keep the momentum going.”

For more information on the Brattleboro Energy Committee, contact Paul Cameron at (802) 251-8135 or pcameron@brattleboro.org.