Brattleboro Climate Protection

“Making Connections: Energy, Transportation and Land-Use Planning”
Wednesday, June 9, 2010, 6:30 p.m. – 9:00 p.m
Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., Brattleboro

How do you imagine Brattleboro in 2030? How will we meet our energy and transportation needs, while preserving our natural environment? If you are interested in these questions, the Brattleboro Energy Committee and Brattleboro Conservation Commission seek your participation.

The Brattleboro Planning Commission is working now to re-write the Town Plan, for completion in 2011. They have enlisted the help of the Town Energy Committee and the Town Conservation Commission to help gather public input on the energy, transportation, and land-use planning sections of the plan.

The committees are organizing a meeting on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 from 6:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St. in Brattleboro. The agenda will include an introduction, small-group discussions around specific focus questions, and final presentations.

Please come to help us imagine and build Brattleboro’s future. Light refreshments will be provided. Seating is limited and pre-registration is required. To register, contact Paul Cameron at 251-8135 or at pcameron@brattleboro.org. Registration deadline is Friday, June 4.

How can homeowners afford to insulate their homes or install solar hot water systems in today’s economy? Many people want to “do the right thing”, but lack the money to finance energy-efficiency projects or install renewable energy systems in their homes and businesses. This hurdle has prevented many people from taking advantage of new technologies that would reduce their energy costs substantially and save them money in the long run.

A new, innovative funding mechanism called Property Assessed Clean Energy, or PACE, can enable homeowners and businesses to overcome this barrier. In 2009, the Vermont Legislature passed legislation authorizing municipalities to create PACE financing districts. By setting up a PACE district, the town creates a fund through muncipal bonds or other municipal debt, from which residents can borrow money to finance eligible energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects in their homes, rental properties, and businesses. The loans are paid back through a special assessment on annual property tax bills. The repayment period may extend up to 20 years, potentially allowing for positive cash flow throughout, and the assessment fees transfer to the new owner when the property is sold. There are no costs to property owners who do not participate in the program.

PACE financing can provide significant benefits to communities, which can use it to become more self-reliant and energy-efficient, while meeting sustainability, climate, and energy goals. The program can inject millions of dollars into the economy and provide a steady demand for good quality jobs, while decreasing energy costs and improving the value and quality of the housing stock. Thirteen states besides Vermont have adopted PACE-enabling legislation, and a growing number of cities and towns around the United States are setting up PACE districts.

The public is invited to an informational session on PACE financing on Wednesday, January 27 at 5:00 pm in the Marlboro Technology Center, Room 2 East. The speaker will be Peter Adamczyk, Energy Finance and Development Manager for the Vermont Energy Investment Corporation. Mr. Adamczyk brings more than 23 years of investment and finance experience in New York, San Francisco and London to this position. He has a B.A. in International Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

The program is sponsored by Brattleboro Climate Protection and the Windham Energy Group. For more information, 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.