Going greener: With tight budgets, towns find energy efficiency good for wallet as well as environment
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SHUTESBURY — A visitor to Town Hall would be hard-pressed to miss the four solar panels installed in the rear of the building. And this is just the way residents here want it.
Residents of this environmentally conscious hamlet are so proud of their new 10-kilowatt photovoltaic system, they want to shout it from, well, if not their rooftop, then at least the backyard.
The town held a "Solar Celebration" this past Saturday to revel in the completion of the new system.
"It's a statement by our town that we are doing everything we can," said Selectman Elaine Puleo of the new panels. "We're trying to go as green as possible."
The four solar panels are each mounted on a pole, as opposed to other solar systems which are mounted on the roof of a building. The first two panels, installed in June, had produced 844.9 kilowatt hours of electricity by the end of July, reducing Town Hall's energy consumption for that month from 2,100 kwh in 2009 to 1,300 kwh in 2010.
The final two panels were installed at the beginning of August.
Shutesbury is far from alone. Increasingly, area municipalities are pursuing renewable energy and conservation initiatives, as a means of touting their green credentials and reducing their energy costs.
Northampton already has two solar arrays, a 10-kilowatt system at JFK Middle School on Bridge Road and a 13-kilowatt system at Jackson Street School. Belchertown installed a 7-kilowatt system in June. And both Northampton, Belchertown, as well as Easthampton earned the designation "Green Community" from the state in June. The program helps towns and cities pursue energy-efficiency projects — be it installing solar panels, insulation or an energy efficient boilers — that would prove too expensive for municipalities otherwise.
Most area communities, however, are seeking a financing mechanism known as energy performance contracts, in which towns pay for energy infrastructure upgrades with the savings generated by the installation of the equipment such as boilers, insulation, energy management systems and occupancy sensors.
"I think it is a great program, and in a tough economy it is the best opportunity for municipalities to be able to invest in sustainable energy," said Beth Greenblatt, managing director of Beacon Integrating Solutions, a Boston-based consulting firm hired by the state to represent the interests of 20 municipalities pursuing such contracts in western Massachusetts.
"Instead of sending operating dollars to the utility, they are investing those dollars into their buildings in the way of energy-efficiency upgrades. Most important, under this program the energy services company is required by state law to guarantee the savings," Greenblatt said.
The majority of local communities have contracted with Siemens Building Technologies to complete energy audits and pursue performance contracts.
Leverett is poised to enter into such an agreement with Siemens sometime in mid-September, while Belchertown is working on an investment-grade energy audit and Easthampton, South Hadley, Southampton and Williamsburg are all working on primarily an energy audit with Siemens, Greenblatt said. And Northampton recently signed a $6 million energy performance contract in June with ConEdison Solutions.
The contract calls for installing new windows, insulation, energy-efficient lights, occupancy sensors and energy management systems at 25 city facilities, according to Pomerantz.
The money will also help pay for the proposed solar projects for Smith Vocational and Agricultural High School and the Jackson Street School.
In Leverett, the Siemens audit called for the installation of new insulation, a new furnace and updated heating controls at Town Hall; energy-efficient lighting, minor insulation work and new weather stripping at the elementary school, and improved weather stripping at the library and public safety complex.
The improvements are estimated to cost $242,000, Greenblatt said. Town officials there estimate the measures will save Leverett nearly $9,000 in annual energy costs. The project will be paid for by a $150,000 grant from the state Department of Energy Resources. The remaining costs will be covered by the savings generated by the conservation measures.
"Energy performance contracts allow a community to take a big leap and be able to do a lot more than they would be able to do otherwise in terms of capital improvements, while saving energy and money at the same time," said Pomerantz.
Belchertown Public Works Superintendent Steven Williams maintains that lean budgets have driven the push for green projects. "I think that, when we as department heads and public officials look at this, it has to do with the economics," Williams said.
"We have been struggling with inadequate funding for the last 10 years, and energy costs are one of the biggest parts of or our budgets."
Ronald Bohonowicz, Amherst maintenance director, had a slightly different perspective. He said that while energy-conservation measures often reduce consumption, they do not reduce the amount municipalities pay for energy because of rate increases.
"The term I like to use is cost avoidance. We don't save dollars in the budget because of rates, but we do avoid future costs," Bohonowicz said.
The town has installed energy-efficient lightbulbs in nearly all town buildings, while Amherst traffic lights and street lamps have been similarly equipped, Bohonowicz said.
The town has also replaced the old motors used by pumps at the wastewater treatment plant and the pumping stations around town, Bohonowicz said. The new models pump on demand, using more electricity during peak hours when water usage is high and less during slow hours when usage is low.
The replacements were made within the last two years, he said.
In Shutesbury, meanwhile, town officials said their solar panels will provide about 40 percent of the Town Hall's electricity and they expect to save $2,000 on the town's electric bill annually. A request for the amount of the most recent annual bill was not yet answered at press time.
The $43,000 project was funded with about $32,000 in federal stimulus funds and $11,000 from the town's energy conservation account.
"Any little step to go green and become independent in our energy production is a positive step," Puleo, the Shutesbury selectman, said.
Ben Storrow can be reached at bstorrow@gazettenet.com.
