Deep Cuts .....but Middleboro?

This has been an interesting time with buckets of information about energy, but it's curious that when discussing municipal problems, the Globe points out 2 communities:

.
Deep cuts loom across state
Expenses outpacing revenue and state aid
Fewer cities, towns seeking override votes
By Eric Moskowitz
Globe Staff / April 6, 2008

Brookline was able to avoid both cuts and overrides for years..... and saved money by making municipal buildings more energy-efficient...

.

Swampscott....More layoffs are needed this year, in part because utility costs for the new high school are $1 million more than the old one, said David P. Whelan Jr., chairman of the School Committee. Globe

.

If Middleboro isn't talking about reducing ENERGY CONSUMPTION, does that mean there's too much money in the budget?

.

End to aid sought for Cape plant
BY RICK FOSTER / SUN CHRONICLE
If you think you're paying high electric bills, it might not be just because of rising fuel prices.

Up to 5 percent of bills paid by Southeastern Massachusetts ratepayers may be going to a backup electric generating plant for Cape Cod that critics say produces little electricity and provides no benefit to non-Cape power users.

.

For some great information: WebLinks

.

Link to Hull Wind's website

Press Release

from a recent BU energy symposium where Andrew Stern was a panelist.
Decreasing energy use, or finding a renewable source, can also help relieve this heavy burden on available utilities.

Andrew Stern, president of New England Wind Power, Inc., described how the town of Hull, Mass. increasingly relies on wind power for its electricity. A wind turbine, installed in 2001 at the town’s high school, provides enough energy for about 250 homes --three percent of Hull’s electricity needs. The $780,000 turbine paid for itself in five years through saved energy costs and government incentives. A second turbine, added in 2006, sits on a landfill, and wind now provides 11 percent of Hull’s electricity. Plans to install four more offshore wind turbines will make Hull entirely reliant on wind-generated electricity in the future. “It really does excite the community,” said Stern. “Today we have a 95 percent approval rate. With a project like this, it is really the community involvement that counts.”

.

Editorial: Fewer power plants = higher rates
Way back in May 2005, the Massachusetts Electricity Facility Siting Board issued a finding that the 468-megawatt Cape Wind wind-farm project would save New England rate-payers “at least” $25 million a year. Now that oil prices are much, much higher, we wonder how much more it could save.
The board, in its finding, aimed to introduce much-needed competition into the severely constrained New England electric grid. ProvidenceJournal

.

Wind, out of the Blue
The excitement on Cape Cod was palpable on the weekend leading up to the MMS hearings on the Cape Wind project, and not just at the thought of dueling minstrels at the microphone. To the unbounded joy of the wind farm opponents on stage, the Deus ex Machina of Blue H USA appeared from the wings with perfect timing to state that you can have wind power without seeing it. CapeCodToday

.

The following, offered by the Enterprise, presents actions taken in Pembroke:

.
Pembroke energy panel wants town to ‘go green’
The Energy Committee will propose a town meeting bylaw that sets higher standards for energy efficiency throughout town government.
By Sydney Schwartz
PEMBROKE —
Pembroke officials are hoping the town will “go green” this year.
The Pembroke Energy Committee will ask residents at town meeting to include energy conservation in the town bylaws — and set higher standards for energy efficiency in town government.
The group, which has been meeting since July, is also looking into saving the town money in buying gas, fuel and electricity, and into developing renewable energies, like wind power, chairman Nick Zechello said.
“It brings the awareness to town government that it starts at the local level,” Zechello said. “It starts with the town employees. It starts with the department heads, to conserve energy.”
If approved at the April 22 town meeting, the bylaw would require every department head and employee to work to reduce energy consumption.

.

Each department would be required to have an energy audit that shows ways to save money by using “green” technologies and to implement the recommendations of the audit.

.

Lighting in common areas would be reduced and thermostats set 2 degrees lower in the winter and 2 degrees higher in the summer.
Department heads would be encouraged to buy energy-efficient vehicles and drivers would be encouraged to use less fuel, if possible, according to the proposal.

.

Where is Middleboro? And the barn of a Town Hall that houses 12 employees? What solutions have been considered?