Regional Energy Roundtables

Plymouth Town Hall was the site this morning of the second of four Regional Energy Roundtables, to be held around the state with an impressive array of speakers, offering a wealth of ideas, options and resources.

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It seems particularly appropriate that Plymouth was chosen as the site for this forum since their Energy Committee has accomplished a great deal that was offered at the meeting, although not posted on the town's site. Plymouth's Board of Selectmen and Green Committee are working toward a "2020" Program with a goal of being 100% renewable by 2020.

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As time permits, I'll post the resources and information, but would like to comment that representatives of Plymouth, Dedham and Hull were in attendance to explain programs their communities have undertaken to reduce their consumption and address alternatives. They are not the only municipalities with current energy or green programs.

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Adoption of a "No Idling Policy" seems universal. And addressing the 'low hanging fruit,' those solutions that cost nothing or little, but reduce consumption, also seems universal. Those might include installation of CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), installation of motion sensors, programmable thermostats, and just shutting off lights and computers when leaving for the day.

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Former Town Manager, Jack Healey sat next to me so that we could exchange notes about Fuzzy Math and his passion which is the reading program. There were 2 other Middleboro residents present that I won't embarrass by including their names without their permission, but NOT ONE SINGLE MEMBER of the Middleboro G&E or any other Middleboro official was present. What a disappointment!

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The Middleboro G&E recently paid to conduct a telephone poll that asked rather disappointing questions regarding energy conservation. With all of these resources available, it would seem that the G&E might be interested in what other towns are accomplishing.

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Once again, Middleboro is being left behind other towns, missing out on grant money as other towns move forward and missing out on money saving ideas.