Environmental group far from idle

By Claire Cox12:00AM / Wednesday, January 12, 2005Print Story | Email Story

LENOX â€“ The Lenox Environmental Committee will have an agenda ranging from recycling bins for downtown streets to diesel fuel made from oil used in cooking French-fried potatoes when it meets on Jan. 31. The committee was formed by a handful of dedicated environmentalists two years ago to analyze the energy consumption of town facilities. Since then, its concerns have led to leadership in efforts to install a wind turbine on Yokun Mountain and to encourage energy conservation with a an â€œidle-freeâ€ campaign to persuade motorists to turn off their engines during extended stops. With Town Manager Gregory Federspiel as its mentor, the committeeâ€™s mission is to raise public awareness of ways not only to conserve energy but also to find replacements for fossil fuels that contaminate the atmosphere. Federspiel, who has taken an active role in exploring the possibility of wind power for Lenox, said on Jan. 7 that he expecting the results of an engineering feasibility study within the next few weeks on whether the three 1-ton paddles for the projected turbine can be transported up a steep slope to the mountainâ€™s crest. Meanwhile, the committee, chaired by Jamie Cullihane, is encouraging Lenox homeowners to invest in a renewable Clean Energy Choice program offered by Massachusetts Electric Co. The utilityâ€™s customers are being given an option of signing up for clean energy created with biomass, solar, wind or hydroelectric power. Those who enroll pay a premium on each month's Mass. Electric bill, with the proceeds used to purchase green energy that is fed into the electric system. The premium ranges from 2.2 to 1.3 cents per kilowatt hour. The Lenox Selectmen have endorsed this program, also known as Green-Up, as well as the Cape Wind Project proposal for 130 wind turbines in the ocean off Cape Cod. Rick Gregg, who initiated the idle-free campaign in Lenox, has been spreading word of the program throughout the state and hopes eventually it may spread across the nation. Idle-Free signs have been posted at schools, the Nature Preserve and other key points in town. With these projects in progress, Cullihane said the Environmental Committee is now going to look at recycling and biodiesel as important â€œfrontsâ€ in the war against waste and pollution. â€œWe are going to look at the possibility of having recycling bins in town, along with trash bins,â€ he said last week. â€œThere also should be extra bins in place for town-wide events such as the Apple Squeeze to receive used glass, cans and plastics.â€ He added, â€œWe are also going to look at alternative automobilesâ€™ fuel â€” biodiesel â€” made from vegetable oil, which can be used in any diesel vehicle.â€ In Holyoke, he said, the Energy Alliance is making biodiesel oil from plants that can be used in any diesel engine. Some people, he said, are processing used vegetable oil obtained from restaurant friers. He has also learned that a â€œveggie oilâ€ refinery is being planned in the town of Greenfield. Biodiesel is processed from animal fats as well as vegetable oils, a concept introduced by Rudolf Diesel, the German scientist who developed the first diesel engine to run on vegetable oil, which was demonstrated at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. According to a biodiesel fact sheet prepared by the Clean Cities Technical Assistance that is available on the Internet, biodiesel is ideal fuel for use on boats and on vehicles in national parks and forests, as well as in heavily polluted cities. It can be produced from any renewable oilseed crops, such as soybeans, corn, canola and cotton and mustard seeds. And, Clean Cities adds, it replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with the pleasant aroma of popcorn or French fries. â€œI would like to see the Department of Public Works in Lenox use veggie diesel oil in its trucks, â€œ Cullihane said, â€œbut right now it is too expensive. I would also like to see it used in school buses, where fossil fuel diesel oil is a childrenâ€™s health issue. Iâ€™d like to see the school bus contract include biodiesel.â€ He added, â€œWhen Gustave Diesel invented the diesel engine, he did it for vegetable oil for use in farm tractors. He never thought of using fossil-fuel oil. Now, 100 years later, people are realizing that veggie oil is cleaner, and itâ€™s growing as a renewable resource.â€

Stockbridge Grange Community Dinner

03:12PM / Tuesday, February 03, 2026

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — The Stockbridge Grange is holding a community dinner on Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, featuring spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and bread with dessert choices of chocolate cream or lemon meringue pie.

Dinner is $17.00 per person, take out only with 12-1:30 pm pick up at the Stockbridge Grange Hall at 51 Church Street, Stockbridge. Orders may be made by calling 413-243-1298 or 413-443-4352.

Inclement weather postpones the meal for a week.