DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee on Wednesday voted to request that the town invest in two thermal cameras.
The committee could rent them out to residents so they can find where there is heat loss in their homes and be able to make improvements in a targeted and cost-effective manner, committee member Todd Logan said.
The thermal camera attaches to smartphones and costs approximately $230. The committee is interested in buying one for IOS devices and another one for android users.
The committee will coordinate with Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson so he can obtain clarification from the town counsel on any liabilities issues.
If this investment is approved, the committee will determine where to store the devices.
The camera uses infrared energy to display heat signatures. This can capture areas of low temperature that point to voids in insulation and areas that allow drafts.
Logan brought one of his thermal cameras to the meeting to demonstrate how it works. The device is similar to the ones used by professional energy assessors during blower-door tests.
These tests help determine a home's airtightness and informs where energy-saving improvements can be made.
The more people who work to increase energy efficiency by better insulating their homes and reducing interior and exterior air transfer ultimately lowers greenhouse gasses, Chair David Wasielewski said. This will also aid in the town's efforts to increase decarbonization,
According to Energy.gov, "establishing the proper building tightness" helps reduce energy consumption, prevents moisture condensation problems and uncomfortable drafts from outside, and controls outdoor contaminants like pests and odors from outside, and more.
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DALTON, Mass. — The Planning Board established a sidewalk subcommittee during its meeting last week.
The subcommittee will review the proposed sidewalk bylaw amendment that was not acted upon during the annual town meeting on May 7.
The amendment proposes amending the town bylaw to make concrete sidewalks the standard.
During the meeting, Todd Logan, the citizen petitioner for the sidewalk amendment, reiterated what he had previously said during several meetings — that concrete sidewalks should be the standard — and presented the steps he had already taken while developing this amendment.
"The way the proper way to do this is to have a subcommittee and have at least two people from the Planning Board, and you can have as many people as you want that are experts … and write the bylaw in the format that matches our bylaws," Planner Zack McCain said during the meeting.
"Then the whole Planning Board will review it, and then we'd have a public hearing to let everybody have their input on it. And then we would make the changes based on the input and then have it go to the annual town meeting."
McCain is the voter who motioned during the town meeting to table the article until a public hearing.
Dylan Turner went 2-for-3 with an RBI to give his team a 3-0 lead in the fourth, and then he left the bases loaded in the sixth and seventh innings to secure a 3-2 win over rival Drury in front of a big crowd at Joe Wolfe Field in the Class C Championship Game. click for more
Jonathan Howard and Jacob Thomas scored in a low-scoring second half Tuesday to secure a 9-8 win over Wahconah in the Western Massachusetts Class B Championship Game at BCC. click for more
Jason Codey struck out nine, and Morrie Fried went 2-for-3 with a triple Tuesday to lead the Pittsfield High baseball team to a 6-1 win over Wahconah at Wahconah Park in the Western Massachusetts Class B title game. click for more
The event brought together not just the district's special needs children and mainstreaming students but also their families, administrators, and staff, all participating in a daylong Special Olympics event at Clapp Park.
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