Library Puts North Adams Ahead in Green Technology

The North Adams Public Library has been recognized by the U.S. Green Buildings Council.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Visitors to the North Adams Public Library may not have noticed the heavy clear-glass plaque hanging high outside the main entrance.

Nestled under the roof and suspended by brass hooks, the glass plate announces that the library — the first in Massachusetts — is fully certified by the U.S. Green Buildings Council.

It took about five years to get the certification, Librarian Marcia Gross told the City Council last week. The library was notified earlier this year that it had achieved the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design award. The council recognized the efforts of those involved in attaining it last week.

The decision to go green was sparked by concerns over putting large heating and air-conditioning units on the roof when the library's $4.5 million addition and renovation was still in the planning stages. The library building committee looked at using geothermal heating, and turned to the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative for grant aid.

To get the grant, a photovoltaic system had to be added, and "one thing led to another," said Gross.

"It was a long process, a lot of documentation, to get the LEED certification," she said last week. "It was a big team effort by the architects, the contractors ... and all the people [council President Gailanne Cariddi] mentioned helped with this."

The more than 10,000-square-foot addition to the 1865 building opened in 2005. Its green features include recycling and reusing building materials, water-free landscaping, energy-efficient lighting and windows, high-rated insulation, use of local labor and its central location. Low VOC, or volatile organic compound, materials were used in construction. (Some materials emit chemicals into the air during their "curing" process.)

The LEED rating system is "the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings," according the Green Buildings Council Web site. The LEED designation is based on a point system. Ironically, the photovoltaic system didn't get any points because its output was too low.

Of the MTC's $175,553 grant, the PV system received $122,887 — 90 percent of its cost. The balance went to the geothermal system, a set of looping pipes underground which use the earth to heat and cool the fluid flowing through them. According to the LEED case study of the building, the photovoltaic system's siting on the roof is too shady for it to reach its full potential — a sacrifice to maintain the building's historic character.

"This building ended up using 30 percent less energy than what's considered a code minimum building," said Michael Tillou, a green building consultant on the project. "That's really remarkable because in the architecture and engineering field right now, there's a great push to make all buildings 30 percent better than the current code. North Adams is ahead of the curve. [You] already have one of these buildings — you're a leader in this."

"It's a significant achievement for the library and everyone involved in this project," said Mayor John Barrett III.

North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

 

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

 

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

 

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

 

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

 

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

 

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."