Caretaker Farm Rewarded for Sunshine Use

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WILLIAMSTOWN - Caretaker Farm has been selected to receive nearly $65,000 in rebates and funding through the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative's Renewable Energy Trust and state agriculture programs for solar-power installations. The local community-supported agriculture farm grows produce to support 250 families and the Berkshire Food Project each year. Though the Renewable Energy Trust, Caretaker Farm will receive a $34,650 rebate for the installation of a 9.90-kilowatt photovoltaic system, representing roughly one-third of total project cost. The state Department of Agricultural Resources will be providing an additional $30,000 though its Agricultural Environmental Enhancement Program. Farm owners Don Zasada and Bridget Spann are financing the remaining project costs. Once complete, the 9.90kW PV system will generate approximately 90 percent of the farm's electricity needs. "We all have a responsibility to find ways of incorporating renewable, sustainable practices," said state Sen. Benjamin B. Downing, D-Pittsfield. "I applaud Caretaker Farm for stepping up to find their role in fighting climate change. This is a huge step for sustainable agriculture." Farm co-owner Bridget Spann said, "At Caretaker Farm, we utilize sustainable agriculture practices on the land. Now we are delighted to take this next step of relying on clean renewable energy for the farm's electricity. As we learn more about the rapid and alarming changed in our climate, we are encouraged that with the support of this grant money, we will be able to address global warming by reducing our farm's carbon footprint." State Rep. Daniel E. Bosley, D-North Adams, said, "When we passed the electricity restructuring act in 1997, the renewable energy trust fund was, in my mind, one of the most important aspects of the bill. Small scale renewable energy projects are good for communities on so many levels: they save small businesses money, they create jobs, and perhaps most importantly, they are environmentally friendly. "The project at Caretaker Farm reinforces the importance of what was set up in 1997. I congratulate Don Zasada [owner of Caretaker Farm] and his team on a job well done and look forward to similar projects in the future." The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, as administrator of the Renewable Energy Trust Fund, supports projects that embrace clean energy technology and sustainable practices though a variety of programs including the Small Renewables Initiative. Through 2010, SRI disburses approximately $3.6 million in rebates each year for photovoltaic panels, wind turbines and microhydroelectric systems (up to 10 kilowatts) located at residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and public facilities. Rebate awards may be used to facilitate the installation of solar panels, wind and small hydro renewable energy projects. How-to-guides are available online for prospective applicants interested in renewable energy rebates through the Renewable Energy Trust Fund at www.mtpc.org/renewableenergy. Applicants and project sites must be customers of a Massachusetts investor-owned electric distribution utility.
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BHS' New North County Urgent Care Center Opens Tuesday

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff

There is a waiting area and reception desk to the right of the Williamstown Medical entrance. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Staff and contractors were completing the final touches on Monday to prepare for the opening of Berkshire Health System's new urgent care center. 
 
Robert Shearer, administrative director of urgent care, said the work would be done in time for Berkshire Health Urgent Care North to open Tuesday at 11 a.m. in a wing of Williamstown Medical on Adams Road.  
 
The urgent care center will occupy a suite of rooms off the right side of the entry, with two treatment rooms, offices, amenities, and X-ray room. 
 
"This is a test of the need in the community, the want in the community, to see just how much we need," said Shearer. "One thing that I think Berkshire Health Systems has always been really good at is kind of gauging the need and growing based on what the community tells us. 
 
"And so if we on day one and two and three, find that we're filling this up and maybe exceeding the capacity of the two exam rooms and one provider, then we look to expand it."
 
Hours will be weekdays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and weekends from 8 to noon, but the expectation is that the center will "expand those hours pretty quick."
 
BHS has two urgent care centers in Lenox and in Pittsfield. The health system had tried a walk-in center at Williamstown nearly a decade ago but shuttered over low volume of patients. 
 
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