Local Green Leaders Spearhead Countywide Energy Initiative
 Photos by Kathy Keeser
Nancy Nylen of the Center of Ecological Technology speaks at meeting of environmental leaders. |
To meet this goal, the Berkshires will need to reduce energy use and increase energy production of renewable energy, such as that from sunlight, wind, rain, tides and geothermal heat.
About 30 participants from towns across the Berkshires met in Lenox earlier last month for the first meeting of what is hoped to be a continuing countywide alliance. One or two projects will be chosen, with individual towns and groups encouraged to set their own goals and plans for taking action to move toward energy self-sufficiency in their own manner.
The intitial organizers for the climate change action group include Nancy Nylen and Laura Dubester, both from the Center for Ecological Technology, Wendy Penner of the Williamstown COOL Committee, and Susan Olshuff and Greg Federspiel, both from the Lenox Environmental Committee.
"Our [Berkshires] economic outlook is contingent on being green," said Federspiel, Lenox's town manager. "We won't be healthy without going green. We have a lot of work to do to get off fossil-fuel technology but renewable-energy resources must be created and sustained in order for us to grow."
Energy independence is a bold goal, going beyond simply reducing traditional energy use by specific amounts, like the 20 percent over the next decade some iniatives are shooting for. National and international rhetoric and goals also call for moving away from oil dependence
 Wendy Penner, left, of the Williamstown COOL Committee, at a meeting on countywide green initiatives. |
According to figures reported by Nylen, Berkshire County uses 3.5 billion kilowatt hours every year with the average use for the 56,000 households at about 7,500 HW hours, above the average of 6,000 KW.
CET estimates that if all wind projects planned in Berkshire County were built — in Savoy, Hancock and Florida — the turbines would produce enough energy to power about 30 percent of all households. For example, the Zephyr, the 1.5-megawatt wind turbine built at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, provides about 33 percent of the ski resort's annual electrical demand.
Other efforts are already under way by various institutions and groups to use renewable energies.
The Barrington Brewery in Great Barrington has installed a solar-powered hot-water system that has enabled it to cut natural gas usage in half for heating 1,000 gallons of water a day for the brewery, kitchen and banquet facility.
Institutions like Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, Williams College and Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art are committed to green energy and reducing energy consumption and are looking at future renewable energy means to power their facilities. The North Adams Public Library is already certified green, as is the Williamstown Elementary School.
It's not just public buildings. The Berkshire Chamber of Commerce hosted an alternative energy and conservation forum at Jiminy Peak for local businesses.
To put the goal into perspective at the town level, members of the Tyringham energy committee said their town energy usage of about 3 million kilowatt hours annually could be met by one or two Zephyr-size wind turbines.
The conversation is just beginning for a countywide effort for Berkshire Energy Independence. To be part of advancing the vision and working together with other leaders across the county, contact Penner at wendypenner@hotmail.com The next meeting will take place by conference call on Wednesday morning, June 17, from 8 to 9.
