Energy Planning at the Township Level
by TreeHugger on 03.30.05
Wayne New Jersey is undertaking a prototype energy plan in grand TreeHuggin-style. Let the pork barrel buzzards and influence peddlers have Washington DC. Economics and common sense, not idealism, are powerful enough forces that small towns can find ways to slow energy consumption and in doing so reduce taxes. Now that's a "frame". If local industries and Chamber of Commerce types get involved, planning like this could be coming to a town near you.
For starters...
An excerpt from local coverage includes that: "Parking lot lights with small wind turbines mounted on them would further cut electrical costs, and solar panels on buildings would provide about 37 percent of their electrical needs. The plan also includes technology to reduce energy use, such as lighting fixtures that dim when ambient light alone is sufficient.
Heat from a cogeneration plant would cut the amount of natural gas the township uses and replace several 50-year-old boilers that now heat the municipal complex. Ludwig said cogeneration would reduce maintenance and replacement costs and cut air pollution created by exhaust that the old boilers release.
State agencies and organizations have already taken notice of Wayne's plan. The Sierra Club, the state League of Municipalities and the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group have all praised it".
Wayne NJ takes its name from General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, the revolutionary war general known for a boldness that could be an inspiration for Wayne's current citizens. However, the age cohort of folks running hundreds of thousands of small cities and townships around the US certainly includes plenty of people who were around for the first Earth Day, and who have learned how to work the system. This is a good sign that, well outside of California, a grass roots effort is brewing. Again.
Lets wish them well. Way to go Wayne NJ.
by: John Laumer
Hull, MA is building its second municipal windmill.
The utility deregulation of the 1990s was, in general, a rip-off but also set up some mechanisms for promoting renewables and conservation on a municipal basis.