Region 1: EPA New England

Vermont Communities Providing Leadership on Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy

By Robert W. Varney January 29, 2004

CT | ME | MA | NH | VT Archive

While it hasn't reached the glory of Vermont patriot Ethan Allen and the American Revolution, another revolution is underway across much of the state. And like the epic uprising two centuries ago, this revolution evolves around freedom – from expensive, polluting energy sources.

From wood chips in Brattleboro to wind turbines in Burlington to energy-efficient lighting in Poultney, numerous communities are on a mission to dramatically reduce energy consumption while boosting reliance on clean, renewable sources of energy.

Spurred by the prospect of large savings on energy bills and growing citizen interest in less-polluting energy sources, communities as big as Burlington and as small as Richmond are developing formal action plans that document where energy dollars are being spent and where energy reductions and cost savings can be found in buildings, street lights, transportation or trash disposal.

With renewable energy technologies more readily available, cities such as Brattleboro and Burlington also are moving aggressively to supplement traditional energy sources with wind turbines, wood-chip facilities and other clean-power sources that are being installed in schools and other properties.

These municipal programs are great news for New England’s environment because they are reducing the region’s reliance on fossil-fuel power plants, which emit greenhouse gas emissions as well as other pollutants that cause elevated smog levels, acid rain and mercury deposition. They’re also great news for taxpayers because they are saving money at a time when municipal budgets and school budgets are razor-tight.

Backed with technical and financial assistance from state and federal agencies, as well as organizations such as Efficiency Vermont which have millions of dollars available for energy efficiency programs, the benefits of these energy efficiency and clean energy programs are already widespread. Among the highlights:

• The Burlington School Department is saving over $125,000 a year with energy efficient lighting at its 18 school buildings. Meanwhile, the city’s Fletcher Free Library and new DPW building have slashed their utility bills by 30 percent and 50 percent, respectively, by upgrading lighting, heating and cooling equipment.

• Richmond expects to save $23,000 a year on energy costs with new energy-saving transformers, motors and lighting at its wastewater plant. The payback period on the project, partially funded by Efficiency Vermont, is about two years.

• Brattleboro is putting the finishing touches on a new wood-heating facility that will use wood chips from local lumber yards to heat the high school and middle school. The heating system is expected to save the city $50,000 a year on energy while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1,280 tons a year.

• Essex Junction is using a new cutting-edge technology at its wastewater plant to burn methane gas to generate electricity. In addition to cutting its electric bills by about $30,000 a year, the co-generator is cutting the plant’s greenhouse gas emissions by over 250 tons a year – the equivalent of taking 42 cars off the road.

• More than 95 percent of Poultney’s 3,575 residents participated in a recent “Change a Light Challenge,” which involved replacing at least one incandescent light bulb per household with new energy efficient bulbs. The newer bulbs use one fourth as much energy and typically last up to 10 times longer than the older bulbs. Among the key players in the project was Green Mountain College which sent students door-to-door to deliver bulbs.

• Burlington recently signed a 20-year contract to buy nine megawatts of wind power from a planned wind project on Little Equinox Mountain in Manchester. The wind project, slated to provide 7 percent of the city’s electricity, is a major boost to the city’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions citywide by 10 percent by 2010.

• In an effort to reduce vehicle emissions, the Campus Area Transportation Management Association in Burlington is spearheading a Bike/Walk Bucks Rewards Program in which 200 city employees are earning $10 a month by biking or walking to work. The commuter incentive – awarded as $10 gift certificates redeemable at downtown stores – is available to workers at UVM, the Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital and several other employers. Fletcher Allen was honored by EPA in October as one of the four Vermont employers on the agency’s Best Workplaces for Commuters list.

From land use, to transportation to building construction, local governments have major influence and control over energy consumption patterns in this country. That’s why the examples above are so important. In addition to providing immediate tangible benefits, they serve as models that other communities can replicate.

Robert W. Varney is regional administrator of EPA’s New England Office in Boston. For more information about energy efficiency programs, including the agency’s Energy Star program, visit www.epa.gov/ne/topics/envpractice/eefficiency.html.