New Green MetroWest Communities To Split $650K
Marlborough plans to buy a hybrid vehicle, hire a part-time energy efficiency manager and prepare to install solar panels on a city building.
Wayland got more than $131,000 to retrofit town hall for energy upgrades.
Town officials in Harvard are upgrading the energy efficiency of the police and fire stations; town hall and one of the elementary schools will benefit from similar work.
And Medway got more than $158,000 to install LED lights in town hall and place anti-idling machines in town-owned vehicles.
These are just some of the proposals being funded with $3.6 million worth of grants the state Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs recently gave to the 18 newest green communities in the state. The four newly minted green MetroWest communities will divide $650,000.
And while 53 of the state's 351 cities and towns are now classified as green, as more communities achieve the status there may be less money to go around in future years.
Click here for a map showing the state's green communities.
Splitting Up The Pie
The four newly designated green communities in the MetroWest region join four other communities awarded the distinction last year, the first year of the program: Natick, Chelmsford, Acton and Hopkinton.
To achieve the status, communities must meet requirements, which include committing to reducing energy usage by 20 percent within five years, installing new green building codes, committing to using fuel-efficient vehicles, using expedited permitting for renewable energy projects and permitting clean energy businesses to locate in the city or town by right.
The 35 original communities received $8.1 million in May 2010 for meeting the criteria.
Then, in December, another 18 communities achieved the designation. Earlier this month the state announced that those communities would split $3.6 million in grant funding.
The amount of money each community receives uses a funding formula based on the municipality's population and per-capita income. The program is funded by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which raises money through credits that are purchased by utility companies to offset carbon dioxide emissions.
But once a community has received the initial grant award for becoming green, there may or may not be additional money in store for that municipality.
Meg Lusardi, deputy director of the state green community division, said she hopes to offer competitive grants that green communities can apply for later this year, but she can't guarantee that each of the communities in the inaugural class of the program will receive additional funding.
Being green does have its perks, however.
In addition to being eligible to apply for the competitive grants to implement energy efficiency measures, the green communities will also be given preferential treatment on various energy-efficiency projects, Lusardi said.
For example, in conjunction with the quasi-public Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, a select few communities will be chosen to participate in a new Solarize Mass program, which would use economies of scale to bulk purchase energy efficiency materials for select homes and small businesses.
The program will be run as a pilot before it is possibly launched statewide, and green communities will be the first ones considered, Lusardi said.
Bob Bois, environmental compliance officer in Natick - one of the original 35 green communities - said he's happy to see more communities achieve the green designation. It's good for the environment and it means savings for the municipalities.
As for more communities sharing in the money, that is a fact of how the program works, he said.
"Any bit of money is better than no money," he said.
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