Gov. Deval Patrick announced last week grants to the 35 municipalities that have qualified for “Green Community” status, under a program through the state Department of Energy Resources. (See “Green Rush,” April 29, 2010, www.valleyadvocate.com.)
Of the $8.1 million awarded in this first year of the program, a healthy chunk will be coming to Western Mass. communities: $175,000 for LED street lights in Easthampton, $321,221 to insulate Holyoke City Hall and install energy-efficient lights in city schools and on street posts, $200,000 for a solar-power project in Northampton, $155,000 for improvements in Montague’s wastewater treatment plant, among others.
In Springfield, the $990,000 grant will go “to improve the energy efficiency of boilers and vending machines and for five energy management systems,” according to the governor’s announcement.
City Councilor Jimmy Ferrera, chairman of the Council’s Committee on Green Initiatives, would have preferred to see at least part of the money go to the Clifford A. Phaneuf Environmental Center in Forest Park. This spring, the city’s green committee voted to recommend that any Green Communities funds it received from the state go to a renovation project to make the Phaneuf Center—home to the city schools’ environmental education program, called ECOS—more environmentally friendly. Ferrera told the Advocate he envisioned the greener building as a place to educate school kids, hold community meetings and provide a model of green-building techniques.
While Mayor Domenic Sarno has voiced his support for a retrofitting of the Phaneuf Center, Ferrera says he’s since heard from the administration that the project does not fit the criteria for the Green Communities funds. Instead, the money will go to improving the energy efficiency of other city buildings.
That’s a worthy project, Ferrera said. “We’re comfortable with anything that’s going to save the city energy, anything that’s going to ramp up efforts to be a green city,” he said. “That’s our main goal, obviously.”
But going forward, Ferrera added, he hopes that future grants for the program will be earmarked for projects like the ECOS building. “Let’s start looking at some other things besides the same-old, same-old,” he said. “Let’s be more creative.”
