Dear fellow Hanoverians:
Hanover is a Green Community!
Governor Deval Patrick yesterday designated 35 cities and
towns from the Berkshires to Cape Cod as the Commonwealth’s first official
"Green Communities" – a status that makes them eligible for $8.1 million
in grants for local renewable power and energy efficiency projects. The
projects promise to create green jobs and advance both municipal and state
clean energy goals.
"I am
pleased to honor the vision and hard work of our first group of official Green
Communities," said Governor Patrick. "These pioneers are notable not
only for their commitment to a cleaner, greener Massachusetts, but also for
their diversity. From tiny towns to major cities and suburbs in all regions of
the state, Massachusetts communities recognize the benefits, for the economy as
well as the environment, of making clean energy choices."
The
signature program of the landmark Green Communities Act of 2008, the Department
of Energy Resources’ (DOER) Green Communities Grant Program uses funding from
auctions of carbon emissions permits under the Regional Greenhouse Gas
Initiative to reward communities that win Green Communities designation by
meeting five clean energy benchmarks:
Adopting local zoning bylaw or ordinance that
allows "as-of-right-siting" of renewable energy projects;
Adopting an expedited permitting process related
to the as-of-right facilities;
Establishing a municipal energy use baseline and
a program designed to reduce use by 20 percent within five years;
Purchasing only fuel-efficient vehicles for
municipal use, whenever such vehicles are commercially available and
practicable; and
Requiring all new residential construction over
3,000 square feet and all new commercial and industrial real estate
construction to reduce lifecycle energy costs (i.e., adoption of an
energy-saving building "stretch code").
Today’s
Green Communities designees – Acton, Arlington, Athol, Andover, Becket,
Belchertown, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Easthampton, Greenfield, Hamilton, Hanover,
Holyoke, Hopkinton, Kingston, Lancaster, Lenox, Lexington, Lincoln, Lowell,
Mashpee, Medford, Melrose, Montague, Natick, Newton, Northampton, Palmer,
Pittsfield, Salem, Springfield, Sudbury, Tyngsboro, Wenham, and Worcester –
have until June 4 to submit applications for grants that will be awarded in
late June. In addition to grant eligibility, each Green Community
designated today will receive a Big Belly solar waste compactor, to be delivered
by June 30 in time for the summer parks and beaches season. Purchased with DOER
energy efficiency funding, Big Belly compactors can hold several times more
trash and litter than similarly sized regular trash receptacles – thereby
reducing the number of garbage truck trips required to empty them. Each
municipality will also receive a certificate from the Commonwealth
congratulating it on becoming an official Green Community.
For "Around Town on the Web",
Cathy H-B
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