As the Marion Energy Management Committee strategizes to reidentify and rename itself to emphasize its climate change stream of consciousness, the cart and the horse are neck and neck racing around the backstretch toward the committee’s next iteration.
Closing in on maximizing the town’s net-metering credit capacity and dissatisfied tinkering with ideas that nibble at the edges of what else can be done to nudge Marion toward a little less dependence on fossil fuels, the dialogue among the committee’s members during Monday’s Zoom meeting focused on mountains rather than molehills.
Dissatisfied with what is perceived as relegation to the kids’ table, the EMC wants to sit with the grownups and have input so it can have impact on the two major municipal construction projects facing Marion: the new Department of Public Works and Marine Center buildings.
“It’d be a cool precedent to set for our town if we could have it that we won’t invest in any more fossil fuel for our infrastructure,” said EMC member Jennifer Francis, suggesting that the committee pursue some form of document or agreement that would prohibit the use of any new fossil fuel infrastructure in any new public construction.
EMC Chair Christian Ingerslev mused about putting something before the citizens on Town Meeting floor – a Special Town Meeting will be held on October 19 – and member Alanna Nelson asked if such a resolution should take the shape of a bylaw or statement of policy or intent.
Massachusetts’ Stretch Code was discussed, but the net-zero banter of months-ago meetings did not resurface, indicating that the EMC is trying less to think pie-in-the-sky about impending construction of new headquarters for the DPW and harbormaster and is more preoccupied with identifying a strategy that will lead to meaningful involvement in these projects.
While going electric is a main goal of the EMC, member Bill Saltonstall reminded the committee that “electric depends on fossil fuels sometimes. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re off of fossil fuels.” Member Eileen Marum concurred, saying, “Electricity produced by fossil fuels is not clean energy.”
“It would be nice if by 2030 we were buying our electricity from a greener source than we are buying right now,” said Saltonstall.
Francis estimated that Eversource produces 75-percent of its electric power from fossil fuels.
“A lot of their projects seem really large and not easy to see where the benefit would be, whereas I thought National Grid had more targeted projects,” said Nelson. “So, even how they’re spending their money that would help make everything go greener, you’re not sure what you’re going to get out of it.”
It was noted during the meeting that Marion is in an aggregate for residential electricity rates but not municipal. The town is a member of CVEC but cannot become a member of the Cape towns’ aggregate.
Ingerslev said, before the EMC can take any substantial action, the town must first complete and officially adopt its Hazard Mitigation Plan, an action Marum said is expected in January. Even so, said Ingerslev, the EMC will then “have to get everything through the [Select Board] before we go out to the town.”
Marum suggested asking Senator Marc Pacheco, the founding chair of the Standing Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change in Massachusetts, to address a local meeting on the matter. Marum said that Pacheco has traveled to Norway to study the country’s wind farms setup.
“It might be good to hear from him as a speaker in the education component. He was very enthusiastic when he was talking about renewable energy,” said Marum, also suggesting an invitation to the entire Tabor community, including the prep school’s students.
Francis told the committee that she will draft a letter to the Select Board.
Reporting on the Mass Energy Insight program, Saltonstall told the committee that while engineers were completing design for new equipment proposed for the Music Hall and Elizabeth Taber Library, he has until the end of November to complete Marion’s annual energy consumption report. He said Marion is applying for the maximum $150,000 in grant funding for the two projects and expects he will receive the necessary information in time to complete the report for Green Communities.
Saltonstall said that Facilities Manager Shawn Cormier has taken a lead in dealing with the engineers. Heat pumps have been proposed for both buildings and a new system should include thermostats that can be controlled online.
“The shortage of wires that prevented us from putting in a thermostat is going away, and I think we’re going to get the kind of control I need,” he said, suggesting an occupancy sensor of some kind capable of meting out fresh air as needed. “I think the air requirement is around 20-percent. At Sippican School, sensors measure CO2 in each classroom and turn up as needed. I’m hopeful they’ll put something like that in the Music Hall space.”
One of the challenges is in old buildings where heat is not distributed evenly. The goal is to get an unoccupied facility down into the 50-55-degree range.
To achieve greater public awareness on electric power, Nelson discussed showcasing electric cars in public places like school parking lots where citizens can discuss them with the owners and learn facts in a grassroots atmosphere. When she lived in Melrose, Nelson helped hold three such events.
Francis spoke about taking out advertising space in the local newspaper to offer tips on energy conservation.
The next meeting of the EMC is scheduled for Monday, October 25, at 5:00 pm.
Marion Energy Management Committee
By Mick Colageo