Newtown Plans To

Go Green

By John Voket

A Spanish company billing itself as the world’s largest owner and operator of renewable energy projects will likely become Newtown’s partner in helping the community increase its private and municipal use of alternative energy. The goal is to use 20 percent more clean energy before the end of the decade.

Monday evening the Board of Selectmen heard a comprehensive presentation on a proposed townwide clean energy initiative by Newtown resident Kathy Quinn on behalf of Community Energy, a subsidiary of Iberdrola of Spain. She said Community Energy is only one of two programs available in the state coordinating the acquisition of clean generated power through Connecticut’s two electric utilities.

She said Community Energy is providing about half its clean energy from low-impact hydro generation, and the balance from wind power. The company is a state Department of Public Utility Control (DPUC) approved renewable energy provider.

A second and smaller approved Connecticut program, Sterling Planet, resells its clean power from low-impact hydro, landfill gas, and wind generation. She said currently, there are no public solar generation sources available in Connecticut.

While the selectmen are not planning to choose the town’s partner until at least their next board meeting, First Selectman Herb Rosenthal said Community Energy has already provided information and resources to the community culminating in Ms Quinn’s presentation. Mr Rosenthal said the town has not heard from Sterling Planet regarding any type of partnership proposal thus far.

By signing on to one of the two programs, both businesses and private homes can help expand the availability of clean energy generation by helping fund new sources like wind farms and low-impact hydro generators, while helping the town and schools acquire solar power-generating panels.

“For every 100 Newtown residents who sign on, the town gets another solar panel,” she said. The town has already qualified for two solar panels because of residents and businesses already signed on to the program through their utility provider.

Curtis Packaging of Sandy Hook became an award-winning example of commercial clean power consumption. The innovative packaging company became a 100 percent green power consumer in 2006, qualifying Newtown for its first solar panel through the program.

And prior to the town’s formally establishing a community partner for the program, at least 100 homeowners or smaller businesses have learned about the program and signed up independently Ms Quinn said.

One of the criteria to enjoy all the benefits of one of these environment-friendly programs requires Newtown to establish a clean energy task force. The first four volunteers for this ad hoc group were appointed by the selectmen Monday.

They include Ms Quinn, who said she will continue to serve even if Sterling Planet becomes the community’s clean energy partner. Other appointees are Terence Ford, Ted Kreinek, and David Stout.

Ms Quinn said Newtown consumes about 9.2 million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. A homeowner paying about $150 a month for electricity on a conventional program would end up paying about 25–40 cents a day more on average to receive clean generated power.

Those signing on would also generate an additional $10–$20 per household rebate back to the town, so the municipality and its task force could underwrite and manage other energy-saving outreach initiatives.

Mr Rosenthal said he is looking forward to launching the program, which has been available since late last year.

“Over time, we can all contribute toward weaning ourselves off of foreign oil,” he said. Mr Rosenthal is also looking forward to some friendly competition among neighboring communities that are working on the same program.

He said Ridgefield and Newtown hope to see Westport join a three-way competition to see which town can sign on the most participants between September 1 and Earth Day (April 22) 2008. Mr Rosenthal said the idea was based on another competition between West Hartford and New Haven, which collectively generated 900 sign-ups.

The friendly bet saw West Hartford Mayor Scott Slifka donning a “I wish I Lived in New Haven” T-shirt, and delivering a case of West Hartford soda to Elm City Mayor John DeStefano. Mr Rosenthal said it makes sense to bring on a third town to generate even more clean power consumers, so Ridgefield will be proposing to bring Westport into the mix in the near future.

Newtown’s population of about 25,000 is close to Westport’s estimated 26,000 and Ridgefield’s estimated 23,000.