Photo by Lou Varricchio
Economy program, moderated several of the forum discussions held in Middlebury Town Office building, the Ilsley Public Library, St. Stephens Episcopal Church, and the Middlebury Union Middle School last week.
MIDDLEBURY | Compared to the Vermont Council on Rural Development’s (VCRD) Climate Economy Model Communities Program debut road show — which was held amid some controversy in Pownal, Vt., two weeks ago — the Council’s second forum in the series, held in Middlebury last Monday, was considerably less divisive.
VCRD’s mission in conducting public discussions around Vermont is to urge communities to “confront climate change through innovative economic development.”
Jon Copans, director of VCRD’s Climate Economy program, moderated several of the Monday forum discussions held in Middlebury Town Office building, the Ilsley Public Library, St. Stephens Episcopal Church, and the Middlebury Union Middle School.
Copans thanked both Selectboard member Laura Asermily and former State Rep. Steve Maier for inviting the Council to town to begin the discussion about climate change.
Among those residents who spoke, the biggest concerns on the residential level was the high cost of installing solar energy hardware and site specific barriers, such as the cost of removing shade trees blocking solar panels.
One unidentified resident told attendees that he is planning to move in a few years and doesn’t want to make a big investment in solar of the type provided by SunCommon of Vermont.
“Selling a house with leased solar panels is difficult,” he said. According to RC Energy Solutions of San Diego, Calif., “Selling a house with leased solar panels may drive down the sales price.”
Jennifer Green of the Burlington Electric Department, described how the municipality’s no-charge, online Solar Shopper service puts interested homeowners in touch with alternative energy contractors.
“We vetted several partners who agreed to offer free estimates for solar at your house,” Green said. “Burlington Electric Department screens the estimates on the homeowner’s behalf and then provides an easy-to-compare format. All of BED’s solar partners were chosen based on reputation for customer service, high quality solar technology, and production warranties and guarantees… That’s what Solar Shopper is all about.”
Dick Thodal, a resident of Middlebury said he’s “pro solar” and a do-it-yourselfer when it came to installing his own alternative energy system at home.
“There’s lots of things homeowners can do on their own starting online,” Thodal said. “For example, check out the ‘PV Watts Calculator’ website of the National Renewable Energy Lab. My wife and I are in a wildlife habitat group that goes by neighbor-neighbor direct relations; I think this is the best way to go to get more folks to start using alternative energy.”
Former State Rep. Steve Maier, now a member of the board of Addison County Relocalization Network (ACORN) Renewable Energy Co-op, said that confronting climate change on the community level is complex and is often confusing to residents.
The former legislator expressed frustration with the current community organizing- and volunteer-type of approach, at least when it comes to promoting alternative energy use. He wondered aloud how to get more “climate change” thinking into the economic mainstream.
“It’s hard for folks to figure all this out,” Maier said. “We need to simplify how people access resources within a community to (fight climate change) on the local level... I’m proposing that the current structure we find ourselves is limiting; it’s complex and depends on volunteers… .”
