Thinking In Green In Newtown—

Task Force Members Strive For Cleaner Future

By Kendra Bobowick

Terrence Ford has made his decision about the environment.

“I lived in Colorado near a river, how clean, how beautiful,” he said. But the river changed. “It was drained out to feed Las Vegas.” He remembers the puddled remnants of water he saw along a Colorado riverbed. “It would leave pools. The natural river was depleted and fish were trapped in the pools.” He keeps the river’s lesson in mind as he brings his thoughts back to today. “We are using up our natural resources,” he said.

“My gut reaction is frustration,” said Mr Ford, who has recently taken a position as Newtown’s Energy Task Force vice chairman.

His thoughts drift back to Colorado, cars, and gasoline.

 “People wouldn’t drive an SUV to the store one mile away five times a day — that’s ignorance. In Colorado people will walk five miles to do errands and not drive until they are going skiing.” What is the difference? “Huge,” Mr Ford stressed.

People are still buying for image, he said, noting that large and expensive SUVs have become the family station wagon.

Reaching for a change, Mr Ford is starting with himself and his own children.

“My 7-year-old will stop and pick up garbage on the side of the road,” he said. The boy learned the habit from his father. “He has embraced that, and that’s the next generation.”

Lessons aside, Mr Ford wants to think that conscientiousness will become a part of his son’s generation. “You hope it’s something they like — they don’t want to see the garbage on the side of the road.”

Already he senses a change.

“I think the next generation coming up is going to be much more aware,” he said. “Right now, we’re in the infancy of change.” He feels that products and mentality will improve. Mr Ford anticipates, “People will be more aware, take more actions, there will be better results, more efficiency, better products.”

Changes will snowball once they begin, Mr Ford said.

 Looking at his own circumstances, he explained, “I have a car that’s not efficient, that’s where we are right now.” Certain items, such as hybrid cars that operate by switching between gas and electric power, are becoming more accessible to buyers.

Mentality is also turning greener. “It’s becoming more acceptable to be environmental,” he said.

Task Force member David Stout, an energy consultant with Oxford-based Alliance Energy Solutions, agrees. Like Mr Ford, he notices his children’s willingness to learn more about conservation-minded efforts. “I have two boys in the school and they’re excited about [energy] programs.” Children will grow up with a heightened environmental mindedness and the community overall is beginning to see signs of change.

“I think it’s a matter of education and it’s a process of learning, new products, new opportunity,” he said. Utility costs and potential savings aside, Mr Stout offers an image that consumers can use to compare green efforts to traditional heating fuels, for example.

“It’s more than having a windmill generate your power when they see they’re not burning tons of coal,” he said. “When people see what’s happening and saving X amounts of coal, people will understand that.” Solar panels are growing in popularity, and recycling efforts are also prevalent.

Mr Stout notes Newtown’s efforts to preserve open space. “People can understand how precious it is,” he said. Green does not mean only green power, he clarified. Driving a hybrid car, buying recycled paper, and changing traditional light bulbs for energy efficient bulbs — all these things contribute to environmental efforts.

“If you add them together, it’s about what we can do to reduce costs and ultimately make our world more sustainable,” he said. “I think people realize we can’t keep buying fuel and people are starting to see it. Recycling, going solar, add it together and we’re trying to make the world more sustainable.”

He also notices a change.

Thinking back to college, Mr Stout said, “Then, green was more a thought…now, costs are coming down and things are more attainable.” He and the task force members are working to organize presentations for the schools and the public. He also anticipates a website will soon invite residents to learn more about the task force and conservation.

General contractor and task force member Neil Perone admits that five years ago he knew little of what he bases his livelihood on today. “We weren’t doing anything like this. I stumbled on it,” he said. He was installing some high efficiency heating systems when he learned about the state’s Energy Star incentives.

He is now specializes in high efficiency, green construction, building homes with green details, from the type insulation used to the more efficient water heating systems. What is the green part? “Essentially it reduces on energy costs.”

The Energy Star Program through Connecticut Light and Power promotes building standards that go beyond code, Mr Perone said. Per the program’s terms, the criteria meet federal energy-efficiency, safety, and quality guidelines. “Save money on your energy bills and play a role in pollution prevention,” the website states. Learn more at www.cl-p.com.

With a personal interest in green living, Mr Perone believes a greater number of residents are also becoming interested. “If they have a choice I think people will spend a little extra to go in that direction,” he said. Home heating oil cost increases are also an incentive to seek high efficiency solutions to heat, for example. As a contractor he sees many people turning to solar or other environmental measures, but also acknowledges that many consumers are not yet interested.

“They are going to do what they are going to do,” he said. Looking ahead ten years, however, he said, “We’ll be going more green.” He can read the signs, explaining that businesses and governments may set an example. Currently the task force is trying to contact businesses in town. In fact, he was surprised to learn the incentives available through the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, which under proper circumstances will pick up costs for going green.

The means and opportunity exist for businesses and homes to make environmentally conscientious decisions. Financially, individuals may not be able to reach alternative options yet, but it is no longer only an idea. Incentives exist, but an awareness needs to increase.

“The technology is beyond the interest right now,” Mr Perone said.

 Several websites tout the benefits of cleaner energy sources. Visit Ctinnovations.com, www.conservation.org, or www.state.ct.us/dpuc/ecmb/index.html, to start. Also visit alliance-energy.net.