Municipal Light Plant

Comprehensive Sustainable Energy Planning Committee

Melissa A. Hoffer
Michael B. Jacobs
Lawrence Masland
Sean Detweiler
Mark E. Garvey
Radha Jalan
Vivian Myers-Marowitz

The Committee was formed to develop a plan, based on community input, to guide the Town's energy choices. The Committee's charge included collecting and analyzing data from Town sources concerning private and municipal energy use patterns; holding public hearings; exploring with the Concord Municipal Light Plant (cmlp) options for diversifying energy supply and increasing incentives for conservation; identifying funding opportunities for renewable energy initiatives; and developing recommendations to promote efficiency, conservation, and cost effective options for supply diversification. This plan sets forth the Committee's recommendations, based on the data collected and analyzed by Committee members, including the results of a Town-wide survey developed and implemented by the Committee in the spring.

The top five recommendations

• that the Town adopt a Renewable Portfolio Standard (rps) that would require 4% of the electric supply to be derived from new renewable resources-solar, wind, small hydro, landfill gas, biomass, tidal, or wave. cmlp's power purchases constitute the single most important energy decision made by the Town, and therefore represent the single greatest opportunity for Concord to integrate a sustainable energy supply.

• that the Town implement specific minimum vehicle mileage requirements (varying by type of vehicle) for Town vehicles, and transition to the use of biodiesel to fuel the Town fleet, including school buses.

• that the Town implement a means to allow cmlp customers to compare their monthly energy use with the average use of other similarly situated cmlp customers that would provide a valuable benchmark to citizens seeking to assess current household energy consumption patterns in order to gauge the effectiveness of any conservation or efficiency measure they may seek to employ.

• that the Town establish a permanent citizen Sustainable Energy Advisory Board (seab) to work with cmlp, other Town departments, and the Town Manager to identify, fund, and implement sustainable energy projects within the Town, including projects to assist citizens in conserving energy and increasing energy efficiency in their homes.

• that the Town establish a Sustainable Energy Fund, financed through a cmlp electric bill surcharge.

These, and additional recommendations, present opportunities for the Town to join other towns and cities in the State, and across the country, in making energy choices today that will ensure a more secure, affordable, and environmentally beneficial energy future for our citizens.

A copy of the csep report can be downloaded from www.concordconserves.org