Summer 2009 Edition

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IN THIS ISSUE:

• Green jobs at home
• Citizens Take Charge
• GreenStart: 100% clean; now, 100% tax deductible
• Sunny skies and zippy solar cars
• Youth Environmental Summit
• Walking the Talk
• New Staff at CET

Green jobs at home

Weatherizing homes and protecting the environment provides good (green) jobs that can't be outsourced. Last year at this time CET employed about 40 people. This year we have almost doubled in size to 75!

New CET positions include field and office energy staff (trainers, analysts, air sealing technicians, quality assurance inspectors, weatherization contract managers, reception) and management (human resources, information technology). More MassSAVE energy audits lead to more work for local insulation and heating system contractors. In turn, contractors are adding crews and purchasing more materials - leading to more energy and dollar savings. It's win-win-win!

We've leased additional space (241A W. Housatonic Street) in Pittsfield to accommodate our growing energy staff. (Photo: Audit Services Administrator Nikki Coffee works at our new Pittsfield office.) Our Northampton office has also moved, to a larger facility on Riverside Drive in Florence (320 Riverside Drive - 1 A, Florence, MA 01062).

To meet the growing demand for trained energy professionals, we are partnering with community colleges, vocational technical schools and regional employment boards, in both Pittsfield and the Pioneer Valley, to provide building science knowledge and skills to the unemployed through Pathways Out of Poverty initiative sponsored by the MA Clean Energy Center.

Citizens Take Charge

CET is working with citizens, climate action committees and grassroots groups across the Berkshires toward a vision for energy self reliance. Among the participants at a May gathering were representatives from Egremont, Tyringham, Stockbridge Green Team, Williamstown COOL Committee, MCLA, Lenox Environmental Committee, Green for a Change, Northern Berkshire Community Coalition, CoAct and Volunteers for Change.

To learn more, visit the Google Group Berkshires Take Charge and:

• Join with residents of your community to save energy, save money and protect the planet through energy conservation, efficiency and use of renewable energy
• Work to help your town form an active energy committee, adopt a resolution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and become a Green Community
• Support the creation of a Berkshire energy strategy to work toward energy independence through thoughtful use of our energy resources
• Share resources and information about the successes and challenges in your community

CET, in partnership with the Berkshire Regional Planning Commission, has been selected by the MA Department of Energy Resources to provide technical assistance to Berkshire communities seeking Green Communities designation. For more information, contact Nancy Nylen.

GreenStart: 100% clean; now, 100% tax deductible

Businesses and households enrolled in New England GreenStart have made a significant contribution to greening the grid.

Here in western MA, more than 1,400 residents and businesses are supporting clean power through their National Grid electric bills. In the last year, they displaced more than 8,273,114 KWH of fossil fuels in favor of solar, wind, hydropower and landfill gas. Under the Clean Energy Choice program, GreenStart members in western Massachusetts earned thousands of dollars for their towns to implement renewable energy projects in their communities, including installing renewable energy systems on municipal buildings. Please call on CET if your town needs assistance determining how to spend its Clean Energy Choice funds. As of July 1, payments for New England GreenStart are 100% tax-deductible on itemized federal tax returns. For more information on how to enroll in New England GreenStart, contact Tomasin Whitaker at 413-586-7350 ext. 25.

Sunny skies and zippy solar cars

On Saturday, June 6, more than 50 middle school students and their families from across Berkshire County gathered under sunny skies at Reid Middle School in Pittsfield to enter their model solar cars in the annual Berkshire Junior Solar Sprint (JSS). The JSS is a fun and educational competition for students in grades 6-8 who work in teams to build model vehicles powered by the sun and learn first-hand about non-polluting transportation. In addition to the speedsters, teams competed for top awards in Innovation, Craftsmanship and Technical Merit. This year, CET added two new categories: Best Use of Recycled Materials, and a students' choice for Best in Show. The winner of the Best Use of Recycled Materials received a custom trophy designed and built of recycled materials by the ReStore Home Improvement Center staff. CET coordinated the JSS event with support from Energy Federation, Inc., Western Massachusetts Electric Company, Northeast Sustainable Energy Association, Berkshire Bank and Pittsfield Brew Works. Additional contributors were Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, Jiminy Peak Resort, Bartlett’s Orchards, Morningside Bakery, Price Chopper, Harry’s Supermarket, Dunkin Donuts and Super Stop and Shop. For more information about the JSS, contact Cynthia Grippaldi at 413-445-4556 ext. 25.

Youth Environmental Summit

More than 200 students from upper elementary through high school presented the findings of their year-long environmental projects to their peers in early June at the second annual Youth Environmental Summit (YES). YES is an event organized by the Berkshire Environmental Educators Network, which includes CET, the Flying Cloud Institute, Housatonic Valley Association and the Massachusetts Audubon Society.

YES is a culminating event for many schools, including the schools participating in the Berkshire Bank BEST program (BEST stands for Berkshire Environmental School Teams). Over the course of the school year, students work closely with their teachers to design a school-based project, conduct research, make recommendations and evaluate the outcomes. Projects include habitat study, energy use, conservation, applicability of renewable energy at school, and expanding school recycling programs. Through classroom presentations, hands-on workshops and activities, students learn from each other and develop the skills necessary to relate their research and outcomes to their peers, families and the larger community. For more information on the Summit contact Cynthia Grippaldi at 413-445-4556 ext. 25.

Walking the Talk

At CET we believe that efforts both big and small can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. To illustrate things you can do at home or at work we're introducing this new EcoBytes feature to share some of the recent steps CET has taken to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

• We're making our new office spaces as green as possible. For example, our landlord at AllWays Moving used low VOC paints, increased natural daylighting and installed recycled/recyclable carpets at our new office on West Housatonic Street in Pittsfield. When our Northampton staff moves to its more spacious offices in Florence, they'll be using furniture donated by the University of Massachusetts. In our Elm Street office, we converted an unheated sun porch to usable office space by reducing the window area, adding fixed interior storms and installing high levels of insulation
• We're reducing the volume of paper waste in the bathrooms at CET by encouraging employees to bring in their own cloth hand towels
• We are reducing travel-related emissions and costs by increasing our use of teleconferencing
• We are testing 100% recycled content copy paper for all in-house printing and copying
• We are purchasing clean power! We changed electricity suppliers in our Pittsfield office so that we can enroll in New England GreenStart and "green up" our electricity. We're already enrolled in New England GreenStart at our Northampton office

New Staff at CET

We've been busy reviewing resumes, conducting interviews, hiring and training people for Green Jobs at CET. Since the last EcoBytes we've hired 19 new staff! We're proud to introduce you to the talented people who have recently joined CET.

Welcome to:

ReStore Deconstruction Team members: Ethan Seigel, Jeff Steiner and Matt MacFarlane
ReStore Donation Truck Driver: Jeremy Marmal

Human Resource Manager: Josie Ellis (Pittsfield office)

In the MassSAVE Program, we'd like to welcome:
Air Sealing Technicians: Jeremy Johnson, Patrick Molloy, Josy Raycroft, Thomas Iannolo, Eric Wheeler, Ben Weil, and Joshua Renaud
Quality Assurance Inspectors: Max Weinreich and Shaun Harrison
Administrative Support Staff: Amy Craven, Andrea Villamaino and Jennifer Kellar
Quality Assurance Manager: Bruce Sandler
Contract Manager: Josh Nunberg