Hamden and Milford Citizens Earn Solar for Town Buildings

In mid-June, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) hosted dedication ceremonies to celebrate the unveiling of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems earned by the Town of Hamden and the City of Milford. The systems were earned by these municipalities through CCEF’s Connecticut Clean Energy Communities Program.

Because Hamden earned the designation of Connecticut Clean Energy Community and was successful in signing up more than 300 residents and businesses to the CTCleanEnergyOptions program, a 4-kilowatt solar PV system was provided by CCEF and installed at Hamden’s Keefe Community Center. Hamden has been a leader in supporting clean energy in the state, having been the thirteenth Connecticut community to join SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 clean energy campaign and the fourth to become a Connecticut Clean Energy Community. Click to visit Hamden's Clean Energy Community web page.

Milford became a Connecticut Clean Energy Community soon after Hamden and earned its 4-kilowatt solar PV system, now installed at Milford Lisman Landing Marina, by signing up more than 200 residents and businesses to the CTCleanEnergyOptions program. Milford was the third Connecticut community to join SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 clean energy campaign and the seventh to become a Connecticut Clean Energy Community. Click to visit Milford's Clean Energy Community web site.

Bob Wall, director of market initiatives for CCEF, stated, “The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund salutes the leadership of Hamden and Milford. Thanks to the towns’ support for clean energy, Connecticut is on a path to cleaner air, healthier communities and energy independence.” Wall added, “At both installation sites, residents and visitors alike will be able to see that clean energy is a powerful and reliable source of electricity.”

SmartPower Flourishes at Five-Year Mark

You may have heard the clean energy refrain, “It’s real. It’s here. It’s working.” You may also be familiar with the 20% by 2010 clean energy campaign. These are just two of the successful initiatives of SmartPower, a not-for-profit corporation that was the brainchild of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) five years ago. Launched in 2002 with financial backing from CCEF and private foundations including The John Merck Fund, The Pew Charitable Trusts, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Surdna Foundation and The Tremaine Foundation, SmartPower was charged with promoting and marketing clean energy across the state through outreach, media efforts and collaboration. The founders hoped to create – and indeed have created – a model for building a voluntary market for clean energy.

“The leadership and vision of the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund helped create SmartPower five years ago,” said Brian Keane, president of SmartPower. “At that point, the concept of a vibrant clean energy market seemed a long way off. But today because of a partnership forged in a strong commitment to clean air, energy independence and healthy communities, Connecticut stands as an unrivaled leader in clean energy marketing.”

SmartPower has conveyed its key message – “It’s real. It’s here. It’s working.” – broadly throughout the state by developing a series of ads for television, radio and print media that has focused on clean energy as something that is viable, available and reliable. One of the ads, the “Houses” commercial, was recognized with a 2006 Services Industry Advertising Gold Medal Award.

CCEF, which continues to be the principal funder of SmartPower in Connecticut, is proud to cite a number of important milestones that have been reached, in part or in whole, due to the efforts of SmartPower. Today over 50 Connecticut communities, or over 25% of the state’s communities, are committed to 20% clean energy by 2010; over 12,000 residents are participating in CTCleanEnergyOptions; and over 20 cities and towns are Connecticut Clean Energy Communities.

Looking at the national picture, SmartPower together with CCEF earned the prestigious Green Power Pilot Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The award, presented in late 2006, honored both organizations for their collaborative work in creating and launching the innovative Connecticut Clean Energy Communities Program and for the program’s success in fostering the growth of the clean energy industry in Connecticut.

SmartPower continues to employ innovative strategies to build a clean energy market. This spring SmartPower and CCEF collaborated with the National Theatre for Children to bring a live theatrical performance focused on clean energy to elementary schools statewide. The performance, entitled “Boomerang Jack and The Unseen Green Machine,” conveyed basic information about renewable energy and how choosing clean energy will have a positive impact on the environment. The statewide tour’s southern premiere was held in Stamford and its northern premiere was held in Bloomfield. A Teacher Guide containing sample lesson plans as well as classroom and at-home activities for students was provided to teachers and used later to help reinforce the messages conveyed during the performance.

In another innovative move, SmartPower collaborated with YouTube to introduce the first SmartPower and YouTube Clean Energy Ad Challenge. From the numerous videos submitted, ten finalists were selected and featured on SmartPower’s website. The winning video, entitled “Telephones,” was announced on June 18. Its creator, Dan Sheppard, a 19-year-old advertising student at the University of Nebraska, received a $10,000 cash prize. Click here to see the winning video.

Lise Dondy, president of CCEF, commented, “Creating demand for renewable energy through public awareness and education is key to the growth of clean energy and called for an innovative approach. CCEF is proud of its key role in creating and providing ongoing support for SmartPower.” Dondy added, “Its success is best illustrated by the replication of the Connecticut model in other states such as Pennsylvania, Oregon and Arizona as this nonprofit entrepreneurial venture expands nationally.”

Solar Training Session Held for Town Officials

A total of 96 individuals, including town officials responsible for inspecting and approving building and electric systems in municipalities statewide, convened on May 22 at the Rocky Hill Marriott for a solar training session hosted by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF). The session, led by Bill Brooks of Brooks Engineering LLC, a nationally recognized expert in solar code compliance, educated attendees regarding the issues they might face in reviewing solar installations and offered ways to improve the inspection and approval process. The session also conveyed what towns could do to reduce barriers to adopting solar energy technologies. Attendees received continuing education credits for the session as well as specific guidelines for inspecting solar photovoltaic systems.

State Representative Steve Fontana was on hand to kick off the session, highlighting legislators’ efforts to support the solar energy industry in Connecticut through proposed energy bills, such as H.B. 7432, An Act Concerning Electricity and Energy Efficiency.

This training session is one of CCEF’s initiatives to grow a sustainable renewable energy industry in Connecticut, producing new jobs and clean energy.

Flamig Farm Unveils Solar PV Array at 2007 EGGSTOCK

Solar-powered eggs? At Flamig Farm in West Simsbury, Conn., solar-powered eggs have become more than pie in the sky—they have become a reality. On June 9, the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), Flamig Farm and SolarBrite hosted a dedication ceremony to celebrate the unveiling of an 11.4-kilowatt DC commercial solar photovoltaic (PV) system that had been installed on the rooftop of the Flamig Farm chicken coop. The Flamig Farm solar array was the first farm-based installation in Connecticut to receive support from CCEF through its commercial On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program. The dedication ceremony took place during Flamig Farm’s “EGGSTOCK” festival, an Earth-friendly annual event.

The installation was made possible, in part, by a grant of $53,000 from CCEF’s On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program, which covered approximately half of the total project cost.

The solar array at Flamig Farm, installed by SolarBrite of South Windsor, Conn., will have a measurable positive impact on the local environment. It is estimated that the environment will benefit from a reduction in CO₂ emissions to the tune of about eight tons per year. The system will generate a total of approximately 13,000 kWh of electricity annually, which will provide about 7.3 percent of the electricity needs of the farm.

At the event, remarks were made by Nevin Christensen, owner of Flamig Farm, Pamela Hartley, marketing manager for Connecticut Innovations, State Representative Linda Schofield and Glenn Barresi of SolarBrite.

“While the farm’s solar array is currently saving the farm approximately $250 per month on its electric utility bill, the true value is reducing the farm's contributions to global warming,” said Lise Dondy, president of CCEF.

“The farm is a very public place with thousands of visitors per year and we are doing what we can to educate people about the potential for solar energy and to move the farm to the lowest possible carbon footprint,” said Nevin Christensen, owner, Flamig Farm. “So what comes first… the chicken or the egg? At Flamig Farm, the answer is solar energy.”

Clean Energy Earns Spotlight in 2007 Climate Change Leadership Awards

Clean energy played a prominent role in the achievements of many of the 2007 Climate Change Leadership Award recipients, demonstrating that clean energy is well-recognized as an important solution to climate change.

Bryan Garcia, who recently joined Yale University as program director of the Center for Business and Environment, was one of seven individuals and organizations presented with a 2007 Climate Change Leadership Award on May 21. Bryan was previously director of energy market initiatives for the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF), and his work at CCEF on the Connecticut Clean Energy Communities Program and the Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan was honored with this award.

Other honorees who incorporated clean energy into their activities were Andy Bauer, a clean energy activist and teacher in Portland; Charles Button, Ph.D., an assistant professor of geography at Central Connecticut State University; Lynn Plant of Fairfield; Imani Zito of Hartford; and Yale University. As a result of Mr. Bauer’s leadership, Portland became the first Connecticut town to make a municipal purchase under the CTCleanEnergyOptions program, the second town to commit to the 20% by 2010 clean energy campaign and the 12th to qualify as a Connecticut Clean Energy Community. Charles Button, Lynn Plant and Imani Zito’s efforts to educate the public about climate change included a strong clean energy component. And Yale University has both installed a commercial-scale solar photovoltaic system on campus, with assistance from CCEF, and applied energy cost savings to the purchase of 10 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy certificates.

Connecticut Clean Energy Advisory Committee chairman and Governor’s Steering Committee on Climate Change member Timothy Bowles was among those who presented the awards.

The Connecticut Climate Change Leadership Awards Program was developed by the Governor’s Steering Committee on Climate Change to recognize individuals and organizations that take exemplary actions to reduce global warming pollution and promote the goals of the Connecticut Climate Change Action Plan. Awards are presented annually. For more information on this program, please visit www.ctclimatechange.com.

CCEF Helps Fund National Green Schools Study

The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) was one of five organizations to fund a national study entitled “Green Schools – Attributes for Health and Learning.” This study, released recently by the National Research Council (NRC) of the National Academies, also received financial support from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, Barr Foundation, Kendall Foundation and U.S. Green Building Council.

The report was intended to provide recommendations regarding future green schools guidelines – guidelines that would be useful to stakeholders like school administrators and business managers, federal and state education officials, parents and teachers, and architects and engineers.

In developing the report’s content, the NRC appointed a committee of experts from 14 leading universities and institutions. This committee was asked to “review, assess and synthesize the results of available studies on green schools and determine the theoretical and methodological basis for the effects of green schools on student learning and teaching productivity.” Green schools are defined as those that are designed to meet performance objectives for land use, transportation, energy efficiency, indoor environment quality and other factors.

Some of the report’s recommendations were:

• Future green schools guidelines should stress the importance of good planning processes that include the effective participation of a wide range of stakeholders.
• Educators, support staff, students and other stakeholders should be informed of the design intent of a green school and be given appropriate information or training to fulfill their roles in using and operating a green school.
• To maximize a green school’s performance and benefits over its service life, building systems and features should be monitored.
• Future green schools guidelines should place greater emphasis on operations and maintenance practices over the lifetime of the building.

Copies of the report may be obtained from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC, 20055 (http://www.nap.edu).

CCEF Sponsors Connecticut Envirothon

The Connecticut Envirothon, a year-long environmental education program for high school students, culminated in a field day competition on May 17 at the Winding Trails Recreation Center in Farmington, Conn. Because the theme of this year’s Connecticut Envirothon was clean, renewable energy, CCEF served as both a sponsor of the competition and a judge of presentations made by competing high school teams. The winner of the field day competition was Housatonic Valley High School, which featured a presentation on solar photovoltaics.

After the winning team was announced, CCEF posed a further challenge to the students. CCEF challenged the 29 teams that competed to obtain collectively 1,250 sign-ups under the CTCleanEnergyOptions program. If they reach this goal or any increment of 250 sign-ups, CCEF will donate a free solar photovoltaic system of up to 5 kilowatts to a Connecticut science center.

The Connecticut Envirothon is part of the international Envirothon Program, which is held in almost all U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The national competition, in which Housatonic Valley High School will participate, will take place July 29 through August 4 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York.

Event Calendar

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Message from the President

When it comes to promoting and adopting clean energy, our local communities have the power to make a difference and are making a difference.

To date, a total of 21 Connecticut cities and towns have made a powerful commitment to clean energy. They have become Connecticut Clean Energy Communities through CCEF’s Connecticut Clean Energy Communities Program. To qualify, a community must commit to purchase 20% clean energy by the year 2010; sign up local residents and businesses to the CTCleanEnergyOptions program; and make a municipal clean energy purchase.

As you can see from the list below, solar is now on schools, town halls and community centers – facilities that are used by the public frequently.

Connecticut Clean Energy Communities

The CCEF-provided solar array is a special incentive that the Fund offers to cities and towns that become Connecticut Clean Energy Communities. Once a solar array has been earned, CCEF works with the municipality to identify a good public building for the installation. It then benefits the community not only by generating clean energy but also by serving as an educational tool for all residents. Each system comes equipped with a data-monitoring system that enables students and other residents to learn about the electricity generated, the emissions avoided and electricity cost saved as a result of the solar array. For example, take a look at the online data system for the West Hartford Town Hall.

To advance their efforts to become Connecticut Clean Energy Communities, many communities are tapping into the creativity of their residents. CCEF encourages grassroots activities by offering Community Innovations Grants to eligible communities so that they, in turn, can offer micro-grants to organizations and citizens that are motivated to start up local projects supporting clean energy awareness and education. The innovative projects supported so far have already successfully generated new clean energy sign-ups and assisted communities around the state in reaching their clean energy targets.

Community Innovations Grants Recipients (Each receiving a $5,000 block grant)

To illustrate what can be achieved with these micro-grants…

The Town of Mansfield provided a grant of $1,700 to the E. O. Smith High School team participating in Cool It! The Climate Change Challenge. The team’s project included a plan to persuade the Board of Education to sign up for 20% clean energy by 2010 and promote energy conservation; persuade the residents of Mansfield, Willington and Ashford to sign up for clean energy; and educate students and the wider community about global warming and solutions to it. The team used a portion of the money for original t-shirts promoting clean energy (which were then sold and used to purchase more t-shirts), honoraria for a teach-in and supplies including videotapes and DVD’s.

The City of Fairfield provided a grant of $662 to Sharon Pistilli, a local resident turned environmental activist. Ms. Pistilli used the grant to purchase packages of compact fluorescent light bulbs that were given to new customers as an incentive to enroll in the CTCleanEnergyOptions program. Through appearances at local events and meetings, Ms. Pistilli was able to secure 100 sign-ups in a little more than three months, of which 80 were Fairfield residents and the balance were from surrounding towns.

CCEF believes that each individual and each community have the power to make a difference. Through these and other creative programs, Connecticut has been a true leader in developing a vibrant clean energy market and addressing the impacts of climate change.

Lise Dondy
President
Connecticut Clean Energy Fund

Workshop Held to Coach Municipalities on Achieving 20% by 2010

In Connecticut’s pioneering effort to reach 20% clean energy by 2010, cities and towns gathered to learn from each other about innovative ways to reach the goal. They convened at a workshop hosted jointly by the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF) and SmartPower on June 11 at West Hartford Town Hall. More than 85 individuals representing most of the 49 Connecticut municipalities that have joined SmartPower’s 20% by 2010 Campaign were on hand. City and town officials from Hartford, West Hartford, Bethany and Portland offered case studies, describing their own efforts to reach the 20% by 2010 goal as well as effective strategies for becoming Connecticut Clean Energy Communities.

Attendees also learned about opportunities and incentives from both CCEF and clean energy suppliers. Bob Wall, CCEF director of energy market initiatives, provided an overview of the Connecticut Clean Energy Communities Program and other CCEF initiatives such as the Community Innovations Grants Program and On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation (DG) Program. The former offers eligible communities a $5,000 block grant to underwrite local public awareness and education projects that support clean energy, while the latter provides grants to help subsidize the cost of installing new clean energy–generating equipment at commercial, industrial and institutional facilities. Representatives from Community Energy and Sterling Planet, the two providers of clean energy under the CTCleanEnergyOptions program, discussed incentives available to municipal governments.

Shubhada Kambli from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was on hand to discuss ENERGY STAR benchmarking tools. These tools may be utilized to help towns clearly track energy use, save money, reduce greenhouse gas and polluting emissions, and gain national recognition.

Town of Westport Celebrates Installation of 24-kW Solar PV System on the Fire Station

On May 30, a formal commissioning and ribbon-cutting event took place in Wesport to celebrate the installation of a 24-kilowatt (kW) solar PV system on the roof of the Fire Station at 515 Post Road East. Encompassing an array of PV panels on the large, flat roof, as well as a smaller array mounted at an angle on the parapet wall and visible from street and ground level, the PV system will convert sunlight into electricity for direct use in the Fire Station building. The system will generate roughly 7% of the annual energy needs for the building and will be interconnected with the regional utility grid of CL&P. Unique to the system design, there are no roof penetrations and the system has data acquisition and performance-monitoring capability so that the public will be able to access system performance and energy production profile via the town’s website.

At the event, remarks were made by a representative from the office of Congressman Christopher Shays; Gordon Joseloff, first selectman, Town of Westport; Carl Lehman, Westport Energy Task Force; Dave Ljungquist, Connecticut Clean Energy Fund (CCEF); and John Rountree, Westport Solar Consultants.

The solar PV project was developed and orchestrated by Westport Solar Consultants, which presented the initial analysis and project concept to the town, crafted the system design and engineering specifications, and led each phase of the project lifecycle. Project execution rested with Steve Edwards, director of public works, and Mike Frawley, director of buildings and maintenance for the Town of Westport. The PV system was installed by Solar Works, Inc.

Working closely with CCEF, the town received funding in the amount of $99,156 as part of CCEF’s On-Site Renewable Distributed Generation Program. This offset nearly 50% of the upfront capital cost. Given its location in southwest Connecticut, the system is also expected to receive a special supplemental incentive award of $5,000 from CCEF.

Dave Ljungquist, CCEF project manager, stated, “We are pleased to have been able to help make this new PV installation at the Fire Station a reality. Westport continues to be one of the most active municipalities supporting renewable energy initiatives in the state, having committed to 20% by 2010, earned the distinction of Connecticut Clean Energy Community, received a Community Innovations Grants Program award and now earned a grant through our On-Site Renewable DG Program. We hope that many other towns follow suit. We applaud Westport’s commitment and enthusiasm.”