February 23th- Islesford- 7pm- Neighborhood House

February 24rd- Great Cranberry Island- 7pm- Exact Location TBD

Topics:
Forest Health and Management with Jim Ecker, the district forester for Hancock County
Wind
Energy Audits

March 14th- Apple Pruning Workshop- Islesford- 11:30 to 3:30.
Phil Norris, a MOFGA certified professional apple pruner will be holding the workshop free of charge to all island residents. We are looking for volunteer demonstration trees. If you are interested, please contact me at egreenman [at] gmail [dot] com.

Here is an update on what has been happening on the sustainability front and an in depth view of topics to be discussed at the next sustainability meeting.
February Sustainability Newsletter

I’m posting Jeff Cramer’s Cranberry Isles Energy Report for all to see. He did a great job researching alternative energy options for the islands. I advise you all to read it, think about it, and continue the discussions. 

2008 TCI Energy Study Report

In attendance:Eliza Greenman, Dan Lief, Jason Pickering, Cynthia Lief, Marya Spurling, David Thomas, Henry Isaacs, Rachel Thomas, Cindy Thomas, Cory Duggan and Kaitlyn Duggan.

Island Winterizations:

Eliza- I envision the mission statement of the Cranberry Isles Sustainability Initiative as one in which we do smaller projects that can be accomplished in the immediate future, while also keeping the long term missions of island sustainability in tact. I’d like to do something along the lines of meet-do-learn-teach. With that said, I think we should consider winterizing people’s houses who are in need for one reason or another- in order to keep the cost of oil heat down to a minimum.  

Dan- Keep the winter in mind, pick out a few homes on both islands with some easy stuff that could be done. Do some stuff, we’ll come up with the money and man power so it could be done.

Marya- Bring an energy auditor out to report on current situations

Dan- Well we have done that in the past, Cynthia will take care of that. There is a video of an energy auditor doing an audit on a few of the houses out here

Henry- How do we come forth to peopole in need without insulting anybody? Maybe if we start with those folks on fixed incomes, the meals on wheels people, those must be the folks that have the hardest time with this.

Cindy- Do we even know how to do these improvements?

Jason- We start with the little things

Cynthia- the Kilo-watt plug-in monitors in the library are helpful to measure the amount of energy being used by appliances. Also, the use of heat sensors will allow you to see where the heat is escaping. The heat sensors are pretty expensive, but would be worth it in money they would save.

Dan- I think that is what we need to get for these projects in the short term. What if we made a list of stuff around the house that was susceptible to more of these winter problems. For a 100 dollars in investment, you could probably save 500 dollars.

Dan- lets assess

David- along those lines, let’s also pay attention to light bulbs and things that could be changed into those energy savings ones

Jason- What’s drawing the most power when you are using it?

Cynthia- The new kilo-watt monitors could show you that. They are available in the library. I’ll make copies of that film for everyone to see (the energy auditor)

Dan- for outlets, we need that foam screw in insulation stuff

Cory- I just read an article on some of this same stuff, and a drafty apartment can be helped by using the plastic-wrap window insulating stuff. Under doors, perhaps the sweep under a door, should be cleaned and weatherstripped with double sided tape.

Dan-So our game plan would be to: Identify houses, Go to a house with a team, make a list of what can be done, shop, and do it.

Henry- Home depot has a program for people with lower incomes to get weather stripping, light bulbs etc for these people.

Kaitlyn- Check out the electric companies and home depot to see if they will give out insulation blankets for the hot water heater.

Jason- Lets let GCI know what we are doing, tell them how to use the monitors and how we are gong about this all. 

David- Ask Joy, go to the source.

Cindy- I don’t know if they put insulation in.

Henry- Rich of poor, these are houses that should be done

Cory- one thing to think about with these houses that we are considering, furnace cleaning is also important. A clean furnace always burns more efficiently than a dirty and clogged one.

Cynthia- Does Acadia Fuel clean furnaces?

Cory- We should hire a licensed person to come and do this. I think the place to start is to come up with a list of things to look at, things to focus on in a house. Before this though, we should make a list of questions to ask- when was the last time you had your chimney cleaned? Would you like us to come into your house? So the question is, do we form a sub committee to do this sort of thing?

Dan- For our senior citizens, should this be based on donation? ex-These were the costs of supplies and if you can make a donation, fine- if you can’t, that’s alright.

Cory- What if we said: Whatever you think it is valued at, give that amount.

Dan- Ok, how about if we classify whose houses we will do by saying you have to be 70 and over?

Cory- So how do we approach it.

Cindy- I can talk to Kara, she’s always in the library

Jason- So, we have 7 potential places. Maybe like 3 people per house plus a carpenter. Is everyone willing to do it? 

Crowd- Yes

Well let’s go to the souce, these people’s care takers. 

Dan- Everyone report back to Eliza.

Cory-Personally, I think we should look into more permanent solutions as well.

Eliza- That will take a lot more money and education

Jason- People can’t afford 10,000 dollar home efficiency rennovations- not right now at least. Lets just start small.

Energy Audits

Eliza- I wanted to tell you all about a woman I met at the SILC, Erika Shriner. She is an energy auditor out of SW Harbor and has expressed interest in conducting low cost energy audits out on the islands. She said that a large chunk of the audit can be done by the homeowner, measurements and such- thus reducing the price. She has agreed to come out and show us how to do this, but I wanted to put this all out there for everyone to think about.

Marya- Is there any way we can get someone to be an on-island energy auditor?

Cory-The class costs quite a bit of money, 1500 dollars or so.

Dan- Why would someone get an energy auditor certification? Is it just seen as getting in the business/employment opportunity?

Henry- When we get into photvoltaics, and other kinds of real energy production and conservation- in order to get most state and federal grants, you are required to get an official energy audit.

Dan- The town has money to invest in an island person, perhaps give them a scholarship- so when they do this audit for the island people, they would give an X discount.

Marya- That is a good idea, let’s say it and promote it and see where it takes us

Dan- Let’s raise it at the selectmans meeting on Thursday.

Cynthia- I’ve seen these courses offered, a man who came to this island told me about a class he was going to offer online -where there is a weekend in Unity or something like that.

Dan- I think the town can pick up a piece of the cost for training and equipment.

David- I would rather see someone get the equipment themselves, someone should probably be certified to do this because the point was made for long term solutions to take care of this stuff.

Cory- Once you go through GCI and LCI, you’re done. What do you do after that? Perhaps you should take that money and offer scholarships to help get this done. Hire Erica Shriner, who will offer us a deal.

Marya- At the same time, I’d like to have a local person do it

Rachael- It depends how fast you want it done

Jason- I don’t see the problem in having an island person go around and do all of the energy audits, make 50 grand, and then move on.

Dan- Cynthia, you have done work on the energy audits, what is the plan forward?

Cynthia- If someone is interested in getting trained, they can come to the selectmen and ask for a grant/no interest loan to cover what they can’t cover. There’s also a guy from Belfast who is willing to come up and do energy audits. In the past, he charged 1500 dollars for 4 houses, 2 here and 2 on GCI.

Henry- An energy audit is really cool, there’s a giant sucking machine

Jason- I didn’t think we were talking about the government

Henry- We should buy a town sucking machine!

David- I’m not going to do an energy audit until I’ve done the improvements things around the house that could reduce our energy costs.

Henry- The only reason to do it is if we’re really advancing along. I get more money back than 1000 bucks…but that is in Vermont and we get lots of grants.

Jason- This really doesn’t sound like something we should pay someone off island to do.

Henry- Lets put the weatherstripping on Betty’s house and move on.

Cindy- Maybe we should arrange for someone to come out and blow in insulation? What about insulated window shades, a tight weave curtain- probably 15 degree difference. Closing the curtains too.

Rachael- Find out what it would cost with the discount with Erika Shriner.

Dan- Agreed, lets see how much Erika would actually charge us. 

Cynthia- Lets make a plan to see the video

Cory- Lets make copies of that video and distribute it to everyone.

Forest Study

Dan- This is an important issue for us, that is why we selected Eliza as our Fellow- because she has a background in forestry. Philip Conklin is interested in helping us out as well. 

Eliza- I am currently working on a forest study, an executive summary as of yet, to assess the forests that we have on GCI and LCI, determine how large these forests are, what is the general health and status of these forests, an what we can do in terms of cleaning them up. Its imporant, from a view of sustainability, to manage these forests for both the present state and also looking forward 60-100 years. With this said, we are looking into different local industries where these forest products could go- from a small-scale saw mill to wood pellet production. 

Henry- Could you tell me, Eliza, what the current state of the forest is?

Eliza- Much of the forest is overly mature. That is the age in which the diameter growth slows and a tree starts to deteriorate. Because of the history of these forests, having been regenerated from farmland, most of these trees are currently at this over mature state. What that eans, exactly, is that the general health of the forest has declined, it’s not as vigorous as it once was- more rot will be present, therefore attracting more disease, insects and fungus. From a fire perspective, this place is a large match. I’m pretty confident that if one tree were to catch fire, the whole forest would burn…except for the already managed properties thanks to Jason, Edgar and Courtney. 

Henry- So what is the first step, after this summary?

Eliza- I would like to get a Maine forester out here, because my forestry training is in the Southeast and it’s different up here, to conduct a one or two day tree marking class for people like Jason, Edgar and anyone else who is interested. 

Cindy- Is it possible to mark trees without killing others?

Eliza- If the person is trained, then yes. You can fell trees with minimal damage. But, marking trees is an art and everyone does it differently. You are taught to think about how a certain tree would fall and what trees around the one that you are felling would benefit. I just want to bring someone in to offer some extra insight, things to consider that the logger may not have thought about before. Managing for different objectives such as fire- saw logs- thinning for forest health, they can be difficult. It’s best to have a professional come and share some knowledge. 

Dan- Pellets from brush is definitely better than taking the brush out in truckloads and disposing of it/burning it on the beach. The fellow from Athens maine is apparently using bark and brush in the pellets I use for my pellet stove. It’s a reality that we really could utilize a lot of this “biomass” to make pellets. 

Henry- So Eliza, some of the steps we would take would be to:

1.) Contact a State forester and get their imput

2.) Combine that with your own personal assessment

3.) Conduct a business assessment, with the help of Phillip Conklin

4.) Come up with a plan that outlines choices about what we (the private landowner) should do,  and what is possible in terms of viable business opportunities

5.) THey would then make informed decisions and start spending/making money

Henry- the Hitachi foundation gives grants for new entrepreneurships that help benefit small, rural communities. By way of a non-profit, they can give 20,000-100,000 dollar seed money to provide innovative jobs. Sustainable, environment-safe, community rich projects. They are very cultural, based in Virginia, they fund everything from arts projects to environmental projets. They could probably be great friends to these islands. Whether it is setting up a saw mill, pellets, etc- if it can be seen to improve the community, than I suggest it.

Eliza- I would love to have more informaton on this Henry

Cindy- Get the sawmill, make sawdust, Make pellets from sawdust.

Crowd- Cindy, you should charge for your private consultations. 

Sustainable Island Living Conference Overview

Dan-Who here attended the SILC? (Eliza and Jason raise hands)

Jason- It was a great conference. I learned a lot about wind, tidal power, and attended a breakout session on green building/energy efficiency for home construction. I have a problem with the way people are selling insulation these days. Sure, it has a great R value and seals your house up…but you are trapped with all these toxic chemicals which require major ventilation systems. They talked about cellulose as being an option, but that causes just as much trouble as it saves. So, they didn’t talk about too many healthy options. I think it was the precenters looking at it from the perspective of look- it has a high r value (disregarding it’s health factor). LEED certifications- a lot of it has to do with where you get your materials. But, they don’t consider the health effects of all the products as much as they should.

Henry- We got the LEED certification on our house in Vermont and they very much look at that. We had to buy concrete that didn’t contain formaldehyde and was sourced within a certain distance. It was very difficult, considering lots of concrete is made from crushed rock from Maine, which is then shipped to china, crushed again with formaldehyde added, and then shipped back to the US. I Think people at these conferences need to be a bit pessimistic in order to drill it into people’s heads. Concerning the LEED certifications, they really do look at these toxins.

Dan- What about shredded paper for insulation?

Henry- In principle that is cellulose, so we ended up using wheat stock (the leavings from hay fields). Since part of our certifications were dependent on geographical things, we had to go with it. It’s gray, very fine. There’s a material called ecoblock that’s made out of wheat stock and it looks a lot like Styrofoam. 

Dan- Is there a topic for a next session? Should we be thinking of a longer term- bigger plan?

Jason- I like the idea of forests, and winterizations…but I also like making energy. That’s a little out of our reach for right now though. I say we concentrate on the two topics we discussed today and then we’ll work from there.

Cory- We should watch out for the fox islands too, see what they are doing and move from there. 

Agreed. 

Eliza- Soren Hermansen’s speech is located on the Island Institute website. He was the keynote speaker at the SILC. You can go here to listen to it…

http://www.islandinstitute.org/videos/Keynote-Address-Soren-Hermansen-Director-Samsö-Energy-Academy-in-Denmark/12809/

I also helped to create a Sustainable Island Living Resource Guide, which can be found here…

http://www.islandinstitute.org/island-institute-news-and-press-releases/Sustainable-Island-Living-Resource-Guide/12790/

 
]]> http://cranberryisles.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/cisi-meeting-november-18th-lci/feed/ 1 cisustainabilityinitiative http://cranberryisles.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/november-meeting/ http://cranberryisles.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/november-meeting/#comments Mon, 10 Nov 2008 18:36:47 +0000 cisustainabilityinitiative http://cranberryisles.wordpress.com/?p=35 Continue reading →]]> Hi Everyone,

After a long hiatus, the CISI will be having a meeting on Tuesday, November 18th at 7pm. It will take place at the Neighborhood House. Topics will include:

Winterization of houses in need

Forest planning

Overview of Sustainable Island Living Conference

In the meantime, be thinking about these topics and others to address in future meetings!

Energy Plan

I found a great resource for sharing rides and reducing your carbon footprint. It’s called Goloco.

“GoLoco is a service that lets friends, neighbors, and co-workers arrange rides together. It helps match someone going somewhere with a car (commonly known as the “driver”) with someone else who wants to go somewhere (commonly known as the “passenger”). Each passenger agrees to pay the driver for their fair share of the costs of the trip.”

Visit goloco.org.

I have set up a group, Cranberry Isles, ME, so that we can all share our ride information more easily.

I encourage everyone to use this site for sharing rides to the island, for off-island trips and for any trip you are taking wherever you may live.

There is also a great resource for car sharing that we may want to look into, its called Zipcar. I contacted them to see if they would put a car in our area and got this response:

Thank you for your email.  We are always looking for new areas that will benefit from our service.  The best way to let us know your neighborhood is ready for Zipcar is to have your friends and neighbors add their address to our “notify me page” http://www.zipcar.com/notify-me.  We use this information as a guide to place our next fleet of cars.  Generally, it takes 20-25 members to support a car in a given area so spread the word! 

So, here I am spreading the word. If you are intersted please follow the link above and add your address.

Thank you,

Amanda

May 15^th, 2008

4:30pm GCI

In attendance: Courtney Chaplin, Hugh Smallwood, Phil Whitney, Karin Whitney, Eric Dyer, Rebecca Litwin, Cythia Lief, Phelippe Donald, Jeff Cramer, Bruce Komusin, Dan Lief, Ruth Westphal, Barbara Stainton, Bill Dowling, and Amanda Ravenhill

Amanda – Today we will begin by discussing the renewably energy study, the energy audit workshop to be held on the 28^th, and the Memorial Day weekend event on Islesford.  We’ll try to get through those quickly so we can move on to a more free discussion. The initiative started in October with the idea to work together to reduce our negative impact on the environment – climate change and peak oil are two driving factors. We meet once a month to brainstorm ideas and think of ways to move toward action.

Jeff – The May 1^st Selectman’s meetings agreed to get the Renewable Energy Study project running. How can we come together as a community and become more self-sufficient? Over the next couple months the study will look into finding more resources of renewable energy. We want to take conventional wisdom and ideas and turn it into hard knowledge. What’s possible as a project here, what’s not? The study gives the information to the community and allows them to assess and set a goal. We turn hard research into what our resource potential is. Next Tuesday there will be an advisory meeting open to the public on Islesford to give updates on where we are on the research and the best way to present the information to the community. A newsletter that will set out agenda for Tuesday’s meeting and a have a  brief overview will be posted at a few locations. We’re looking mainly into biomass, wind, solar, and tidal/wave energy. It’s much easier to know where and how to reduce when we know what our energy footprint is on the island. Not only is this study environmentally, economically, and a security smart project but it’s also a community building project.

Dan – Pellet stoves are a smart alternative. They run at 90% efficiency. A committee of volunteers should be formed to get pellet stoves more commonly used on the islands.

Courtney – The pellet stove technology is taking off. It’s cheaper than propane so it’s an economic winner as well as an environmental one.

Bill Dowling – Shifting over to a new technology should be thought through completely – ethanol wasn’t too successful.

Jeff – Renewable energy can be looked at in a romantic way but needs to be looked at holistically. You need to look at what you can do and then compare it to other options before you spring into action.

Ruth – The woods are reaching their maximum.

Bill – We’re at peak spruce!

Courtney – We need to think about the impact of the actions we take.

Cynthia – The energy audit study: Months ago we talked about looking at buildings on Islesford and looking to get more information on how we could look at a building and know what actions should be taken. Unity and COA are in a little bit of competition of who is “greener.” Mick Womersley, from Unity College, will come out do a one day workshop on Islesford then come back later in the summer to do another day on GCI. He’ll come out, do a walkthrough on several different kinds of housings and talk about his findings. At the workshop people can raise any questions they may have. He’s proposed to come out on May 28^th and spend the whole day. We’re currently in the process of figuring out the details of the day.  He will come for free. The discussion with Mr. Womersley can be taped for those who cannot attend. It will be valuable to build a relationship between the islands and Unity and COA. We’re interested in looking into the islands’ fuel usage, how we are getting our fuel, etc. The second thing we’re doing is getting inventory of summer and winter homes, cars, businesses, gasoline gallon usage, etc. and also trying to figure out our electrical use. Other things we’d like to do is make up a questionnaire to better understand our carbon footprint, our recycling information, our composting information, how many people use clotheslines, etc. There are a lot of good things already going on but we should figure these things other things out to get even more going. Volunteers would be appreciated in helping to get this information gathered. Looking into our energy usage is what we would like to get information on next. Let Cyn know if you would like to help! (Ruth and Hugh said they would help)

Dan – “Reduce and reuse” is what we need to be doing, not just putting in a wind turbine. We should set a goal and get everyone to participate in achieving that goal. We need to really know what we’re doing before we try to reduce and reuse.

Jeff – It’s important to find variants between energy usage houses and understand why that variant exists.

Amanda – We are planning a Memorial Day weekend event (on the Saturday.) There’s a beach clean up at 1pm and a BBQ at 5:30. The 5-8 graders will give the keynote presentation on climate change. How would GCI like to be involved?

Barbara – Information we have already gathered and typed up can be handed out to summer people to explain what’s been going on on each island. We should explain the website, etc. and work to get the summer people excited about what we’ve been doing and to get involved.

Dan – Sharing, cooperating, and helping each other are major concepts that need to be put into action. Can someone talk for even 5 min at the GCI BBQ to discuss what has been going on with the initiative so the summer people know the deal? 

Amanda – We’re planning to video tape presentation of the school and post on the website in case you can’t be at the presentation.

Bill – We need to work to get summer people involved.

Amanda – We will be posting updates from Jeff’s research on the website as well as holding meetings throughout the summer to keep everyone informed.

Dan – Thank you Amanda and Lindsey for the food buying club!

Amanda – The club continues to function well and it works on a volunteer basis. Maybe GCI wants to do it too? The food is well priced for being local organic food and the club saves us money from boat trips, cuts down on trips off the island, etc. It’s good for the environment and it’s also a community building activity.

Jeff – If the island produce production were to increase, then we could add that produce to the buying club.

Amanda – A warrant was proposed to eliminate all the streetlights on the islands. A conference call will be held on Monday with Bangor Hydro to discuss different solutions other than completely eliminating the streetlights but still decreasing our energy output.

Karen – There are safety issues to be considered. What about the older summer people?

Cyn – We need to discuss why we would be going without them before we just take them away.

Bill – It’s another way to reduce our carbon footprint.

Phillipe – Can we try a trial run this summer and have the electric company shut off the lights for a little and see how it goes?

Amanda – There’s a special town meeting on Tuesday and this is where the vote will be held. We could possibly eliminate the current streetlights and put up solar lampposts.

Phillipe – Food is an incredibly important part to any community. We should grow more food ourselves; therefore increasing both island food production and community building. We have all the building blocks we just need some labor and some seeds and we’d have all the food we would ever need. This project would be environmentally and economically positive as well as a community building activity. Even just backyard gardens would be a great step forward. We should tie all these individual gardens together and help each other. Eventually we could completely eliminate ordering garden foods from off island. It’s grown here – the food stays here, the money stays here, the nutrition stays here. Good food is part of a good life. We should have some gardens in visible space in big empty fields. It would draw many people in and give the project momentum. There won’t be a lack of support.

Amanda – Thank you!

All 36 articles on the 2008 warrant were passed at the meeting at the Neighborhood House on March 10.  Warrants covered regulations, budget and, the election of officers and committee members, including Dan Lief for a second three-year term as selectman.

Lief signed the national Mayors Agreement, establishing the Town as the 811^th municipality and smallest participating community thus far.  “This is a far-reaching commitment – we will do whatever we can to slow down global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Selectman Lief. “We will also work as a community to deal with hardships resulting from $100-a-barrel oil.  Ultimately, the goal will be some degree of energy independence with on-island generation from renewable sources.  In the short run, we are looking at much simpler solutions, ways in which we can all save money and reduce our negative impact on the environment – more efficient appliances, better insulation for our homes, use of clotheslines instead of dryers…the list goes on.”

Joining the  U. S. Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, the Town aims to meet or beat the Kyoto Protocol emission reduction targets.  The agreement has been signed by 810 municipalities nation-wide, representing over a quarter of the US population. The agreement states that the municipality will reduce global warming pollution to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.  Also stated in the agreement is a commitment to urge state and federal governments to enact programs and policies to meet or exceed these same targets. A third aspect of the agreement obligates the Town to urge the U.S. Congress to pass bi-partisan green house gas reduction including clear timetables and emissions limits as well as a flexible, market based system of tradable allowances among emitting industries.

A second unanimous vote authorized the Selectmen to spend up to $10,000 to promote and support community projects that reduce impact and increase environmental stewardship.  One critical project, which will require some funding, is an alternate energy feasibility study, focusing on local renewable energy generation possibilities. 

The third warrant allows the Town to spend up to $2,000 to source Clean Energy for all of its municipal electricity needs. This power will cost approximately 2 cents more per kilowatt hour than the current energy supplied. “The Town’s decision to purchase energy from ‘Maine Renewable Energy – Clean Power will, hopefully, set an example for residents purchasing power for their homes.  For a small premium Mainers can buy electricity that is 100% renewable, 100% emission free – and 100% produced in Maine,” emphasized Lief.

March 5, 2008
Focus: Structure, Projects, Volunteers

Amanda opened the dinner meeting with a suggested mission statement for CISI -

 The CISI is a forum to discuss ideas, promote projects, and implement solutions for insuring a healthy future for the community of the Cranberry Isles. 

[If there are further thoughts on the statement, we can discuss them and will finalize it at the next meeting.]

There is a need to implement a structure for the group to aid in grant applications and any needed fundraising.  Anyone interested being on a board of directors should contact Amanda:  244 – 9906 or ajoyravenhill[at]gmail[dot]com

Structure is also necessary to move from ideas to projects to action.

Current projects include:

Website

Community Energy Audit

Alternate Energy Feasibility Study

Amanda described a positive brainstorming session with residents of Great Cranberry concerning the CISI.

Cynthia present a first draft for a proposal for an Energy Audit beginning with a limited professional audit/workshop carried out by Richard Riegel Burbank of Evergreen Home Performance in Rockland.  The full project should find ways to lower energy usage, reduce energy loss, and cut energy costs for residents.  This could also lead to job development.

Barbara Fernald and Wanda Porter will help review the proposal and develop a plan and evaluation for the audit/workshop.

Jeff Cramer began his report on the Alternate Energy Feasibility Study by commenting,” the cheapest kilowatt is the one you don’t use!”   The proposed study will comprise 3 steps:

What cannot be done?  “Fatal Flaw Test”

What is possible for the TCI?

What is best for TCI?

Pilot Projects

– Examples of energy independent small communities are all over the world.  Look at the many Scottish Islands doing this, as well as other Maine islands. The Scottish island of Eigg, with 63 houses now uses 100% locally produced energy.

– It makes good economic sense to pursue community, as opposed to strictly private projects in looking at the cost of production for 1KW.

– Alden Hathaway wrote to suggest investigating 3 roof sites on Islesford for solar panels, the restaurant, the co-op, and new town garage. 

Jason asked if Bangor Hydro might force purchase of new lines if we had a large amount of electricity to sell back. 

Jeff answered that BH is legally bound to work with towns and to maintain lines.

Dan said a study would look scientifically at conventional wisdom with regard to energy sources and our location, i.e. wind, solar, tidal.

– Jeff felt a costly engineering study is not needed at this point. 

– With regard to tidal power, Kleinschmitt Engineering reported earlier that private developers can claim rights to tidal areas for development of energy. This should be considered now by TCI.

Eric Dyer and Wanda Porter volunteered to work with Jeff.

Ted described the work Jeri is doing in the Dominican Republic.  The school and church being built will rely on solar power,

Dan presented another project as looking into the use of blowdowns and brush on the islands.  Is it possible and economical to make pellets here in the community?

Amanda reminded everyone of the importance of attending town meeting and voting for the 3 warrants sponsored by CISI:

Signing the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement

Authorizing $10,000.00 for green project development in TCI

Authorizing the town to buy green electrical power from Interfaith Power

Future projects might include:

            –Getting all summer residents to switch to green power [Interfaith is adding capacity.]

            –Bumper stickers saying, “My summer [Islesford] home is GREEN”

            –Memorial Day beach clean up and pot luck.

Jason:  March 14 is the 5th anniversary of the War in Iraq.  Island residents may join the program “Every Village Green” with our commemoration in the town field.

All present joined in thanking Anne Fernald for her hospitality in hosting a delicious and thought-provoking evening.