Working with local community groups, school committee members, and Federal, State, and local energy efficiency experts, my role as a school committee member would be achieving the biggest bang for Medford's energy buck. Energy efficiency is by far the most cost-effective option. If the focus is to reduce energy costs, we must continue to look at things like lighting, heating, hot water, and cooling. We must continue to work with our suppliers to see what programs are best and have them continue to provide energy audits for schools. Solar installations have high up front costs, but reviewing program such as masstech.org they have several programs that can help defray up front costs. One idea to raise funds would be to initiate a campaign to residents to make green power purchases from National Grid, thereby increasing matching grants from Masstech for Medford. These funds could then be used for things like solar on schools. Details on the program here: http://masstech.org/CleanEnergyOrg/matching_grants.htm. Green Initiatives have become sexy and how we educate our students and community around this topic is leading by example.
