Town's No. 2 'Green' Ranking Based On Decades Of Effort

Arlington MA

02 May, 2021

4:48 PM

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Your Arlington Last Updated: 29 April 2021 Written by Boston Magazine, Bob Sprague Boston Magazine asks "How green is your town"? and answers: Arlington ranks No. 2. The publication puts our town just behind Cambridge and ahead of Newton, Boston and Medford not to mention Lexington, Winchester and Belmont. Ken Pruitt, town energy manager, told YourArlington on April 28 that he "really wasn't surprised to see that Arlington ranked highly as a green community." Why so? "[B]ecause environmental sustainability has been a top priority for town leaders, staff and numerous volunteers for at least the last 20 years. The group of town volunteers called Sustainable Arlington, an Envision Arlington committee that dates from 1998. 'Extremely proud' On the other hand, he wrote, "I will say I was pleasantly surprised, and extremely proud, that Arlington came in second behind only Cambridge a city well known for its own longstanding commitment to sustainability and with financial resources that far exceed ours. In reality all of the top 10 communities highlighted in the Boston Magazine article are doing truly incredible work and in my opinion deserve to share this accolade equally." The magazine reports: "While most communities in the ranking earned a full five points for joining the Green Communities program, none has done more with it than Arlington. It has won nine grants from the program and received more than $1.7 million to fund a wide range of energy conservation and green energy development projects. It also won points for having a standout level of leadership on climate issues thanks to Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine," who the article first identified as "Andy" and then corrected it. The following examples are among the evidence supporting BoMag's ranking. In 2021, the town has completed its net-zero action plan, the road map for the town to reach net-zero greenhouse-gas pollution by 2050, calls for making buildings more energy efficient and powering them with carbon-free electricity. Last September, the town planning department announced that the town has received a $100,000 Green Communities Grant to install efficient lighting at the Hardy and Peirce Elementary schools. This award adds to utility and local funding to cut electricity costs at both schools. It is the town's ninth such grant since 2010. In 2019, the town's eighth "Green Communities" award totaled $98,052. The money targeted energy initiatives at Ottoson, Bishop and the Jefferson Cutter House. Also in 2019, the town's HeatSmart program drew significant interest among residents seeking more efficient heating and cooling. At the time, 85 contracts were reported. In 2017, town launched Arlington Community Choice Aggregation, a program that leverages the town's bulk buying power to competitively procure electricity for Arlington residents and businesses. In 2020, the name changed to Arlington Community Electricity (ACE). In 2015, Arlington installed 2,318 solar panels on the roofs of six schools. In 2012, two years after the town received its first Green Community grant from the state, Solarize Arlington launched. Ryan Katofsky, long a member of Sustainable Arlington and the solarize coach that year, told Pruitt that about 150 solar contracts were signed. "That was actually the highest number of contracts signed in any Solarize campaign in any single community in 2012," Pruitt wrote. "They also had about about 850 inquiries, many of which Ryan thinks were people who installed solar in years after the campaign." Read the entire Boston Magazine article >> YourArlington.com has provided news and opinion about Arlington, Mass., since 2006. Publisher Bob Sprague is a former editor at The Boston Globe, Boston Herald and Arlington Advocate. Read more at https://www.yourarlington.com/about.