http://www.timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080305/NEWS02/803...

Valley towns vote to reduce energy use

March 5, 2008

By Peter Hirschfeld Vermont Press Bureau

Voters listen to town meeting proceedings from the bleachers Tuesday at Waitsfield Elementary School. Waitsfield joined Warren and Fayston in endorsing a voluntary plan to reduce energy consumption by 10 percent over the next two years. Photo: Jesse Schloff/Times Argus

WARREN – Residents of three towns in the Mad River Valley voted to save some money, and perhaps the planet, by reducing energy consumption in the region by 10 percent over the next two years.

Voters in Warren, Waitsfield and Fayston gave overwhelming approval to a Town Meeting Day article that calls on residents and businesses to cut their carbon footprint by 10 percent by 2010. The "10 by 10" initiative, as it is known, was introduced by members of the Carbon Shredders, a coalition of area residents.

"The overriding intent is to save the town some money and help the planet along the way," Roni Donnenfeld, a Warren Elementary School teacher and member of Carbon Shredders, told Warren residents during their town meeting Tuesday.

Rising fuel costs continue to dent the household budgets of Vermonters in the Mad River Valley and beyond. Climatology experts, meanwhile, say greenhouse gas emissions are threatening to erode weather-dependent cultural traditions in Vermont, including maple sugaring and skiing.

Donnenfeld said the nonbinding resolution empowers local residents to tackle a global problem and save money – as much as $500,000 by participating in the program.

"We got so fired up that we wanted to get the buzz out, get the word out," Donnenfeld told Warren residents.

Though the measures passed by near-unanimous voice votes in all three towns, no one is obligated to participate.

Carbon Shredders will host a kickoff event on March 18 at 7 p.m. at the Big Picture Theater in Waitsfield. The workshop, sponsored by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Seventh Generation and Yestermorrow Design and Building School, will teach residents not only how to save energy, but how to calculate the carbon-cutting impacts of those savings. Public and private donors are providing about $3,000 in seed money to help get the project off the ground. Voters in Warren appropriated $600 for the effort.

"These kinds of initiatives are crucial to what's happening nationally," said Ben Luce, a Warren scientist who works as a clean-energy consultant. "This town-driven, grassroots approach is the best way to do it."

Donnenfeld said each resident will decide how best to reduce the size of their carbon footprint. Word-of-mouth buzz, she hopes, will spread the movement throughout the Valley and beyond.

In Warren, residents also approved an accompanying article that asks town government to look at its energy consumption, and to try to meet the same "10 by 10" goal within the limits of its resources.

Dennis Derryberry, town energy consultant in Waitsfield, said the yes votes give "formal recognition that this is an important topic."