What a treat to find a group of people who are for something good, not just against something bad.
Talk about finding a bright side.
Solar Up Northfield, an ad-hoc group of that town’s residents dedicated to increasing the community’s use of clean energy, organized tours of solar-powered Northfield homes recently to teach their neighbors about installing photo-electric panels.
“We want to give everybody the (knowledge) they need to install solar,” said Emily Koester, a member of Solar Up Northfield. “We realize that it’s a daunting proposition for some people who think, ‘Where do I start?’”
Nine Northfield homeowners opened their homes up to free tours for two days to encourage their neighbors to do more — more than oppose a policy of fossil fuel dependence and development that Kinder Morgan represents, and to do more than simply support the idea of solar power. But instead they asked people to act on a clean energy inclination and to explore using solar electric energy in their daily lives.
This is how a bumper sticker slogan can become real. Think globally, act locally.
Solar Up Northfield has its beginnings back in March, when Koester, Susan O’Connor, Lynn Hansell, Hughes Pack and Jinx Hastings, all Northfield residents, came together to fight the hated proposed Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline that would have run through town and have installed a huge compressor station there.
“It was fighting the pipeline … that was really the catalyst,” Koester told The Recorder, adding that the five shared a common desire to keep fossil fuels in the ground.
“We thought, ‘We can’t just be saying no, no, no,’ because people need energy,” she continued. Once Kinder Morgan withdrew its application for the pipeline, the group decided to turn efforts toward encouraging solar power, a more environmentally friendly energy source.
“We wanted to tell (Northfield residents), ‘Well, this is something that you can do,’” Koester said.
We love that can-do attitude and wish more people would follow Solar Up Northfield’s example.
Of course, other towns have — albeit through more formal, state-supported efforts like the Solarize programs, which provide advice, technical analysis, state subsidies and cooperative purchasing discounts for home solar projects.
Conway, Shelburne and Colrain have recently formed a Solarize program in which more than 150 residents have expressed interest.
Based on a survey that was distributed to Northfield residents, Koester said his townspeople are clearly interested, too.
“We’ve had 25 families express interest in installing solar, based on the survey,” she said.
Solar Up Northfield also has two other events on the horizon.
On July 14, at Dickinson Memorial Library, Peter Talmage, a former member of the Northfield Energy Committee, will discuss strategies for reducing energy consumption. And then, on July 28, representatives from various solar companies in the Pioneer Valley will come together for a solar fair in the meeting room of Town Hall.
Hope to see you there.