Politics & Government

Middle School Solar Panels Dedicated

Project is town's latest accomplishment in its efforts to go green; Hamden Hall students honored for their efforts.

A dedication ceremony held this week celebrates the installation of the new 5-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system at Hamden Middle School.

The town earned the system through the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s Connecticut Clean Energy Communities Program. The 5-kW solar PV system, valued at $45,000, was installed by Consulting Engineering Services Inc.

“Thanks to extraordinary vision by residents, members of the Legislative Council and our Energy Use and Climate Change Commission, Hamden has established itself as a municipal leader in energy efficiency and reduction of consumption," Mayor Scott Jackson said. "I am very proud to be a part of this effort – be it one car at a time or one facility at a time – to reduce our dispersal of pollutants into the atmosphere and our dependence on foreign energy sources.”

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The Hamden Energy Use and Climate Change Commission played a key role in helping the town earn the solar array at Hamden Middle School, coordinating numerous activities to boost clean energy signups under the CTCleanEnergyOptions program and earning clean energy points for Hamden.

Most recently, the commission, with Frank Gasparro – a teacher at Hamden Hall Country Day School – serving as chair, helped organize several clean energy signup drives involving student volunteers from Hamden Hall. These included drives at one of the town’s polling sites on Election Day and at local businesses as part of Hamden’s Earth Day festivities.

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Students staffed information tables at these venues and secured approximately 300 clean energy signups – nearly half of the town’s clean energy customers to date.

Gasparro and the four Hamden Hall seniors were recognized during adedication ceremony for their efforts that helped secure the solar panels for the town.

Gasparro said his team of volunteer students nearly doubled the number of households enrolled in the Connecticut CleanEnergy Options Program via signup drives over the past three years. Drives were held on Election Day and Earth Day, among others.

Hamden Hall students also assembled rolling billboards that promoted clean energy during the Greater New Haven Columbus Day Parade in October.

At the dedication ceremony, Gasparro was joined by seniors Richard LoRicco, Michael Russo, Jared Bronen and Jon Katzman. After the ribbon-cutting, Gasparro and the students were able to see the solar panels in action on the roof of the school.

The town earned the solar system through its commitment to purchase 20 percent clean energy by 2010 and the support of residents and businesses enrolled in the Clean EnergyOptions Program.

Gasparro said Hamden Hall has not completed its objective with regard to signup drives.

“We want to get to 4 percent of Hamden’s total households, which is 1,000 signups,” he said.Currently, the town has nearly 700 customers enrolled.

Jared Bronen said he volunteered to man the signup drives because the civic-minded cause produced an immediate result.

“Here, we are making a difference that you can actually see,” he said of the solarpanels that are already paying off in the bottom line of the town’s energy bills, according to Director of Facilities Mark Albanese.

“When I think about solar energy, the one word that comes to mind is 'inevitable',” said Gasparro. “As President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union speech in January, oil subsidies need to go and we need to start helping alternative energy manufacturers.Hamden’s support for clean energy shows that we’re willing to embrace energy change.

“I bet that when students in the 22nd century learn that we used to generate energy from stuff we dug out of the earth and burned, they will wonder what we were thinking.”

The Hamden Energy Use and Climate Change Commission also used a Community Innovations Grant from CCEF to implement several of its awareness-raising activities. It purchased energy-efficient light bulbs to offer to residents as an incentive to sign up for clean energy, purchased energy-oriented books for the town library and printed promotional posters to jazz up the clean energy information tables.

All of these activities helped to boost Hamden’s clean energy points. As of Dec. 31, 2010, Hamden had earned a total of 740 clean energy points from CCEF.

Hamden earned one point for each of the 689 customers enrolled in the CTCleanEnergyOptions program and three points for each of the 17 clean energy installations in town. Hamden’s clean energy points have earned the town a total of 11 kW in clean energy systems from CCEF.

In 2007, the town installed part of its earned kilowatts – a 4-kW solar PV array – at Keefe Community Center. With the new 5-kW solar array at Hamden Middle School, the town now has a balance of 2 kW of earned clean energy systems yet to be installed.

The town can earn points toward additional earned kilowatts by garnering more clean energy signups or having more local businesses and households install clean energy systems, such assolar PV, solar thermal or geothermal.

Looking to the future, Hamden hopes to strengthen its commitment to clean energy and energy efficiency. It is developing plans to install – an installation that would help Hamden not only reach but exceed its 20 percent clean energy by 2012 goal.

The town also has plans to install solar demonstration projects at Bassett Park: a 2-kW solar PV system on the roof of the concession stand, solar thermal panels and a 60-gallon solar hot water tank also located at the concession stand, and a BigBelly Solar garbage and recycling compactor.

The town also plans to expand its outreach to local businesses to help them become greener and is considering establishing a town energy center.

Hamden, which became a Connecticut Clean Energy Community in 2005, has had a strong record of supporting clean energy and ranks as one of Connecticut’s top performers in theCTCleanEnergyOptions program.

The town is one of 53 Connecticut Clean Energy Communities statewide that, collectively, have earned over 303 kilowatts ofsolar PV systems from CCEF.

For more information about these and other Connecticut communities, visit the Program Progress Reports page on CCEF’s Web site or the general Communities section, www.ctcleanenergy.com/communities.

“Hamden has demonstrated the power of community collaboration,” said Jillian Carbone, project associate for CCEF. “The clean energy support initiatives undertaken by the town’s leaders, residents, businesses and students ensure that Hamden, and Connecticut, will continue on a path to cleaner air and energy independence.”


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