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06/23/2015 01:30 PMThe Town of Clinton has set a goal of using 100 percent renewable energy by 2030 and the Clinton Energy Committee (CEC) recently enlisted a group of graduate students at Yale to compile a report on the town’s current energy consumption.
“We reached out to a Yale professor in January and said, ‘We have a town on the shoreline that’s willing to disclose all of our energy consumption information,’ and asked if they were interested in helping us,” said Paul Gebauer, chairman of the CEC. “The next thing you know we had five master’s students come out to Clinton who couldn’t have been more enthusiastic about the project.”
After months of research and work, the students, along with their professor, compiled an in-depth report examining the town’s residential and municipal energy consumption. In addition, they presented several different measures that can be taken as Clinton moves toward being more efficient and the use of renewable energy in the future.
Aidan Moran, a member of the CEC and a civil engineer, stressed that the most important aspect of the work was to establish a baseline in terms of the town’s energy usage as of 2015.
“You need to know where you are so that going forward, we could see if we’re doing better,” said Moran. “We will have a reference point to measure against to see which energy-saving programs are having the greatest impact.”
The report wasn’t limited to studying the town’s electricity consumption. The students also looked into the town’s natural gas, fuel oil, and gasoline usage.
According to the report, there are three primary programs the CEC and the town should focus on, including the Home Energy Solutions (HES) Program, the Weatherization Assistance Program, and Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE).
The HES Program has been underway for months with many residents already seeing the benefits. For $99—$25 of which is donated to Clinton’s Families Helping Families—a HES crew performs an energy audit that includes caulking and sealing air leaks, installing water-saving showerheads, and replacing current light bulbs with efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. The crews will also evaluate the home for larger improvement projects and check for rebate qualifications.
The Weatherization Assistance Program, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, assists low-income residents to minimize energy-related costs and fuel usage in their homes through retrofits and improvement measures.
C-PACE assists commercial, industrial, and multi-family property owners, helping them to access affordable, long-term financing for smart energy upgrades to their buildings. C-PACE is run by the Connecticut Green Bank.
“Since more than 45 percent of all electric consumption is by commercial or non-residential properties in Clinton, this will hopefully prove to be a great opportunity to help businesses reduce their overhead as well as reduce the town’s overall energy consumption,” said Moran.
Moran pointed out that the report was a win-win situation as the students were able to apply their skills to real-world situations and the residents of Clinton will see savings. Gebauer also saw a wide variety of benefits.
“This report is so detailed and so in-depth,” said Gebauer. “I can’t imagine you’d get a better report if you paid for it. It’s a passion for these students, plus they get credit for it, and it’s a great resource for our town.”
While First Selectman Willie Fritz has not yet reviewed the entire report, he looks forward to implementing more programs that can save the town money.
“The fact that it didn’t cost us any money was great and the students were very ambitious—I saw them throughout town,” said Fritz. “Any piece of information that can help us is great. We are already ambitious with some of the stuff we’re working on and this report will help us implement a few things that can help us.”
For information on CEC’s upcoming programs and ways to reduce energy costs, visit facebook.com/clintonenergy.