Swampscott loses out on green bid

SWAMPSCOTT – Despite the best efforts of the Renewable Energy Committee, the town won’t be seeing any green in the form of energy efficiency grants in the immediate future.The town was hoping it would be designated a Green Community by the state, which would have allowed it to apply for a portion of the $8.1 million available in grants to Green Communities for renewable energy efficiency projects.The first round of funding is scheduled to be disbursed by June 30.Of the 38 communities that applied, the state designated 35 as a Green Community this week but Swampscott was not one of them.Renewable Energy Committee Chairman Tara Gallagher said the committee is very disappointed, but it would continue to press forward.”It’s really a shame,” she said. “We worked incredibly hard to become a Green Community. We fully met four of the five criteria. The one we didn’t meet was a technical problem with wording that we have to go back to Town Meeting to change.”The required energy baseline inventory for all municipal energy use was completed and the town made a commitment to reduce its energy usage by 20 percent over the next five years, which was one of the requirements. The town has already adopted the required efficiency and procurement policy for town vehicles and adopted a stretch energy code, which is an energy efficient building code that will apply to all new construction and renovations.The snafu in meeting state requirements was with the adoption of new local zoning bylaws, which would allow renewable and alternative energy research facilities in an industrial zone.Gallagher said Town Meeting was extremely supportive of the Renewable Energy Committee efforts and the zoning bylaw change would be brought before the next regular or special Town Meeting.”There’s going to be another funding round in the fall and next spring,” she said. “As soon as the technical problem is fixed we’ll re-apply for grants.”The costs associated with applying to become a Green Community were paid for with a grant. In the fall of 2009, the town, in a joint application with Salem, was awarded a planning assistance grant from The Green Communities Program at the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER). The program was established to help municipalities implement energy saving measures to reduce their environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions. Funding for the grants and program are provided by the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the Green Communities Division of the DOER, using money from the auction of carbon allowances, which provided 103 communities with $1.2 million in private energy consulting services.