Montpelier hopes to become the nation’s first state capital to be powered entirely by renewable energy.
City officials announced a plan to turn Montpelier into a net zero city at a news conference at City Hall Monday. The city is counting on myriad efficiency and renewable energy generation projects to help transition off fossil fuels by 2030.
“We can no longer wait for the federal government or international organizations to address the urgent problem of climate change,” said Montpelier Mayor John Hollar. “It’s the responsibility of each of us – acting individually and acting through our communities – to take action to address this problem that we face as a society.”
The goal includes all forms of energy consumption – transportation, heat and electricity – for residents, businesses and the city. Green Mountain Power, which serves Montpelier, gets some of its power from out-of-state energy sources.
To meet the target, state utilities and businesses will work with the city to set up more electric vehicle charging stations, extend a pilot heat pump program, retrofit state and residential buildings to be more energy efficient, and install a solar array at the city’s entrance.
It is unclear how far Montpelier will have to go to meet its renewable energy goal because the city’s total energy portfolio is unknown, officials say.
Part of the initiative includes setting up a system to instantaneously measure both the amount and type of energy consumption in the city, according to Andrea Colnes, executive director of the Energy Action Network, a group working to move the state toward its renewable energy goals.
“We will be launching what we call a ‘community energy dashboard,’ which will be available to energy customers throughout the state,” she said. Montpelier will be the first to try the dashboard.
She said Montpelier’s initiative aligns with the state’s goal to source 90 percent of its power from renewables by 2050.
Dan Jones, chair of the Montpelier Energy Advisory Committee, which was established in 2010 to guide the city’s energy policy, said the city has already made headway.
He said a downtown biomass heating project will replace the city’s oil consumption with wood chips; more than 500 homes have been weatherized to increase thermal and energy efficiency; and the city has nearly completed a bidding process for a solar project that will power nearby municipal buildings.
Even so, Jones said it’s time to move beyond piecemeal energy reform and toward a “system-wide re-imagining” of the state’s energy priorities.
“The next steps require all of Montpelier to engage in this mission,” he said.
Efficiency Vermont, the state’s efficiency utility, will host a “Net Zero Montpelier” meeting in September to inform residents and businesses about energy efficiency.
Gov. Peter Shumlin announced a plan last month to invest $8 million in energy efficiency retrofits for state buildings. Any savings will be used to fund other energy efficiency projects, officials said.
The city will pay $500,000 for the Montpelier District Heat Plant, a biomass facility still under construction. The state and federal government are footing the bill for the $20 million project, which will have a $3 million cost overrun.
“We’re not going to be looking at spending a lot of additional tax dollars to do this. This is going to create a partnership through efficiencies, through investments by businesses and others,” Hollar said.
