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Date: 9/14/2023
LUDLOW — Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Green Communities Coordinator Chris Mason met with the Board of Selectmen at its Sept. 5 meeting to discuss becoming a green community.
According to Mass.gov, the Green Community Designation and Grant Program has designated 291 cities and towns as green communities.
Designation grant allocations are based on a $125,000 base plus a population/per capita income formula.
Competitive grants are also available annually up to $200,000 per applicant for green communities.
For example, Belchertown was designated a green community in 2010 and has earned approximately $532,000 in grants.
To become a green community, towns must meet the five green communities criteria and submit a designation application.
Town Administrator Marc Strange added that Ludlow’s application deadline is Dec. 29.
Those include adopting as-of-right siting for renewable and alternative energy, adopt an expedited permitting process, create an energy reduction plan to reduce energy use by 20% over five years, adopt a fuel efficient vehicle purchase policy and minimize life cycle cost in new construction by adopting a stretch code.
Mason said he was at the meeting to present more about the stretch code which must be adopted by Town Meeting.
Strange said that there is currently a placeholder on the Oct. 2 Town Meeting warrant to adopt the stretch code and the other four criteria “can be taken care of internally.”
According to the presentation, to complete criteria five of minimizing life cycle costs, a town must require all new residential construction and all new commercial and industrial real estate construction to minimize, to the extent feasible, the life-cycle cost of the facility by utilizing energy efficiency, water conservation and other renewable or alternative energy technologies.
Mason added, “If you adopt the stretch code, it is designed to reduce life cycle costs.”
Some benefits of the stretch code include shifting costs to longest-lasting building component and controlling ventilation.
The presentation also discussed the Home Energy Rating System.
Mason added, “The HERS rating is a way of measuring how efficient a house is. You test the house as you are building it so that if you miss sealing some air leaks you know about it before you put the Sheetrock on. The lower the number, the more efficient the house is and the less greenhouse emissions it is.”
Mason said that a HERS rater can provide information to builders and help them identify where they can improve things.
“Largely a stretch code house is really taking time, so you build a building properly and find those leaks,” he added.
Building Commissioner Leslie Ward was also present at the meeting to express her concerns with the stretch code.
She said, “I have several concerns. Adopting the stretch code is not just for new construction, it does affect existing buildings and that is where my biggest concern is. For most of the folks that are building new construction these days, they are going above and beyond anymore to get the incentives available to them.”
Ward added that some buildings in Ludlow will never be able to pass a leakage or blower door test because they are so old.
Selectman Tony Goncalves said, “It’s too much, too quick. The fact that Leslie is taking issue with this and there are probably too many questions. I just don’t like the idea of taking it to Town Meeting if we are going to sit here, she’s aware of what is going on and still has questions. I don’t want to put this in front of 80 or 90 people without having any time to look at it.”
The Board of Selectmen voted to table the discussion and not put the article on the Oct. 2 Town Meeting warrant.
Board of Selectmen Chair James Gennette said that Ward and Mason should work together to provide more information on the stretch code before presenting the idea again before the next Town Meeting.
Goncalves said, “The process gets slowed down a lot and the cost of these inspections to have a guy come in to see what’s leaking and what is not leaking can be costly.”
Ward said that a HERS rater on average cost $1,800 and the cost of building materials that go into sealing everything can be anywhere from $20,000 to $70,000.
The Board of Selectmen said they look forward to becoming more educated on the topic in the future.