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Date: 9/14/2023
WESTFIELD — During public participation at the City Council meeting on Sept. 7, Agawam Adult Services Librarian Cher Collins and John Meiklejohn of Voices for Climate in Granville invited councilors and residents to a forum on how to access clean energy incentives on Sept. 27 in Wilson Hall at Westfield State University.
Collins said the purpose of the forum, “Clean Energy Incentives for All,” is to let residents know about financial incentives available to them. She said attendees are welcome at 5:45 p.m. for a reception with light refreshments during which clean energy resources and information will be exhibited. The forum presentation will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by a question and answer segment.
Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni will welcome the audience, followed by a panel featuring Larry Chretien, CEO of Green Energy Consumer Alliance; Massachusetts Deputy Climate Chief Jonathan Schrag; and state Sen. Paul Mark (D-Becket).
Beth Spong, the new CEO of Dean’s Beans Organic Coffee, of Orange, will share her company’s historical journey and successes to become a business committed to ecological accountability, and highlight the business benefits of the state and federal incentives. A question and answer session will close out the evening.
“We hope our speakers will generate discussion and incentives to help us move towards a more sustainable future,” Collins said.
Meiklejohn said the forum is about giving individuals, businesses and communities the opportunities to save money, to be paid for saving money, and do something good. He said not too many times in his life has he been able to save money while doing something for the greater good.
“Massachusetts now has an extraordinary, unprecedented level of resources for many segments of society to take advantage of, including municipalities,” he said. “An enormous number of people simply don’t know these incentives are out there — they haven’t heard, or have no idea how to access them.”
He said the forum will discuss on the practical level how to take advantage of a long list of incentives.
Meiklejohn gave an example from his own life. He said as the homeowner of a small home in Granville, he wanted to transition away from fossil fuels. He put in a heat pump and got $10,000 back from the state for the pump, which cost about $14,000. He said the federal government will also kick in a tax credit on top, and there are zero-interest loans from the state to cover the rest of the cost “in case you can’t come up with the rest.”
Collins and Meiklejohn handed out flyers and encouraged councilors to come to the forum, from which they said the city could also benefit. Meiklejohn said he also asked for permission from the mayor to put up a banner in Westfield.
The Clean Energy Incentives for All forum is part of Climate Preparedness Week, Sept. 24-30, put on by the Pioneer Valley Library Collaborative and its community partner Voices for Change. The collaborative is a partnership of 10 Western Massachusetts libraries that aspire to be a hub of climate education and conversation for communities in the region, including the public libraries of Agawam, Granville, Westfield, Northampton, Southwick, Tolland, West Springfield, Easthampton, Williamstown and Westhampton.
Sponsors for the event include Westfield Gas & Electric, Citizens Climate Lobby-Pioneer Valley, Elder Climate Action-Massachusetts, Climate Action Now-Western Massachusetts, First Churches’ Peace & Justice Team, and the Center for EcoTechnology. Forum partners include Sierra Club-Massachusetts, MassAudubon, Citizen Climate Lobby-Berkshire, League of Women Voters of the Northampton Area, Kestrel Land Trust, Connecticut River Conservancy, Interfaith Power & Light, and local energy advocates.
Registration is required for this event. The registration link may be found on the websites of each of the member libraries, including westath.libcal.com/event/10939744. Interested members of the public who are unable to attend may watch the forum over livestream on Facebook, or through the recorded video available approximately two weeks after the event through member libraries’ websites.
Any questions about the event may be directed to John Meiklejohn at jmiserve183@gmail.com or call 413-348-2848.