What We have Done and What We are Doing

Becoming Green: An Easton Timeline

The Green Communities Committee:

Appointed in 2009, the Committee will serve " to help educate the Town of Easton on clean energy options and measures that can be implemented to reduce energy use, conserve resources and reduce emissions; to assist in the development of cost effective projects on municipal facilities to reduce energy and resource use and develop renewable energy resources; and to promote awareness of new technologies and their potential impact on energy use and resource conservation."

For suggestions, questions, or request more information by emailing Adrienne Edwards (current Chair of the Green Communities Committee).

Easton has been participating in the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources Energy Audit Program and the Massachusetts Energy Management Pilot.

Easton received the EPA's Environmental Merit Award on Earth Day 2009!

In 2008 Easton's Town Administrator appointed the Green Communities Act Task Force to:

• Become experts on the Green Communities Act
• Assess opportunities for grants and loans to "advance energy efficiency"
• Assess the opportunity to reduce energy consumption
• Make contact with the Division of Green Communities
• Assess the opportunity to initiate a green municipal building program
• Assess the opportunity for citing "as of right" renewable energy facilities in Easton
• Provide the Town Administrator with a draft report of these assessments

Since 2007 Easton has participated in the EPA's Community Energy Challenge by:

• Collecting and monitoring municipal building energy usage
• Generating Energy Star Ratings for Town buildings

We have made Town buildings more energy efficient through improvements such as:

• Replacing light fixtures and bulbs with more efficient alternatives
• Installing high efficiency boilers
• Installing sensors on light fixtures
• Reusing our waste oil with a waste oil heater

We have been developing and adopting good practices to reduce energy usage:

• Since Fall of 2008 Easton's Information Systems manager:
  • set office computers to automatically go to sleep mode
  • virtualized servers
• Promoting awareness of everyday actions that make a difference
• Distributing information and increasing energy efficiency awareness

We are making efforts to decrease our overall carbon footprint and reduce waste by:

• Increasing recycling at the Town Offices and Schools
• Encouraging digital documents instead of paper printouts
• Making available single stream recycling to Easton residents