Resident to Raise Energy Awareness
by Pooja Shah,
The Stamford Times
STAMFORD - Darek Shapiro remembers how his childhood summers were spent in Stamford. He used to swim in the water, breathe the fresh air and love being outdoors. Today, said Shapiro, who is now a year-long Stamford resident, the children are being robbed of the same opportunity. Instead, they are breathing in pollutants and it's up to the residents of Stamford to change that.
Shapiro, an architect with Stamford-based Environmental Architecture, LLC, formed the Stamford 20 by 2010 Clean Energy Committee to unite interested community members and city officials in the quest to reduce emissions by 20 percent. In a resolution adopted by the Board of Representatives on March 2, the city agreed to the Clean Energy Fund proposition where the city would receive a free solar panel for every 100 residents that switch to clean energy.
"Stamford has been labeled as one of the ten worst cities in New England for air pollution. We have a high number of people suffering from asthma and other respiratory diseases. Nearly 2,000 of the students in the Stamford public schools has asthma," said Shapiro.
All taxpayers currently pay a certain percentage of their monthly bill into the Clean Energy Fund. Under the adopted proposition, residents will receive an option to switch to clean energy in the monthly statement. The switch, explained Shapiro, amounts to an additional $100 a year or a 10 percent increase in the annual bill.
For every 100 residents who agree to switch to clean energy, the Clean Energy Fund will donate one solar panel to the city. The 2 kilowatt solar panel, explained Shapiro, has a $25,000 retail price and is strong enough to power a small house.
BOR member John Zelinksy said that the panels could be used at community locations such as the Woodside Firestation on Washington Boulevard. Shapiro estimated that a firestation would need four panels to run efficiently.
Nancy Domiziano of the Engineering Bureau estimated that Stamford has 122,000 residents living in 40,000 homes. The goal, she said, is to get approximately 25 percent or 10,000 homes switched to clean energy by 2010. There are currently 20 homes signed up for clean energy.
"Let's call a spade a spade. If we don't start now, we won't get anywhere. If people know there is a problem, they will begin to do something about it, so right now we are getting the word out," said Shapiro.
Shapiro said that residents will also begin a slightly cheaper clean energy option through Levco Inc. He said that while residents are free to make their own decision, the Clean Energy Fund will not recognize residents who chose Levco Inc. as using clean energy.
The reason, he explained, is that Levco Inc. has been classified as class 2 renewables. The company, he said, won't tell you where their energy is coming from but they can say they are clean energy since they have purchased clean energy certification. In reality, he said, the companies are using energy from garbage burning in Bridgeport and nuclear power in Milton [Millstone]. That energy is classified as "dirty energy" according to the Clean Energy Fund.
Shapiro said his next goal is to create a taskforce on clean energy that will have the power to make recommendations to the mayor and other citizens.
The City of Stamford, said Domiziano, is taking steps of its own including buying solar panels at the recycling center and at the new Academy of Information Technology and Engineering building. These panels, she said, have a 50 percent reimbursement by the Clean Energy Fund.
Domiziano and Land Bureau Chief Robin Stein recently went to a clean energy conference in Toronto, Canada. Stein said Toronto had utilized different methods to reduce emissions and he hoped that once the city officials go through some of the research presented at the conference, they can use some similar methods in Stamford.
Pooja Shah can be reached via email at pshah@thehour.com.