Camden’s Monday-evening pandemic town meeting, under the lights at the Snow Bowl, was historic for several reasons—the socially distant, drive-in-theater aspect being just one. Another was the objector who used the darkness and “John Doe” to hide his identity. (Thank you, moderator Dave Morrison for shutting him down.) Most notable of all was the tremendous support for the $2.3 million overhaul of energy systems across all town buildings. This is the right way to address such needs, and the contractor’s (Siemens AG) performance guarantee is the icing on the cake. 

The discussion of the work, financing and cost savings left out one important item: These upgrades are projected to cut our town’s CO2 emissions by some 110 tons each year from current levels. Almost half of this, 48.1 tons, will come from the library alone; then the Snow Bowl lodge will save 22.4 tons, the opera house 21.5 and so on. To put this in perspective, the solar panels on my home have saved just under 17 tons of CO2 since they went online in July 2016. 

Reducing greenhouse gasses while saving money and creating employment is the Green New Deal in a nutshell. The Maine Climate Council has mapped out an ambitious energy future for our state and we should all be pleased that our town is doing its part. Thank you, Select Board and everyone else who made this happen.        

 

Silvio Calabi lives in Camden