Green Technology Advisory Group

Mission

Provide vision, information, and proposals to the Town through the Board of Selectman enabling and promoting the application of green and sustainable technology on current and future Town buildings, property, and services as well as residential, commercial and industrial buildings and projects in Westborough.

Goals

The Green Technology Advisory Group will act in an advisory capacity to offer the Town suggestions and plans to use green technology to:

• Improve the internal environmental quality of current Town buildings
• Improve standard operating procedures across Town services to optimize employee safety and health and minimize damaging effects on the environment
• Reduce the cost of operating Town buildings and services
• Promote sustainable development of residential, commercial and industrial buildings
• Promote construction, commercial and industrial processes, and land use which protects our water resources
• Create energy to offset cost of Town operations

Roles and Responsibilities

1. Coordinate the EPA Energy Challenge Town wide
2. Assess and report on the carbon footprint of Town properties and processes
3. Explore and become knowledgeable on an expanding range of applicable green technologies and products
4. Meet as requested, with school administration and Town department heads to identify their environmental concerns, interests and opportunities for improvement in their field of work or their sphere of responsibility
5. Meet as requested, with the Planning Board, Zoning Board of Appeals, the Country Club Operating Committee and the Conservation Commission to identify their environmental concerns, interests and opportunities to develop new policies or guidelines to improve the environmental sustainability of new buildings and land development and maintenance.
6. Identify opportunities for improving the environmental impact of Town buildings, property and processes
7. Identify opportunities to save the Town money through the application of green technologies or use of environmentally friendly products
8. Facilitate education of Town departments and committees regarding green technologies
9. Keep track of the State's "zero net energy building" initiative for future application to Westborough
10. Meet with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to assess opportunities for funding green Town projects
11. Promote green and sustainable residential, commercial, and industrial practices
12. Identify and promote residential. commercial and industrial construction and renovation practices that utilize green technologies.

Composition

The advisory group would be made up of:

• Westborough residents or volunteers employed in Westborough with content expertise in green, clean, and alternative energy technologies for example: engineers, scientists, environmentalists, teachers, farmers, gardeners, contractors, builders: business people in green companies. and citizens with a passion for green or sustainable technology and resources.
• Town department heads or employees with interest or skills in these areas.
• A representative from the Department of Public Works, the Building Department, Building and Grounds. and the School Department

Formal Entity Type and Process for Approval

• An ad hoc BOS committee with no appointment limits

Chairmanship and Subcommittees

Determined by the group

Cost

No support staff, minimal offices supplies for minutes if formal group, Town designated meeting space.

Examples of technologies or actions they might explore:

For Existing Westborough Municipal Buildings or Town Benefit:

• Use of Zero — VOC (volatile organic compound) paint
• Use of carpeting made from natural fibers, dual-flush toilets and sinks made from recycled materials
• Purchase of take-back and recyclable electronics
• Non Toxic Products - cleaning products and others
• Integrated Pest Management - for grounds and indoors
• Complete conversion to ENERGY STAR qualified lighting
• Purchasing wind energy from Massachusetts Energy Consumers Alliance (Mass Energy).
• Solar energy generation
• Wind turbine energy generation

For New Construction of Town or Privately Owned Buildings

• Rainwater harvesting (Cisterns, Rain Barrels, Rain Gardens)
• Use of insulated concrete forms, deliver high insulating value, prevent air infiltration, and creates a high thermal mass, which results in significant energy savings when compared to wood or steel-framed homes
• Instaliation of permeable pavement for parking lots and driveways
• Installation of green roof systems
• Use of green retaining walls
• Solar powered buildings
• Green building materials (roofing, siding, flooring, countertops, etc.)
• LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Certification
• Adoption of Low Impact Development criteria within building codes

For Town Vehicles/employees (as appropriate for use)

• Consider purchasing more gas efficient vehicles, for example, EcoBoost, Ford Motor's high-volume, affordable engine technology vehicles
• Consider use of auxiliary fuel modification system, grease cars
• Promoting carpooiing, Rideshare, Smart Vehicle Use

Definitions

Clean Tech

Clean tech is the application of the environmental sciences to conserve the natural environment and resources, and by curbing the negative impacts of human involvement. Sustainable development is the core of environmental technologies. When applying sustainable development as a solution for environmental issues, the solutions need to be socially equitable, economically viable, and environmentally sound.

Sustainable Development

"Humanity has the ability to make development sustainable — to ensure that it meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." — World Commission on Environment and Development (also known as the Brundtland Commission), 1987

Breaking new ground in the 1980s. "sustainable development" concepts emerged to synthesize environmental, social and economics issues, and the Brundtland definition lays the foundation for most. More recent definitions attempt to give fuller meaning to intergenerational values and provide a better understanding of the scope for diverse local, regional and global perspectives.

"Sustainability occurs when we maintain or improve the material and social conditions for human health and the environment over time without exceeding the ecological capabilities that support them." ________________ EPA's National Risk Management Research Laboratory (Research Highlights, December 2003)

Low Impact Development

LID is an approach to land development (or re-development) that works with nature to manage storm water as close to its source as possible. LID employs principles such as preserving and recreating natural landscape features, minimizing effective imperviousness to create functional and appealing site drainage that treat storm water as a resource rather than a waste product. There are many practices that have been used to adhere to these principles such as bioretention facilities, rain gardens, vegetated rooftops, rain barrels, and permeable pavements. By implementing LID principles and practices, water can be managed in a way that reduces the impact of built areas and promotes the natural movement of water within an ecosystem or watershed. Applied on a broad scale, LID can maintain or restore a watershed's hydrologic and ecological functions. LID has been characterized as a sustainable storm water practice by the Water Environment Research Foundation and others.

Green Roofs

Green roofs, also known as vegetated roof covers or eco-roofs, are thin layers of living vegetation installed on top of conventional flat or sloping roofs. Green roofs protect conventional roof waterproofing systems while adding a wide range of ecological and aesthetic benefits. They are a powerful tool in combating the adverse impacts of land development and the loss of open space.

LEED

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass more than 14,000 projects in 50 U.S. States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area.[2][citation needed] The hallmark of LEED is that it is an open and transparent process where the technical criteria proposed by the LEED committees are publicly reviewed for approval by the more than 10,000 membership organizations that currently constitute the USGBC.