A Green Lakewood

chris richards · Post by **chris richards** » Thu May 01, 2008 1:06 pm

I just listened to a podcast of Now on PBS called Save Energy, Save Money

It is a very interesting listen, and I recommend it to everyone. It deals with a green initiative in Cambridge, Massachusetts that looks at businesses and the aging housing stock to develop a plan to encourage people to retrofit their properties with current technologies and products.

I think it's a model to closely watch considering Lakewood's aging housing stock.

Gary Rice · Post by **Gary Rice** » Thu May 01, 2008 2:17 pm

For those who may roll their eyes at the idea of "green this" and "green that", please be advised that I just received my gas bill for the month of April, after installing a new 90% efficiency boiler in the home. The savings are OUTSTANDING and almost beyond belief to me!

In addition to helping the environment, there will hopefully be a lot more jingle in the monthly pocket now. Even though these new units are not cheap, over not-too-much time, I would expect that this boiler will pay for itself- and then some!

Please see my column (Death in the Home) in the OBSERVER this week about the importance of keeping your gas appliances up to date and working well.

Best of all, going green could well help you keep more of your OWN green too. :lol:

Bryan Schwegler · Post by **Bryan Schwegler** » Thu May 01, 2008 3:22 pm

Gary Rice wrote:For those who may roll their eyes at the idea of "green this" and "green that", please be advised that I just received my gas bill for the month of April, after installing a new 90% efficiency boiler in the home. The savings are OUTSTANDING and almost beyond belief to me!

I also experienced this last year when we had Lakewood Furnace come out and install a new super efficient unit. A huge cost saving on my monthly gas bill and makes me feel better that I'm reducing my footprint.

Shawn Juris · Post by **Shawn Juris** » Thu May 01, 2008 9:14 pm

On a large scale, outside of the home and individual actions, what are the things that other cities are doing that Lakewood is not? Once identified, what are the start up costs associated with them? What could we do here that others wouldn't have a chance at, like say oh, I don't know windmills in the shallow shores that are not utilized by boat or beach.

chris richards · Post by **chris richards** » Thu May 01, 2008 9:48 pm

Shawn Juris wrote:On a large scale, outside of the home and individual actions, what are the things that other cities are doing that Lakewood is not? Once identified, what are the start up costs associated with them? What could we do here that others wouldn't have a chance at, like say oh, I don't know windmills in the shallow shores that are not utilized by boat or beach.

While I can't say what start up costs for something like that would be, one of the benefits of the programs going on in Cambridge is that it doesn't cost the city a thing, inspectors and advisers come in, assess the changes to be recommended and costs to the owners. and the organization already has worked with banks to create a simple one page loan application if property owner's need it. Their goal is to get 50% participation in their community by showing results of the property owners initially involved. That would greatly reduce the energy use of the whole city, lowering the carbon impact and the energy costs of property owners.