The Warwick committee's poster from the Power of Solutions Forum at the Garlic and Arts Festival, October 2011.
The purpose of the Warwick Buildings and Energy Committee is to assess town buildings and maintenance needs, research options for the select board and Warwick citizens to encourage efficient energy consumption and optimal maintenance of town properties, and encourage Warwick townspeople’s own efforts in renewable energy production and carbon footprint reduction.
Members are Janice Kurkoski – chair, Steve Kurkoski – scribe, Dan Dibble, Jim Toth, Jack Cadwell, and Matt Sheldon
Here are the results of the mostly low-cost energy reduction strategies we have employed so far. These included different approaches for different buildings: air-sealing, insulation, programmable thermostats, re-building windows, new low-E storms, home-made removable interior storms called “winserts”, burner tune-ups, lighting upgrades, and a general consciouness-raising of the ways we have been wasting energy in the past.
Our current focus is insulating the Highway Equipment garage. This building was never designed to be heated. Heating load analysis shows that, once insulated, the building would consume only 36% of its current oil use. The estimated pay-back period is 6-7 years with no increase in fuel prices (fuel oil prices have risen on average just under 10% per yr. in the last 8 yrs).
Warwick Community School: Reducing the energy consumption in our school has proven to be elusive. We are mired in the illogical division of capital vs. operational expenses. See here for a better explanation: http://www.warwickma.org/documents/bldgenergy/energyletter.pdf
