Please remember that this is not official information

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD:  Relates to Millstone?
WANTED:  Alternative energy source for the future:  natural gas?  Wind power?  Fuel cell technology?  E.I.D.(Energy Improvement District)?  Nuclear power no longer in fashion? What goes around comes around...how about this.
April 3, 2008 Board of Selectmen's meeting contained an item "Building Committee" - three members showed up and reported on current projects.  Local experts.  Alternative Energy Subcommittee Chair. was included in this wrap-up. Weston's secret weapon - HOW.

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY SUB-COMMITTEE OF THE WESTON BUILDING COMMITTEE/@April 2009, now part of the Building Committee's regular sessions...




2014 REVIVAL possible in the photo above?  How about for 2018?
At the Building Committee May 14, 2014 a discussion took place of about attempting a "microgrid" for Town Hall, Fire Department, new Police Facility and Weston Center.  The laws have changed over the last five years or so and now permit limited net metering and other changes to laws against going "off the grid."  Some on Building Committee seemed to doubt application to Weston without investment in real inter connectivity;  others wanted to know a good source on the net to check...


State's Fuel Cell Bus Fleet Fades Away, After Initial Hopes Of Pollution-Free Transit
Jon Lender in Courant 6-23-18

"It would be something new if the touters of government “pilot projects” as improvements to citizens’ lives would announce those projects’ eventual failures with the same exuberance as they promoted their launches. But if such projects die, they usually do it quietly..."

http://www.courant.com/politics/government-watch/hc-pol-lender-fuel-cell-fizzle-20180621-story.html




Dominion buys Bridgeport fuel cell park in deal valued at $125 million
Brian Lockhart and Rob Varnon, CT POST
Updated 1:48 pm, Friday, December 14, 2012


BRIDGEPORT -- A missing piece of the city's new fuel cell plant project fell into place Friday, and it's huge.

Virginia-based Dominion Resources, one of the country's biggest energy companies, revealed itself as the unnamed financial backer and buyer of the planned 15-megawatt site.

FuelCell Energy of Danbury, which has been shepherding the plant through the lengthy approval process, most recently securing a special tax arrangement from the city for the land, will continue to develop and maintain the site for Dominion.

The announcement of Dominion's purchase, rumored earlier in the week, concluded a deal orchestrated over the past six years between city, state and federal officials and the private sector that was often on shaky ground...Connecticut Light & Power has a 15-year deal to purchase electricity from the plant for a fixed price when it comes online in late 2013. According to FuelCell, the plant will generate enough electricity to power 15,000 average-sized homes.

For the complete story see  CT POST



PureCell® System Installed at UTC Power Headquarters Building

A new fuel cell at UTC Power's headquarters in South Windsor, Conn., is not only a clean energy source for the facility, it is also a source of pride for the employees who designed, built and installed the unit. The PureCell System Model 400 - which is the company's flagship product - is prominently located at the main entrance and delivers up to 50 percent of the building's electricity needs...





New Haven Fuel Cell Wrapped In Red Tape
Hartford Courant
Tom Condon
February 21, 2010

Bruce Becker has tried to do the right thing. That may have been his mistake.

Becker is the developer of nearly completed 360 State Street, a 32-story, 500-unit apartment building in New Haven. The building, which will contain retail space and enclosed parking for 500 cars, is one of the largest residential buildings ever built in the state.

I have been following this project, in part to see if Becker is able to attain his goal of making it one of the state's greenest buildings as well. He's trying to make his the state's first residential building to achieve LEED Platinum Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

The state isn't making it easy.

Story in full at COURANT.

DPUC denies fiscal aspect of fuel cell plan
By Mary E. O’Leary, New Haven Register Topics Editor
Monday, January 26, 2009 8:21 AM EST

NEW HAVEN — The state Department of Public Utility Control has denied developer Becker and Becker approval of a revenue model to support use of a fuel cell at its 360 State Street project.

But the developer isn’t giving up.

Bruce Becker, president of the firm that put together the 500-apartment project for the former Shartenberg Department store site downtown, said he will pursue a legislative remedy to the problem.

The request to permit submetering, in addition to a master meter at the apartments, as well as the resale of electricity, was turned down last week as beyond current energy regulations and policies. The decision came at a special DPUC meeting.


Story in full at New Haven REGISTER.

Connecticut’s Solar Incentives Dry Up
NYTIMES
By Jan Ellen Spiegel
December 22, 2008, 7:35 am

The Connecticut organization charged with administering the rebate program said it is a victim of its own success.
Connecticut’s touted solar rebate program, which experts have pointed to as exemplary, may not be so perfect after all. Six months into its two-year budget cycle, it is nearly out of cash, leaving homeowners, businesses and nonprofit and governmental organizations that want to buy solar electric systems out of luck.

All that remains is money for residential solar leases, but there’s an income cap, and so far, the leases haven’t caught on.

As I wrote in Sunday’s New York Times, representatives of the Clean Energy Fund, which administers the program, describe it as being a “victim” of its own success. But as Connecticut joins a growing list of states — including Maryland and Minnesota — that have run through their solar rebate allotments, there is growing concern that such situations could critically damage a solar industry trying desperately to get off the ground...

OTHER HAPPENINGS AROUND THIS TIME...
Report on RFP
M E E T I N G :  CHANGED ON FRIDAY to Monday, September 22, 2008 at 7:30pm, Commission Room at Town Hall.  Well attended meeting, review of responses to RFP, discussion of next steps and coordination efforts to make an effective and prudent proposal at a time in the near future.
Read the full text on "Energy Improvement District" legislation from 2007 here:  http://www.cga.ct.gov/2007/ACT/PA/2007PA-00242-R00HB-07432-PA.htm

OR go to our special version with sections 21-36 in large type HERE.
Alternative energy needs a boost
The Advocate
Editorial
Article Launched: 07/01/2008 03:00:33 AM EDT

There is little question that the need for renewable energy will only grow in coming years. With energy from traditional sources continuing to get more expensive, on top of the environmental problems caused by burning fossil fuels, the world is looking for other ways to power itself...That was the message recently to Congress from representatives of General Electric Co., the Connecticut-based international conglomerate that dabbles in virtually every industry imaginable.

GE representatives have said another congressional failure to extend a tax credit for renewable energy projects could put billions of dollars worth of future wind farms in jeopardy. But it's not just the company's bottom-line that faces trouble; it's national energy policy in general.

Despite gaining returns on investment in wind turbine and wind farm deals, GE representatives said alternative technology still needs subsidies to compete, and likely will for the near future. We need to move renewable energy technology past its current fill-in-the-gaps role...

Full story in Stamford ADVOCATE.



Students in Weston High School’s Energy Alternatives class included Caroline Shaw, Jack Bucca, Dylan Goldman, Jordan Luft, Alison Germain, Nicole Bertini, Marlee Najamy Winnick, Evan Huang, Joe Sandolo, Erica Palumbo, Mariclaire Fraboni, Mary Ellen Costello, Mark Weinstein, John Murray; Erika Lelievre (adviser).

Alternative energy guide: Weston students burn the midnight oil       
Weston FORUM
Written by Terry Castellano    
Wednesday, June 25, 2008 

If one could harness the energy exhibited by Weston High School science teacher Erika Lelievre’s Energy Alternatives classes, perhaps the community would have a new force to ponder.

The students in these two classes spent their spring semester researching options to consider when individuals, companies, governments, and any other group decide what energy sources they will use.

Using mostly primary sources, this group of approximately 30 students in grades 10 through 12 explored the world of alternative energy. ..

For story in full see Weston FORUM.


About Town took minutes for this group.
NEXT MEETING:   SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, MARCH 9, 2009 at 7:30pm in the Downstairs (basement) Meeting Room at Town Hall:  Agenda same as posted in the Town Clerk's Office Thursday, March 5, 2009

Minutes of the Alternative Energy Sub-Committee of the Building Committee (note - these have been approved):
February 25, 2009
February 11, 2009
January 14, 2009
September 22, 2008
July 22, 2008
April 21, 2008
Mar. 10, 2008
Feb. 5, 2008
January 15, 2008


Research sources on or linked to this website:
http://www.aboutweston.com/geothermal.html
http://www.aboutweston.com/fuelcells.html
and from across the pond...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/sci_tech/2006/energy/default.stm
Please read the Energy section (p. 26) of the SWRPA Regional Plan: http://www.swrpa.org/projects/regplan2006.htm