Somerville's carbon footprint goes down a size

Somerville is putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to being green. The city has made two major purchases that will reduce its carbon emissions and improve its energy efficiency.

The city’s bought 481,928 kilowatt hours (kWh) in Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) as and the fire department got four new hybrid vehicles.

The RECs, purchased from renewable energy provider Sterling Planet, meet Somerville City Hall’s full electricity needs through July 2008. RECs replace traditional fossil fuel electric generation with wind-generated electricity, reducing Somerville’s environmental impact, as measured by its carbon footprint, by 670,844 pounds of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of removing 66 cars from the road over the next year.

“The combination of growing scientific evidence of global warming and a failure to take federal action on this issue have created a situation in which local communities must set an example and act creatively to reduce greenhouse emissions, promote renewable energy and increase energy efficiency,” said Mayor Joe Curtatone. “Purchasing these RECs is a big step in the right direction. In the future, we plan to turn to more natural energy sources to power city services, including purchasing more energy-efficient vehicles for city departments.”

Currently, Somerville obtains its electricity from the regional power grid, which, aside from nuclear and imported hydropower, consists of a mixture of coal, oil and natural gas generation, all of which produce large quantities of carbon emissions.

“Virtually every time you use energy to do something, you end up releasing carbon dioxide to the atmosphere along the way,” said Environmental Programs Manager Peter Mills. “So, taking a variety of steps to reduce the city's carbon footprint is something the city really wants to do, not only to improve the local environment, but also to combat global warming and climate change.”

The Somerville Fire Department is also taking steps to help the environment, by replacing several aging Fire Prevention vehicles with new hybrid cars – the first of their kind to debut in the city of Somerville. Chief Kevin Kelleher requested $89,000 to purchase the vehicles, which will replace the outdated vehicles traditionally handed down to Fire Prevention from the Somerville Police Department. The Toyota Prius offers low fuel consumption and low environmental impact over its service lifetime.

For more information on Environmental Programs, please contact Environmental Programs Manager Peter Mills at 617-625-6600 ext. 2106, or Pmills@Somervillema.gov.