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Cape
& Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative (CIRenew)
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Sample
CIRenew Activities
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What
We Do
CIRenew
participants interact regularly to pursue areas of common interest. Either
individually or in collaboration with others, CIRenew participants
and affiliates
- Sponsor
workshops, meetings, and other events for the public, the building trades,
municipal officials, and other audiences to increase understanding and
use of renewable energy technology, energy efficiency, green building,
etc.
- Conduct
community planning processes to engage stakeholders in coordinated efforts
to promote a sustainable energy future
- Create
exhibits and resources, give presentations, offer tours, and perform
other education and outreach services
- Offer
renewable energy training programs and classes for teachers and students
throughout the educational continuum
- Install
solar photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal, wind energy, and other systems
- Direct
solar PV, wind, and other technology demonstration projects
- Develop
resources and tools for informing individual and community decision-making
- Advocate
for clean energy policies, programs, and projects
- Own and
operate green buildings, renewable energy installations, advanced energy
systems, and clean vehicles
- Conduct
research on energy-related topics spanning scales from residential technology
to global sustainability

Tens
of thousands of students, residents, and visitors have gotten first-hand
exposure to clean technologies through the Renewable Energy Demonstration
Trailer. Here, a class from Falmouth's Mullen Hall school is eager to
learn.
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High-Performance
Green Buildings
(top)
The Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) and several other CIRenew
participants have constructed green homes and buildings to demonstrate
their commitment to a better energy future. Businesses active in CIRenew
provide local consumers with green architecture and high-performance construction
techniques. We have also been leading workforce training and consumer
education on green buildings by organizing workshops, tours, and classes
and developing information resources.
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| Ordway Building |
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WHRC began occupying its high-performance building in February 2003. The
Ordway Campus illustrates the promise of today’s architecture and construction
in the efficient, effective use of energy, water, and environmentally
friendly building materials. It was designed to provide comfort and pleasure
to building inhabitants without causing harm to the immediate environment
and the larger world.
The Ordway Campus integrates passive solar, conservation,
and high-efficiency design and construction features to decrease overall
energy requirements by more than 75%, in comparison to similar buildings
of standard construction. Solar photovoltaic (PV), solar thermal, and
geothermal systems are used to meet a significant percentage of the building’s
actual needs. Near-term installation of a 100-kW wind turbine is planned
to make the facility completely energy independent. An advanced, web-based
energy monitoring system measures energy usage throughout the building
and electricity production by the rooftop PV array and other renewable
energy technologies. For a tour of the Ordway Campus call 508.540.9900.
The Cape Cod Community College's Lorusso Applied Technology
Building is the first state-owned green building in Massachusetts. Green
building techniques have been employed at a couple different locations
at the Cape Cod National Seashore. With ratepayer funding, Cape Light
Compact is supporting the greening up of affordable housing on both the
Cape and Vineyard.
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Clean
Energy Workforce Development & Training
(top)
Cape Cod Community College, in collaboration with other CIRenew
participants, is spearheading local efforts to develop a comprehensive
education and training curriculum in energy conservation, energy efficiency,
renewable energy technology,
and green building, including design, engineering, environmental mitigation,
installation, and operation and maintenance.
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CCCC Pres. Kathleen Schatzberg accepted
a $50,000 gift from Cape Wind's Jim Gordon to jumpstart what has
become the state's template for community-based clean energy workforce
development and education. |
CIRenew
participants are working in coordination with Upper Cape Cod Regional
Technical School, Cape Cod Regional Technical High School, and other
organizations in the creation of a unifying framework for expanding
local energy education and training programs.
Under
the leadership of MJ Curran, now-retired director of its Environmental
Technology Program, the college received a seed funding grant from Cape
Wind Associates to jumpstart renewable energy curriculum development,
followed by a major grant from the National Science Foundation. Stephanie
Brady, her successor, has further developed this initiative.
Courses
and training programs offered by the college have been taught by CIRenew
participants from Self-Reliance, Cape Light Compact, Water Energy &
Ecology Information Services, Clean Energy Design, Cotuit Solar, and
Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Based on the success
of local programs, the college and the tech schools are working across
the state to expand clean energy education and workforce development
in Massachusetts.
For information contact Richard Lawrence, rlawrence@capecod.edu,
508.362.2131 x 4796
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Community
Planning & Stakeholder Involvement
(top)
CIRenew participants have been coordinating a "Beyond Cape
Wind" process since 2005 to engage stakeholders with diverse perspectives
on the offshore wind project proposed for Nantucket Sound in collaborative
endeavors relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy. Through
facilitated meetings, surveys, and visioning sessions, the process succeeded
in establishing consensus regarding the adverse impacts of the current
energy situation and the need to work together to pursue shared objectives
relating to energy independence, economic development, environmental quality,
and climate change.
At a December 2006 visioning session, representatives
from local businesses, advocacy groups, regional business associations,
and educational and research institutions convened to establish long-term
goals for the region. These ambitious goals have set the tone for collaborative
development of a regional energy action plan released in January 2008
in the form of the CIGoGreen Community Action Campaign. For information
visit www.cigogreen.org
or contact Chris Powicki, chrisp@weeinfo.com, 508.362.9599.
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PV
& Wind Installations
(top)
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| Installing
PVs at the WHRC Ordway Campus |
Woods Hole
Research Center and Cape Cod Community College host the two largest
PV installations on Cape Cod.
Clean Energy Design, Cotuit Solar, and SolarWrights
are the leading solar energy installers in the region. Clean Energy
Design has installed residential and small commercial turbines at a
number of locations on the Cape.
Cape & Islands Self-Reliance has coordinated
installation of numerous solar systems on Cape Cod and Martha's Vineyard.
Through
Cape Light Compact's Solarize Our Schools program, Cape and Vineyard
consumers helped fund the installation of a solar system on a school
or other public building in every town on the Cape and Vineyard.
For information on local installers, search the "Green
Pages" at the CIGoGreen Guide.
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Biodiesel Applications & Infrastructure
(top)
Cape & Islands Self-Reliance collaborated with local fuel retailers
to introduce biodiesel to the Cape and Vineyard and to create a biodiesel
filling station to make this renewable, domestically produced fuel more
accessible to owners of diesel automobiles, trucks, construction equipment,
etc. Self-Reliance also was the first organization to offer bioheat
- a mixture of biodiesel and conventional heating oil - in Massachusetts.
The Self-Reliance oil cooperative works with Loud
Fuel to make bioheat available to local consumers across the Cape and
southeastern Massachusetts. For information call 508.563.6633 or visit
www.reliance.org.
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Renewable
Energy Demonstration Trailer
(top)
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| Tom explains the functioning of the
trailer's inverters in converting dc to ac power. |
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The Renewable
Energy Demonstration Trailer makes frequent appearances at community
events in the Cape & Islansd region, elsewhere in Massachusetts,
and throughout New England to raise awareness of renewable energy technologies.
Developed by Tom Wineman, a founding CIRenew
member, the trailer includes a wind turbine, photovoltaic panels, and
solar thermal panels which combine to make a functioning and self-contained
energy system and domestic hot water system.
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Cape
& Islands Go Green Guide & Energy Information Clearinghouse
(top)
Water Energy
& Ecology Information Services is leading the effort to create web-based
resources promoting a sustainable energy future for the Cape & Islands
region.
The Cape & Islands Go Green Guide (www.cigogreen.org)
offers tips and tools for increasing energy efficiency, purchasing green
power, using green energy, and living wisely. It is the home of CIGoGreen
energy action plans for residents and visitors, businesses and organizations,
officials and agencies, students and schools, and communities. It also
supplies a local Green Pages featuring information on local entities
offering green products and services.
The
Cape & Islands Energy Information Clearinghouse (www.cirenew.info)
provides access to resources and tools for helping individuals and communities
in weighing tradeoffs and effectively managing the transition to a sustainable
energy future.
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Fuel
Cell Demonstrations
(top)
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| Fuel cell supplied electricity and
hot water to the U.S. Coast Guard on Cape Cod |
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Two fuel
cells have been installed in demonstration projects on the Cape. While
in operation, the projects provided useful insights on this still-emerging
technology.
At the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Air Station Cape Cod,
a 250-kW fuel cell system went on line in Spring 2003. It was installed
to supply electricity to hangars and administrative buildings and hot
water for use in the barracks. This molten carbonate fuel cell, powered
by natural gas, was deployed with support from the U.S. Department of
Energy, U.S. Department of Defense, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative,
and Keyspan. The system operated successfully for a couple years but suffered
from problems with its electrolyte.
At
Cape Cod Community College, a 200-kW fuel cell was installed in Spring
1999 to feed electricity into the campus grid, provide seasonal space
heating for the library, and serve as an educational tool for the college’s
Environmental Technology Program. This phosphoric acid fuel cell also
was powered by natural gas before it failed.
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| For
questions or information, please contact the following: |
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Programs
& Events
(Events page)
Virginia
Ryan
Housing Assistance Corp.
508.771.5400
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Membership
(Membership page; Membership
form)
Joan
Muller
Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
508.457.0495 x107
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Objectives
& Activities
(Activities page)
Chris
Powicki
Water Energy & Ecology Information Services
508.362.9599
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To
join the electronic mailing list for future events:
Richard
Lawrence
Cape Cod Community
College
rlawrence@capecod.edu
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Questions
should be directed to these individuals. Mail should be directed
to
CIRenew
c/o Cape & Islands Self-Reliance
23A Edgerton Drive
North Falmouth, MA 02556
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Updated February
2008
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