BY TOM CAIAZZA
Staff Writer
“We are all starting together to work toward these designations. Don’t feel like you’re late out of the box.” – James Polos EDISON – Middlesex County is coming out of its industrial past and trading concrete gray for environmental “green.”
Two hundred local, county and school officials met May 2 at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Hall in Edison to attend workshops on ways communities throughout the county can reach energy sustainability and limit their carbon footprints.
The Middlesex County Showroom on Environmental Technology (MCSET) hosted the event, which provided leaders and officials with access to the latest county and statewide “green” initiatives, vendors and service providers offering “green” technology and a forum to share techniques and ideas. The event was also touted as the first real concerted countywide effort for energy sustainability.
Freeholder H. James Polos led the event and called on officials from all over the community to work together to make the county the first fully sustainable county in the state. It is a distinction that he assured them was not one to fear.
“We are all starting together to work toward these designations,” Polos said. “Don’t feel like you’re late out of the box.”
In fact, the box has been opened for several years in Middlesex County. The county fleet has been supplemented by hybrid-electric vehicles and biodiesel trucks since 2004 and has set up a $500 county rebate program to be used on top of any state rebate programs available.
The county also offers the Economic Development Grant Program, which provides up to $100,000 per municipality that can be used to promote “green” technology.
The MCSET program is a partnership between the county, the N.J. Board of Public Utilities and the state Department of Environmental Protection that advocates clean air and water initiatives using alternative fuels, energy efficiency and other “green” technologies, according to the program’s Web site.
MCSET is a milestone in the state because it is a large part of the push for Middlesex County’s desire to become the first sustainable community in the state, a designation that Polos admits no one has come close to thus far.
Christine Bator, a commissioner for the NJBPU, said that Middlesex County and the state as a whole are “at the forefront of the national model of what states should really be doing.”
She said that the state is not producing enough energy to support its rapid growth and energy demand is growing at almost double the national average.
Sustainability represents “the biggest challenge of our time,” Bator said, and is something that is best tackled community to community.
“They say that all politics is local,” Bator said, invoking the words of former speaker of the House of Representatives, Thomas “Tip” O’Neill. “But sometimes, I think all innovation is local.”
Bator advocated funding municipal projects that would provide energy efficiency and the use of alternative fuels at the local level, calling it a “wonderful way” to realize the goals of reduced dependence on fossil fuels and a reduction in the county’s and state’s carbon footprints.
Not to mention, in the long run it is cost effective.
The motto of MCSET is “Go Green, Save Green,” and Bator said that initiatives throughout the state have saved taxpayers close to $2 billion.
In just one example, the New Jersey Clean Energy program has been able to reduce energy demand by 400 megawatts, which Bator said was the output of a small, fossil fuel-burning power plant.
The state has also become one of the largest hot spots for solar power, Bator said. The state currently has more than 2000 solar installations and is the fifth largest solar business in the world, she said.
State Sen. Bob Smith (D-17), the chair of the Senate Environmental Committee, called Middlesex County the “most progressive, greenest and most sustainable county in New Jersey.”
He said that environmental concerns such as global warming and the effects of humans on the ecosystem are real threats and action now is imperative. The senator presented some of the state’s initiatives now being considered that would be beneficial to the goal of MCSET, including legislation requiring new state buildings to reach a silver level of “green” certification and low interest loans and grants to communities that look to take those first “green” steps.
Smith said that there is legislation being considered that would allow planning boards in municipalities to negotiate with developers on “green” initiatives and called changing building codes “the key” to making sustainability a reality in the state.
Also being discussed by the Legislature, Smith said, is a measure to discourage the purchase of large, gas-guzzling and emissions-producing SUVs through a surcharge at purchase. The measure would also provide incentives for the purchase of more fuel-efficient cars.
These measures, while not a reality yet, are not far off, Smith said, with many of them likely to be voted on within the next legislative session.
“My guess is they will not make the finish line for this session,” Smith said, “but in the new session.”
Smith seemed confident that these measures could pass because of the state of attention the issues are getting and the financial benefits they could provide.
“These are all getting a lot of attention because of global warming,” Smith said, “and they save the taxpayer money.”
The measures being taken at the county level with MCSET and the state level are essentially without a road map.
“This is frontier land.” Smith said. “We are all trying to figure out what we should be doing.”
But the measures seemed promising, at least to Polos, who said that the conference was at least a chance for officials to get together and share ideas for sustainability.
“We are working on a common goal,” Polos said. “It fosters better communication, which is for the betterment of other governments.”
More information on the MCSET program can be obtained at www.mcset.com.