SOUTH RIVER — With the first meeting of the Alternative Energy Committee on Aug. 21, the borough is working on ways to “go green.”
“Everything is a pie in the sky,” said Councilman Jim Hutchison, who sits on the committee. “We will take every single opportunity we can get to make an impact on the borough to becoming synonymous with being green.”
The idea of an alternative energy committee came about when the Borough Council reorganized in January.
“I have had three meetings since April with personnel from Rutgers University and in Burlington County on this new concept of alternative energy,” said Hutchison. “And on Aug. 21 we had our first official committee meeting, which was more like a meet and greet to get to know each other.”
The committee is comprised of Hutchison, Councilman Michael Trenga and five residents: Bill England, Joe Hranowski, Marilyn Meloni, Ken Seamanovich and Walt Swiderski.
“We have a group of people who have varying degrees of backgrounds including a high level chemical background and a background in utilities … This will all help us make [going green] happen,” said Hutchison.
The councilman said the committee will look at the abundance of conservation that is out there already.
“There is a lot of technical conservation out there such as wind power, solar panels, and alternative fuels,” he said. “We will explore all the methodology to reduce our reliance on different agencies … even to generate our own alternative energy source that could become a money maker in the borough.”
Mayor Raymond Eppinger said he is happy to see the Alternative Energy Committee come together.
“This is step one of moving the borough towards going green, and we hope to have the committee meet as regularly as possible,” he said. “The committee is comprised of a fantastic, eager bunch of members, and they have the expertise on how to move the borough in that area.”
The next meeting of the Alternative Energy Committee will be held at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 25 in council chambers, 61 Main St. New members are welcome.