• Planning for the Garlic & Arts Festival (Sept. 20 and 21) continues. Janice and Steve have lined up a roster of eight speakers on energy topics. We will be recruiting people to help staff our table and the speakers' area shortly; people are needed for set-up the day before and for both of the weekend days (including breaking things down on Sunday). We would also like to recruit some more teachers to help with the kids' area.
• The 2008 Sustainable Energy Summit will be held this coming weekend, June 20 and 21. There are workshops on both Friday and Saturday, at UMass Amherst and Greenfield Community College Hands Across North Quabbin, a network of local church, school, and community organizations, has chosen "building a local, green, sustainable economy" as its shared goal in a recent visioning workshop. Some NQE members attended the workshop, and we will keep in touch with them to share information as this project develops. We discussed what our role could and should be now that there is much more widespread concern and action around energy/climate issues. The group agreed that our main role is educational (i.e. gathering and sharing information as widely as we are able) and that we can also be useful in maintaining clear communication among various local groups and projects working on energy issues. The idea of "cross- fertilization" was a useful one in thinking about this role.
• The Center for Ecological Technology has funding for "circuit riders" who are visiting towns to help with organizing town energy committees and planning projects.

• Linda reported on Petersham. The selectboard has officially appointed six people as an official town committee and they have decided on a mission statement. The school committee has invited them to consult on how to save energy in the school.
• Pat Roix reported on Athol. The group has been officially sworn in and has met once and formulated its mission statement.
• Janice reported on Warwick. They may move from being an ad hoc committee to an official town group. They have scheduled a work day on July 26 to do minor repairs at the town hall. They met with the school principal and maintenance head to begin trying to address the problem of why the school uses an inordinate amount of energy for heat; they are consulting with the architect on this as well. Steve and Janice did a presentation to 5th and 6th graders and took them on a tour to see solar thermal and electric systems in action.
• Pat Larson reported on Orange. The committee now has six members. They have also been talking with schools, particularly Butterfield School which has been running a recycling/fundraising project with used ink cartridges. The town energy audits are on hold while the Franklin County Council of Governments waits to decide which ESCO company it will use for its energy-related projects. The committee is working on educational projects for fall with the schools. North Orange is scheduled to build a new fire station in 2010 and they are looking at solar water and heat for that.
• Janice sent out some queries to people in Royalston, Wendell, and New Salem about possible interest in energy committees, but there have been no responses yet.
• Nothing seems to be brewing in either Phillipston or Erving yet.

Possible presentations

• The library in Barre, MA is running a year-long "Green Initiative" and has approached NQE about doing a presentation on renewable energy. Cathy spoke with the librarian about possible formats, including a Saturday morning mini-workshop with a number of components geared to different levels of knowledge and interest. We will suggest Saturday, Aug. 23 as a date for this. We will also suggest that local people already using geothermal or solar power or other technologies be invited to join us, to broaden the knowledge base and local network of connection.
• AOTV passed along a request from the Athol transfer station and Mass. DEP recycling program to help produce a show to get the word out further about the new transfer station. Cathy and Pat L. will work on doing this sometime in July, possibly with some footage from both the Athol and Orange transfer stations and some studio interviews.
• We discussed the possibility of taping a regular show about energy/climate matters. We could videotape speakers at the Garlic Festival and the Home Show, which would provide lots of footage to use. We could also film the process for making Brian's thermal window panels (see below), then use a DVD of that program as part of a possible grant-funded window-making education project (also see below!).
• We also talked about the idea of co-hosting some kind of business-related presentation, along with the Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, and possibly CET. Linda mentioned a workshop that MassRecycle is doing on how small businesses can reduce their energy costs; we might adapt something from what they're doing, or perhaps connect with CET's wind/solar speakers, or make use of more local expertise. Pat Larson will talk to Steve Raymond at the Chamber of Commerce about this.
• Pat Roix suggested that we might think about doing something at the Family Fun Day that is held every year at the Elks Club on the Saturday before Mothers Day. We will put that on our list of possible projects for next year.

Window-making project
Following up on the idea of teaching people how to make thermal window panels following Brian's design, we decided to hold a window-making workshop on Tuesday, July 15 at the Environmental Center so that we can learn to do it ourselves before teaching others. We will aim to make four sets of panels for windows on the east side of the MREC building, if we get approval to do this. Pat will contact Dave Small to see if he agrees. We will need to bring staple guns and exacto-knives; Brian will buy supplies and we will reimburse him from the NQE treasury. We will hold a brief meeting at 6 p.m. and then start the workshop at 6:30 p.m.

Possible grant opportunity
We can apply for a grant from the New England Grassroots Environment Fund, which supports community initiatives by groups that are not registered non-profits. The deadline is Sept. 15. We decided to request funding to help us teach people to make Brian's thermal window inserts, including producing a DVD and other materials that people can use. Ann will work on drafting a proposal for this, with help from Pat Larson and Pat Roix. Brian will be the "SME" (subject matter expert!). The aim is to have something drafted by our July meeting, which we can refine in August and submit in September.

Next meeting
Tuesday, July 15, 6 p.m. at the Millers River Environmental Center, followed by window-making workshop starting at 6:30 p.m. People should RSVP to Pat Larson at (978)544-7035 for the workshop portion of the evening.

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