• Brian reported that he is about to install a point-of-use under-sink hot water heater. He will write up something to post something on the website about this.
• Pat reported that next year's summer reading program at the Orange libraries will focus on an environmental theme--possibly an opportunity to connect with kids in the reading program around energy-related issues.
• Jane spoke with Joe Hawkins at the YMCA about what the Y has been doing to improve the energy efficiency of its building. They have replaced all the windows and the old heating system. Joe is open to further ideas from us about what else they might do.
• Tom contacted last year's vendors from the energy expo and let them know about the plans to hold this year's event in conjunction with the spring Home Show.
• Dennis reported on some recent and upcoming workshops and courses at both Greenfield Community College and Mount Wachusett Community College. People will be able to take a tour to see MWCC's experimental gasification system when it is running again in the fall; we may try to organize a tour from the North Quabbin.
• We have DVD's of "Taking the Mystery out of Recycling" for the six area libraries that have expressed interest in them so far. Dennis will make more copies for future use.

MREC building projects
So far there has not been any real feedback or information from people at MREC in response to our queries about what we might do to help make the building more energy-efficient. MREC has hoped to look for very large grants to make a "greener" building, which does not really fit with our mission of focusing on community education and things that anyone could do. We will try again to see if there is someone involved in overseeing the building who might support the kinds of small-scale projects we are proposing (switching to more efficient fluorescent lights, installing motion sensors on light switches, making thermal shades or interior storm windows, etc.).

Town energy committees
Janice Kurkoski wrote up a summary of what the Warwick committee has done and planned so far; we will post this on our website, and create spaces for future reports from other town committees if and when they convene. David Ames, the Athol town manager, is still looking for one additional committee member; Brian will volunteer for this. David would like to replace windows in the Athol town hall and also have the committee investigate solar panels for the new police station roof (it's not clear whether he is interested in solar thermal or PV panels).

Pat spoke with Don Campbell about what has been happening with the Northfield energy committee. A proposal to set up a new wood-fired heating system in the town barn was defeated in an override vote at the town meeting. The committee is now focusing its attention on having an energy service company, Ameresco, help the town develop a plan for overall energy improvements for town properties. There will be a presentation at 2 p.m on August 2, which Dennis and possibly Pat and Brian will try to attend. Although it seems that this approach is probably not feasible with the smaller North Quabbin towns, it may be possible to organize something on a regional basis.

Dennis will also speak to some people (from our NQE contact list and elsewhere) about the idea of forming an energy committee in New Salem.

Fall movies
The proposed dates for the fall movies at the Orange libraries need to be changed. They are now scheduled for:

• Thursday, Sept. 20 in North Orange - "Kilowatt Ours"
• Thursday, Oct. 4 in Orange - "The Power of Community"

Possible panel on nuclear power
Pat proposed that we think about hosting a televised panel on the dangers of nuclear power. We discussed the pros and cons of this, and it seemed that while there is some interest, there is also concern about various issues (whether our local audience will respond to this as an issue, how to deal with disseminating the very technical information involved, whether it fits with our core purpose of helping people find concrete things they can do about energy, etc.). There was no clear decision either to move ahead with this or to reject the idea; we may revisit it in future.

Other business
Pat will draft an outline for a basic community presentation that people in the group could give if requested. Cathy will help with this, and the draft will be presented to the group at the next meeting for discussion.

We briefly debated whether we should expand our name so that it reflects something about the environment (North Quabbin Energy and Environment?) as well as just energy. There wasn't time to get deeply into this, but we will revisit it at a future meeting.

Next meeting
Wednesday, August 29 at Steve and Janice Kurkoski's house in Warwick, where we will learn about the solar pathfinder and assessing the solar potential of a site. We may start with a potluck dinner at 6 p.m. - time and details to be confirmed.

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