Kent County booth at the annual MACo convention

Earlier this month, I traveled to Ocean City for the second time this summer, this time to represent Kent County's Office of Tourism and Economic Development at the annual Maryland Association of Counties (MACo) convention.  I was fortunate enough to be accompanied by Mrs. Cunningham, of connect.the.dots. fame, who's design eye gave zest to our booth (see pic below).

After setting up our booth on Wednesday afternoon, we were feted at a cocktail reception at Fagers Island restaurant that was hosted by Funk & Bolton law offices, a wonderful social gathering that allowed for lots of networking.  I then spent all day Thursday manning our booth, meeting vendors, talking with employees and representatives from other counties, and generally spreading the word about all the good works that have been going on recently in Kent County.  There was a steady flow of visitors through the exhibit hall for most of the day.  It still amazes me the number of "giveaways" that the exhibitors provide and the convention-goers gobble up...bags and bags of them.  Thursday evening found us at the Sunset Grille in West OC dining on mahi mahi, tuna, crab imperial, and countless other goodies, all thanks to our hosts from Standard Solar.

On Friday, Mrs C and I kept up the message spreading at our booth for the better part of the day, handing out brochures along with free note pads and lemon meringue-flavored salt water taffy.  It seemed there were more families visiting the exhibit hall during this session, probably in concert with family vacation time at the beach.  The day was shorter than the previous, but still we had decent attendance in the hall.  Commissioners stopped by, and we also had a chance to converse briefly with U.S. Senator Ben Cardin who admitted that he was aware of all the cool projects going on in the county.

Our thanks to Bernadette Van Pelt and Michelle Wood of the County's Office of Tourism and Economic Development for putting together all of the display materials for us to transport down to the convention.  Also, special thanks to the Town Creek Foundation for supporting our work to help Maryland's municipalities increase use of renewable energy systems, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and move toward a healthy and sustainable future for the Chesapeake Bay region.

Briggs Cunningham mans the Kent County booth at the 2012 Maryland Association of Counties convention in Ocean City in August.

Briggs Cunningham is Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be contacted here.

Solar Power Lights Up Kent County

   There was a ribbon cutting ceremony in Worton yesterday to celebrate the dawn of a new era in Kent County.

From the left, Kent County Commissioner William Short, President of Standard Solar Scott Wiater, Vice President of Washington Gas Energy Services Sanjiv Mahan, President of Kent County Commissioners Ron Fithian, Superintendent of Kent County Schools Dr. Barbara Wheeler, House Delegate Jay Jacobs, and President of Kent County Board of Education Brian Kirby.  Behind them is the 1.26 megawatt solar power system.

 You see, the County Government and the Board of Education have done something unique in the state: they have collaborated on a renewable energy project.  Along with partners Standard Solar and Washington Gas Energy Services, the county and the board of ed have installed a 1.25 megawatt solar power system on eight acres between the Kent County Community Center and the Kent County High School.  The system will provide 1,600 megawatt hours of clean energy per year to the high school, the elementary school, the community center, the radio tower facility, and the department of public works.

There are 5,380 panels in this solar power system located between the Kent County Community Center and the Kent County High School.

All of this will be accomplished under the the new net metering law in Maryland that allows for municipalities, non-profits, and agricultural concerns to aggregate their meters when offsetting the power provided to them by a single source of renewable energy, such as solar.  Rather than having to install a solar power system at each facility, the aggregate metering program allowed for a single installation at one site which provided an overall project savings in equipment and efficiencies of more than $500,000.  This project will help the county government and the board of ed reduce electricity costs by roughly $65,000 the first year, and by more than $2 million during the course of the next 20 years or so.  In addition, the system will offset the county's carbon footprint equivalent to removing 215 passenger vehicles per year from the roads, or more than 2,500 barrels of oil consumed, or the burning of six rail cars worth of coal.

And, last but not least, the system will fit into the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) curriculum at the public schools.  A real-time monitor has been installed at the high school that allows students to watch the system in operation.  The project will provide teachers with a variety of tools, across multiple disciplines, for teaching students about clean renewable energy.

Here is Rob Busler, of Standard Solar, giving an introductory lesson on solar power to a group of Kent County students.

Check out the article about the project at the Chestertown Spy.

Briggs Cunningham is Climate Action Coordinator at the Center for Environment & Society, and can be reached here.

CESs Briggs Cunningham in Chestertown Spy

Briggs Cunningham in Chestertown Spy

Briggs Cunningham of Washington College’s Center for the Environment and Society (CES) delivered a report on the Chestertown Government’s energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions for 2011 at this week’s Town Council meeting.

New Tree Planting Video!