Berwick: cheap and green

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

Launching Berwick’s “energy future” for $105,000 - which could cost the town just $5,500 - is the target of a handful of new projects, big and small.

Council heard from consultant Jim Retallack of the Acadia Management Group May 8 on everything from a lightbulb giveaway to state-of-the-art anaerobic digestive energy generation.

“The focus is on action,” he said.

“The greenest, cheapest energy in Nova Scotia is the target.”

Retallack and officials with the town and Berwick Electric have tracked down a number of funding sources to help with the ambitious plans.

First off is a June 16 energy fair, where the town will start passing out 12,000 free compact fluorescent lightbulbs and presenting information in energy opportunities for everyday savings. The event will cost about $10,000, but Kings County has kicked in $2,500, Conserve Nova Scotia $7,500 and Berwick $500.

Next up is an evaluation of energy efficient renovations needed at the town hall - a converted 1958 high school that burns $20,000 a year in oil. The federal Green Municipal Fund (GMF) will kick in half the cost, $7,500.

“It’s a bit harder because it’s an older building, but if you look at the study we did on the new Berwick fire hall - it cost $12,000 - we’ll save $190,000 in energy costs over 10 years.

“That’s the kind of real savings I look for,” Retallack said.

Building a new thermal utility to harness heat from ice-making at the new Apple Dome and from underground heat pumps could generate income in future sales to the school, located across the street from the Apple Dome, and expected residential development. The GMF and Conserve Nova Scotia are each kicking in $12,500 to study its feasibility.

The provincial Department of Energy and the GMF are also providing $22,500 each to look at anaerobic digestion: take organic material - such as farm and industrial waste - seal it and let microbes break it down, producing methane gas that can be harnessed and turned into electricity, and water. The finished compost is also saleable.

“We look at cows now as ‘electrons on the hoof’,” Retallack joked.

Taking it further in a possible $1 million joint trial with the Nova Scotia Agricultural College could eventually provide 30 per cent of Berwick’s electrical needs. The GMF has been tapped for $52,000, which won’t be approved until November, but other funding partners are already expressing support.

“This is a risk, but all these projects are doable, and they’ll come back with results that say, ‘This makes sense’ or “This doesn’t.’ It can be done.”

Retallack himself has not been paid for any of this consulting work. He’s banking on being able to sell energy research information he’s collected to future customers.

He asked councillors to endorse what has been done to date, and encouraged them to get involved, playing a part in the June 16 fair and talking to community members to gain grassroots interest in “Berwick as a model energy community.”