Sustainable Princeton has joined forces with the Municipality of Princeton to assist the town with new sustainable actions.
Sustainable Princeton and Mayor Liz Lempert are working together to earn a silver certification from Sustainable Jersey. Princeton needs 350 points to achieve the certification, a designation 11 of the 565 municipalities in the state have received.
Princeton is currently at the bronze level. Sustainable Princeton and the mayor hope to reach silver by August 2014.
To earn the points, Mayor Lempert has formed a Municipal Green Team and Sustainable Princeton is launching its EnergySmart Homes campaign.
The EnergySmart Homes Campaign is a partnership between Sustainable Princeton and Ciel Power, an accredited contractor through the New Jersey Home Performance with Energy Star Program. Princeton University’s Office of Community and Regional Affairs provided at $10,000 grant for the project.
The campaign kicks off with Ciel Power offering home energy assessments at a discounted price of $49 with a goal of assessing at least 100 homes.
With support from the university, the next phase of the campaign features two panel discussions with local home energy experts and the creation of a video series about the benefits and ‘how to’s’ of home energy improvements that are set to be aired during Princeton Public Library’s Environmental Film Festival in February.
The EnergySmart Homes campaign can earn the municipality 20 points.
Additionally, towns can receive points for more than 100 actions, such as establishing a sustainable land use policy, hosting farmers’ markets, establishing an organics recycling program and supporting school gardens. Most of the points come from potential actions taken by municipal departments, like Public Works, Health, Engineering and Planning.
The Municipal Green Team is one of several green teams working with Sustainable Princeton to encourage sustainable practices. Other green teams, chaired by community volunteers, are the Green Core co-chaired by Annarie Lyles and Alexandra Bar-Cohen and the Green Schools Coalition, co-chaired by Stephanie Chorney and Karen Nathan.
Sustainable Princeton is a nonprofit dedicated to reducing Princeton’s waste and energy use – as well as its impact on the natural environment. The organization set two ambitious goals for the community, reduce energy from fossil fuels 20 percent by 2020 and reduce waste by 50 percent by 2016.
More information is online at sustainableprinceton.org.
