{"id":14224,"date":"2021-11-15T20:46:04","date_gmt":"2021-11-16T01:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/?page_id=14224"},"modified":"2023-06-30T17:52:53","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T21:52:53","slug":"completed-projects","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.greenneedham.org\/blog\/completed-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Completed Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Leading by Example: Solar PV in Needham<\/a><\/h4>\n

The Solar Team continues to look for ways to utilize the tremendous potential for solar power in Needham. Building on our success with the RTS Solar project and Solarize Needham, the Team promotes residential, business, and municipal solar. With over 250 residential installations, and 11,780 panels producing over 4 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year on our closed landfill, Needham is leading by example.<\/p>\n

Where’s solar in Needham?<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/strong>In June 2020, Green Needham Collaborative joined with the League of Women Voters of Needham and the Needham Community Farm to launch Meatless Monday Needham<\/strong>.\u00a0 Adopting the model of the internationally recognized Meatless Monday movement, the Meatless Monday Needham team created a website with extensive information about the health and environmental benefits of plant-based eating. (See the Meatless Monday write-up<\/a> about the Needham effort.) Participants signed a pledge to “eat healthy plant-based meals every Monday for the next 12 weeks” and received monthly newsletters with recipes and information about food and diet. Meatless Monday Needham offered online cooking classes with Chef Dave Becker and cooking instructor Jessica Weiss, as well as several forums. <\/span>During the course of the 2-year campaign, over 250 households (representing more than 500 individuals) took the pledge.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Numerous Needham organizations participated in the effort by promoting the initiative to their membership, including the Needham Women’s Club, Parent Talk, Mothers Out Front, Kalmia Garden Club, Needham Community Council, and the environmental committees of Carter Memorial United Methodist Church, First Parish of Needham, Needham Congregational Church, and Temple Beth Shalom. The campaign was endorsed by the Needham Board of Health.<\/div>\n

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Solarize Plus Needham<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Green Communities<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Plastic Bag Ban<\/a><\/h4>\n

In January 2017, Green Needham assembled a team to get Needham to join the then 64<\/b> other Massachusetts communities – including our neighbors Natick, Newton and Wellesley, and now Boston – in implementing a ban on single-use plastic bags.<\/p>\n

In March 2018, as a result of these efforts, the Select Board unanimously adopted a policy requesting that stores over 3,500 square feet voluntarily discontinue the use of single-use plastic check-out bags on or before June 1st.<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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GO GREEN Needham<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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GO GREEN Needham Expo 2018<\/a><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Municipal Solar at the RTS<\/h4>\n

In April, 2016,<\/strong> the town of Needham celebrated the grand opening of the solar installation on the capped landfill at the Recycling and Transfer Station (RTS). Covering 12 acres, the 11,780 solar panels produce over 4 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year.<\/p>\n

With Needham receiving rental and property tax income from the system, as well as saving money on electricity costs, the project will save the town roughly $20 million over the next 20 years.<\/p>\n

Green Needham began investigating the possibility of solar at the RTS in 2009, when we organized a preliminary walk-through of the capped landfill and discovered the potential for a large PV array. After several years of conversations with town staff and officials, plus a presentation to the Board of Selection by Green Needham chairman Michael Greis, the Selectmen decided in 2012 to appoint a Solar Exploratory Committee to make recommendations. A positive recommendation from the Committee in a May 2013 report led to actions that resulted in completion of the project in less than 3 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Solarize Needham 2014 \u2013 accelerating installation of solar PV for Needham homeowners<\/h4>\n