Woodstock’s Municipal Manager Phil Swanson, last Friday, signed onto a goal of powering Woodstock entirely with clean and renewable energy.
Swanson joins a growing coalition of “Mayors for 100% Clean Energy” who have similarly announced support for a goal of powering their communities with 100 percent renewable energy such as wind and solar.
“I am very pleased to endorse the Mayors for 100% clean energy program with the goal of transitioning to 100-percent renewable energy used by the municipality of Woodstock because it is a very positive step for Woodstock and for the State of Vermont,” said Municipal Manager Phil Swanson.
Mayors for 100% Clean Energy, an initiative of the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 Campaign, represents a growing number of mayors from across the country who have endorsed a community-wide goal of transitioning entirely to renewable energy. More information is found at: www.sierraclub.org
Ahead of the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting in Miami Beach in June, Swanson’s endorsement serves as a powerful message to the broader mayoral community regarding the opportunity and benefit that city leaders see in the transition to 100 percent renewable energy.
Sustainable Woodstock worked with Sierra Club volunteers, and select board members to get this endorsement letter in front of Swanson so that he could sign his support to it. The goals set forth in this initiative are in line with long held goals of the Sustainable Woodstock Energy Action Group and go just a little bit further than our state’s Comprehensive Energy Plan.
“I believe we can bring
down our energy costs by moving to newer technologies and best practices to reduce energy consumption and costs and contribute to a cleaner, safer environment and I’m happy that we can join leaders of so many other towns and cities to show our commitment to do this,” said Woodstock Select Board member Jill Davies.
Mayoral endorsements of 100 percent renewable energy have led to ambitious action in municipalities across the United States. The mayors of St. Petersburg, Florida; Burlington, Vermont; and Abita Springs, Louisiana, issued proclamations endorsing a goal of transitioning to 100 percent clean and renewable energy, followed by the formal adoption of a city-wide goal establishing 100 percent clean energy as the target for city energy planning.
More than 28 U.S. cities have now committed to transition entirely to clean and renewable energy.
This article first appeared in the June 22, 2017 edition of the Vermont Standard.