Green Newton

Wednesday, April 3 at 7pm. Room 204, Newton City Hall (1000 Commonwealth Ave., Newton) and online.

At the next Newton City Council Public Facilities Committee meeting, there will be presentations by experts on networked geothermal transition from gas, as well as the work of gaspipes.org, and the endorsed proposal to prioritize eliminating high volume gas leaks. (See the meeting agenda.)

• Audrey Schulman will talk about Networked Geothermal as an alternative to fossil fuels. Audrey is the co-Executive Director of HEET. HEET is a nonprofit climate solutions incubator with a mission to cut carbon emissions NOW through systems change.
• Shawn Luz, Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Framingham, will talk about the Framingham/Eversource networked geothermal project. This discussion should include neighborhood selection, pros and cons of the project learned to date, and costs and feasibility of scaling this project city-wide.
• There will be a presentation of Gaspipes.org, a ratepayer gas pipeline and gas leak information center based on Newton gas leak data. It provides tools to achieve Newton’s climate goals and protect the health of our community. This site includes maps of Newton’s gas leaks and trees, pipeline replacements, a list of Newton’s highest volume leaks, and more.
• Newton’s Sustainability Team and the Department of Public Works will discuss reducing gas leaks and transition away from methane gas and how to coordinate with National Grid to accelerate the transition to electric heating and cooling solutions.