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How Green is Orleans?
Green Communities are a select group of Massachusetts cities and towns committed to reducing municipal energy use and costs through clean energy projects in municipal buildings, facilities, and schools.
Why? Buildings – both municipal and privately-owned residential – are the source of 40% of Orleans’ greenhouse gas emissions. Cleaner – and greener – municipal buildings are essential to a resilient Orleans.
A $134,709 Green Communities grant, awarded in 2018 when Orleans was designated a Green Community, has funded these cost-saving energy decisions:
Purchase of two hybrid Prius sedans, replacing two existing gasoline-fueled town vehicles
Installation of a staff vehicle Level 2 dual port EV charging station behind the Town Hall
Introduction of LED lighting at the Council on Aging (COA), the Elementary School Fire Station, Town Hall, 350 South Orleans Road Water Treatment Plant, 44 Main Street Community Building, and Snow Library
Supplemental funding for the Depot Square public Level 2 dual port EV charging station.
Additional grant-funded projects are now underway:
Hot water heating and chilled water-cooling pumps supporting Town Hall air conditioning and
Replacement of the COA’s three gas-fired attic air handlers with air-sourced heat units.
Completion of Designation Grant funded-projects will position the Town to pursue important future projects - expansion of Hybrid/EV vehicles for staff use and a significant upgrade of energy intensive components at the Water Treatment Plant – that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in Orleans’ future.
Protecting Orleans’ Environment And Projecting Savings
Participants in Orleans’ recent visioning workshops for the 2026 Town Comprehensive Plan cited the environment as one of the most compelling reasons to live in Orleans. Green Community policies and practices protect our environment for the present and our shared future.
Currently, many Massachusetts Green Communities are considering adopting a zero-emissions-first policy for municipal vehicle purchases. Why? They recognize that the initial purchase cost is outweighed by cost-savings for the life of the vehicle. It makes cost sense. And they know that continuing to release greenhouse gas at the current rate is not the future we seek.
Plus, adoption of a zero-emissions-first policy opens the door to certification as a Massachusetts Climate Leader Community. Climate Leader Communities are eligible for significant funding for rooftop solar PV, battery electric storage, electric vehicles, and community engagement activities, as well as seed funding for municipal sustainability coordinators to Climate Leader Communities. Additional requirements for Climate Leader certification are the adoption of the Opt-In Specialized Building Code, narrowly defeated at October 2023 Orleans Town Meeting, and a commitment to eliminate the use of on-site fossil fuel in municipal buildings and fleets by 2050 – two commitments for which there is significant support in Orleans.
Is a zero-emissions-first policy a prudent move for Orleans to consider?
Email orleansclimateaction.org to add your voice to the conversation.
Low-Lying Roads in Your Neighborhood?
Have heavy rains and higher tides flooded roads in your neighborhood? How might an old-fashioned nor'easter, arriving at a full moon high tide impact your access to work, school, or help from emergency vehicles?
Orleans is one of 15 towns working with the Cape Commission to shape town-specific answers to those questions. Initiated in 2021, the Low-Lying Roads Project takes a hard look at vulnerabilities in the roadway network.
With funding support from the U.S. Economic Development Administration and the Massachusetts Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program, the Commission contracted with the Woods Hole Group (WHG) to conduct vulnerability assessments of roadway segments, bridges, and culverts due to flooding from the combined effects of sea level rise and storm surge.
The table to the right lists high priority road segments identified in the Cape Cod Commission Low-Lying Roads Report Report for Orleans. As the table indicates, the risk of flooding in multiple neighborhoods is real. To see the full list, please go https://www.capecodcommission.org/our-work/low-lying-roads-orleans/
Options range from gray/built infrastructure(drains, pipes, basins) to green infrastructure to managed retreat.
What's next? As the table suggests, the risk of flooding in multiple neighborhoods is real.
Options range from gray/built infrastructure (drains, pipes, basins) to green infrastructure to managed retreat. Residents recognize that no action is not an option.
Initial Action Steps
Orleans' participation in the Low-Lying Roads Project afforded the town the opportunity to identify two sections of road for which WHG would develop conceptual design plans and associated adaptation solutions.
Public meetings discussing the findings acknowledged the challenge of selecting two road sections for immediate study when multiple sites cited as High Priority represented the sole access to year-round residences. Skaket Road at Gull Lane and at Seabreeze Lane were selected. In April 2023, the Town received conceptual design plans drafted by the Woods Hole Group The Town is now positioned to act on the these plans.
The first of the two photos below was taken at high tide on January 10, 2024. Arey's Lane, South Orleans (near the Arey's Pond Boat Yard), was underwater due to heavy rains, storm surge, and a King Tide. The road was impassable for some vehicles for part of the day. The second photo was taken at high tide on a day without storm surge or astronomically high tide.
When conditions cause an extraordinarilly high tide, as was the case on January 10, residents in this area have the option of using another exit route, via Kescayoganset Road and Herring Brook Way. However, flooding at the lowest point on that route is typically as deep as or deeper than flooding at Arey's Pond Boat Yard.
Photo credit: Kerry Buckley
Photo credit: Kerry Buckley
Feeling chilly in your home?
Learn about action steps you can take now!
Network Impact on Climate Resiliency
In January 2024 the Orleans Climate Action Network set a six-month goal of forming a network of Orleans environment non-profits and groups. This initiative is a response to the risk that what is already being done to ensure Orleans' climate-resiliency may not be enough. For the sake of current and future generations, that's a risk "we" can't take. We can do together what no one organization can do alone.
Orleans Climate Action Network is recruiting Orleans-specific organizations as members of the network and Cape-wide organizations as network advisors to work together toward the common purpose of creating Orleans climate resiliency.
Orleans Climate Action Network is relying on the book Impact Networks, by David Ehrlichman, as a guidebook. Designed to "create connection, spark collaboration, and catalyze systemic change," the book speaks to the promise of network formation. Orleans resident Carole Combs knows the power of Impact Networks from her experience in developing an Impact Network of environmental organizations in California's Central Valley/Southern Sierra Tulare Basin Watershed. She will join current and future Network participants others as co-creators of the Orleans impact Network. Currently, the Orleans Conservation Trust and the Orleans Citizen Forum have committed to participating in an initial meeting, to be convened in late summer/early fall. The Compact of Cape Cod Conservation Trusts, the Cape Light Compact Board Chair, and the Cape Cod Climate Change Collaborative have agreed to act as advisors. Conversations with additional organizations regarding membership are ongoing.
Climate Change Matters
What have we learned from Comprehensive Plan and CItizens Forums in the past six months? Our changing climate matters to many residents.
What matters most (about Orleans) for residents completing the survey? Access to water (both freshwater and saltwater), natural environment and open space. How important is the Town’s response to climate change? 57.17% of survey respondents emphasized climate change response – solar energy, electric vehicle charging stations, etc. as high need.
Recommended: An Orleans Climate Action Plan
As work on the Town Comprehensive Plan continues in 2024, is an Orleans Climate Action Plan needed?
Climate change will impact each of our community's core concerns: access to the environment, water, open space, housing affordability, diversity, recreation programming, and Main St.
A climate action plan assessing community strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats associated with accelerating climate change could be the thread that connects the dots for Orleans now and in the future. What do you think?
Send your comments to info.orleansclimateaction@gmail.com.
What's in a Climate Action Plan?
In 2020, Orleans joined 13 of the Cape’s 15 towns and many off-Cape communities in adopting a Climate Emergencies Declaration and committing to creating a climate action plan.
In 2024, with the funding of a Sustainability Coordinator and a twelve-month effort to create a 20-year Comprehensive Plan, the Town is positioned to move ahead with the creation of an Orleans Climate Action Plan.
Here’s what we learned from a close reading of action plans from a dozen Massachusetts communities where the 2020 Climate Emergencies Declaration sparked Town leaders to get to work on plans that are making a difference:
Whole community engagement in conversations, reflection, and analysis
Focus on social, environmental, and economic resilience
Town government and staff, and all civic groups, businesses, and residents committed to mobilization of resources
Specifics re opportunities for achieving Town emissions reduction goals with the available tools and resources we have today
Detailed strategies and actions that will address climate change rapidly
A dashboard: observable indicators that will help residents know if the plan is working – analytical tools for progress monitoring-at-a-glance
Telling the story together – what’s causing climate change in our town, why should I care, what can we do to make a positive difference? And…how’s that working out for us?
Fresh mindset – everyone has a voice in the planning and everyone plays a role in the success
Ongoing, no-cost coaching for residents and businesses in making energy decisions - from “I’ll think about it” to “I can do this…Done!”
Customized and grounded in knowledge of the community, Climate Action Plans (CAPs) are informed by historical knowledge, proven technology, and current climate science. Everyone in town has ownership.
CAPs take into account current state policy and funding initiatives, as well as barriers to action at the town, state and Federal level. Some plans list advocacy-oriented actions to address these barriers, e.g., increased incentives, more effective financing tools to support electrification retrofits and elimination of fossil fuel use, especially for low- and moderate-income households.
Interested in looking at sample plans from Massachusetts towns?
The links below may be of interest.
https://www.acton-ma.gov/732/Climate-Action-Plan (Acton)
https://gloucester-ma.gov/1182/Climate-Action-and-Resilience-Plan-CARP
https://www.thevineyardway.org/detailed-action-plan (Martha’s Vineyard)
https://www.cityofmelrose.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif3451/f/uploads/melrose_net_zero_action_plan_v4.pdf (Melrose)
https://resilient.watertown-ma.gov/ (Watertown)
https://wellesleyma.gov/DocumentCenter/View/27281/Climate-Action-Plan (Wellesley)
You also may want to take a look at the Cape Cod Commission Climate Action Plan. The Cape Cod Commission supports towns with policy development, planning, and data analysis. The Commission's regional plan informs town-specific plans across the Cape.
See https://www.capecodcommission.org/our-work/climate-action-plan/
And... for a closer look at the Cape Cod Commission's study of climate change impacts on Orleans, check out this snapshot of high priority road segments in Orleans, part of the Low-Lying Roads Project described in the column to the left.
Advocating for More Energy Efficient and Affordable Housing on Cape Cod
At a July 19, 2023 State House briefing highlighting ways to improve housing affordability and reduce the state's carbon emissions, researchers from MIT and Wentworth Institute introduced findings from their most current study, entitled Public Policy for Net Zero Homes and Affordability.
Their findings confirm the affordability of building all-electric homes with the 2023 Stretch and Opt-In Specialized Codes in Massachusetts. In fact, all-electric homes are currently less expensive to build than those built with gas or as mixed-fuel (gas and electric) homes. Estimates of the cost of construction identify ductless, all-electric homes as the least expensive to build premiums compared to the 2022 Stretch Code can be fully offset by the MassSave all-electric incentive.
Initial cost estimates for construction under the 2022 Stretch Code requirements found that single family construction costs increased 1.8-3.0 percent, while multi-family Passive House construction was associated with a 2.8% overall increase. However, several large nonprofit builders of Passive House single-family and multi-family affordable housing note that as developers, engineers, and subcontractors become more familiar with Passive House construction requirements and techniques, incremental costs have declined and are expected to continue to decline.
Moreover, operational costs demonstrate a greater than 20% reduction in operational costs for single-family all-electric homes. Modeling energy savings for more energy efficient Passive House multi-family homes finds reductions in energy use of 40-60% or higher. However, increases in incremental costs for construction (dependent on local market supply and demand conditions) may impact the benefit of energy cost savings.
"Adoption of the opt-in specialized code is essential to helping Massachusetts achieve statutory emissions reductions by requiring prewiring of new mixed-fuel home and avoiding higher cost future electrification retrofits," says Justin Steil, one of the authors of the study. The opt-in specialized code requirement that new multifamily housing achieve Passive House standards will significantly reduce carbon emissions in those buildings, in addition to delivering health benefits to residents.
Photo credit Marilyn Brodwick
For additional information, please see
http://cre.mit.edu/news-insights/advocating-for-more-energy-efficient-and-affordable-housing-in-ma/ or contact info.orleansclimateaction@gmail.com.
You're invited! May 15 and May 22, 5:30 pm
Learn about energy savings options and
rebates you can count on
Opportunities for homeowners and renters
Location: Snow Library, Orleans
Sponsors: Cape Light Compact, Orleans Energy and Climate ActionCommittee, and Orleans Climate Action Network
Planning for Climate Resiliency? Look Ahead To Electric School Buses
Last year, Nauset Regional Schools submitted a proposal for electric school bus funding under the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Bus Program, providing funds to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models, as well as infrastructure.
Five Massachusetts districts were funded for 2023. Nauset was placed on a wait list. Second round proposals are due this month.
Did you hear WCAI report that two South Shore school districts - Fall River and New Bedford - were funded and are moving ahead? Also funded: Cape Cod Regional Technical High School in Bourne, the Lower Pioneer Valley Educational Collaborative (9 relatively rural western Massachusetts school districts), and Lawrence.
Why electric school buses?
Cleaner air: Electric-powered vehicles are zero-emission. Gasoline-powered buses contribute heavily to greenhouse gas emissions, feeding climate change. Propane-powered buses, currently in use in many Cape towns, demonstrate a lower, but still significant emission level.
Resiliency: Vehicle-to-Grid capable buses can provide power to the grid to Orleans buildings during power shutdowns. When the vehicles are not in use transporting students, they are plugged in, giving back to the town.
Cost-savings: Reduced maintenance and fuel costs
Reduced health risks, particularly impactful for children, whose lungs are developing, and seniors
Cleaner air: reduction or elimination of school bus exhaust, associated with high rates of asthma
Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the EPA’s Clean School Bus (CSB) Program for electric school buses will provide $5 billion over five years (FY 2022-2026) to replace existing school buses with zero-emission and low-emission models. Under the Program's multiple grant and rebate funding opportunities to date, the EPA has awarded almost $2 billion to fund approximately 5,000 school bus replacements at over 600 schools.Benefits
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