Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative

VSHI has been awarded the 2008 Governor's Award for Enviromental Excellence and Pollution Prevention!

Group stages rally at Statehouse

By Jason Starr

The Essex Reporter

Vermont high school students are taking their energy future into their own hands.
Pointing out the finite nature of the fossil fuels most Vermonters use for heat, this group of students is pushing the state toward sustainable sources and independence from oil suppliers.
“We’re the up-and-coming generation, we’re going to have to pay the fuel bills, and we want to transition to local energy independence,” said Mount Abraham Union High School senior Galen Helms. “We need to take the steps now because fuel prices are rising and we expect them to continue to rise.”
Under the leadership of Essex residents Tom Tailer and Anne Watson — high school teachers at Mount Abraham and Montpelier high schools respectively — the students have met regularly since coalescing at a Governor’s Institute winter weekend at Goddard College in January. The group is going by the name The Vermont Sustainable Heating Initiative and recruiting members statewide through its web site at http://biomassvt.pbwiki.com.
The Rally

Tom Tailer takes pride in the efforts of the student group he helped organize as they rally for sustainable energy Feb. 20 at the Statehouse in Montpelier.
Photo by Jason Star On Feb. 20, about 50 students from six Vermont high schools came together for a rally at the Statehouse. They chanted “biomass, biomass” and other cheers as they walked with signs and custom T-shirts the half-mile from Montpelier High School to the Statehouse steps. There, student leader Jessie-Ruth Corkins of Bristol spoke about the cause and the students spent an hour in below-freezing temperatures dancing, chanting and talking.
Later, they attended an evening hearing at the Statehouse about oil prices and energy alternatives.
The student group has done its homework on the issue. In less than a month since convening, members have initiated discussions with Gov. Jim Douglas and legislators who sit on the House Natural Resources and Energy committee.
They have made the case for biomass that can be grown on Vermont’s farms, consolidated into pellets and burned for energy. They realize research is crucial to determine which biofuels are optimal for pelletizing, and they are anxious to get a program off the ground and begin proving the technology.
“They’re trying to change the energy future of Vermont,” Tailer said. “In 10 to 15 years, no one in Vermont will be able to heat their home with oil, and the question the students have asked is how can we make the transition to a sustainable heating paradigm.
“There is economic incentive to become sustainable, and there are the resources in the state to provide residential and commercial heating in Vermont,” he added.
The state’s low-income heating assistance program would be a good place to start, the students believe. They envision assisting people who have trouble affording oil heat by providing a biomass pellet alternative.
Another program on the students’ immediate agenda is installation of a biomass pelletizer in Vermont to test different types of organic material for energy production and begin offering farmers an incentive to grow fuels.
“People could be burning fuels grown in Vermont and that would keep the money here,” said Watson, a physics teacher and 1999 graduate of Essex High School. “It would have a multi-million dollar effect on the Vermont economy.”
Tailer serves on Essex’s Energy Task Force. Task Force member and Essex Selectboard member Irene Wrenner also attended the rally. Students at Essex High School have not yet become involved.
For more information, go to the students’ web site at http://biomassvt.pbwiki.com