• Get Engaged
• We Want to Hear from You!
• Helping the Environment and Your Pocketbook
• Visit the Story Walk at the Leggett Woodland
• Stow Climate Action Plan on Track

The Energize Stow newsletter strives to provide you with practical information you can use to make Stow a more sustainable community. We would love to hear from you about what you would be interested in reading or learning about. Please email us at GreenAdvisory@stow-ma.gov with your ideas. Thank you!

There are many things you can do to help the environment and maintain Stow’s rural character and quality of life. Ecological landscaping, recycling, home insulation, composting, as well as a number of other activities all help to achieve the goal.

But did you know that two of the biggest actions also help your pocketbook? When you are in the market for a new car, consider purchasing an Electric Vehicle (EV) or Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV). With the low electric rates and clean electricity from our utility, Hudson Light & Power, annual fuel costs for an EV are about a quarter of a gasoline powered car and greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 97%! EVs also have lower maintenance and are more fun to drive.

If it is time to replace your heating system or whole house air conditioner, consider the benefits of a heat pump. Compared to a fuel oil furnace or boiler, a heat pump will reduce annual heating costs by half while cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 96%! Heat pumps are also highly efficient air conditioners.

Many of your neighbors are already benefiting. Over 400 Stow residents are driving EVs or PHEVs and nearly 300 have installed heat pumps in their homes. And remember to take advantage of the incentives available for the purchase of an EV or heat pump. For more information on incentives, click here. For more information on fuel savings with an electric vehicle or heat pump, see figures below of click here.

With parking and a trailhead on Whitman Street, the Stow Conservation Trust (SCT) Leggett Woodland parcel has two marked trails and offers a respite into nature. A kiosk at the trailhead has a posted map.

The Stow Conservation Trust is an all-volunteer non-profit land trust. The 34-acre Leggett Parcel was purchased by SCT in 2004 from the Leggett family. This is the family that had a local farm and put Stow on the map as the developer of the Butternut Squash. Led by an assigned land steward, SCT maintains the trails and features.

To encourage young families to get out on the trails, over the past 10 years, a Children’s Discovery Area project added a Music Station and a Fairy Tales Loop. Trails are string-trimmed to make them double-wide. Bog-bridges were added to allow passage on the trail even during wet weather.

A Story Walk was added 4 years ago. The Story Walk is a set of low platforms where a story is posted. Aimed at new readers (height and book content), the platforms are set over a 0.4-mile (short walk) loop. A reader goes from platform to platform and reads a book. A new book was installed at the Story Walk in August-2025. SCT and the Randall Library Children's Librarian share laminated books purchased by both groups.

What are the other values of this parcel? Using modeling by the Stow ‘Green Advisory Committee’, the forest at Leggett sequesters the CO2 (carbon dioxide) equivalent of 10 gas-powered cars a year. The parcel is home to local and migratory birds, reptiles, amphibians, wildflowers. Walking the trails is good for physical health and being out in nature is seen as stress relief for the mind.

Come visit! Enjoy the parcel! Find out more about the Leggett Woodland here.

John Sangermano (SCT Stewardship Co-Lead)

In June of 2024, the Select Board adopted the Stow Climate Action Plan prepared by the Green Advisory Committee. The Climate Action Plan is a living document, and the Green Advisory Committee provides annual progress updates for town government and residents.

The first annual update was presented to the Select Board in June and is available on the town website. The plan focuses on 2030 greenhouse gas targets where Stow is committed to align with the state’s overall goals adopted in the 2021 “Climate Roadmap" legislation.

The good news is that Stow is on track to achieve these targets. In the three sectors that account for most of the town’s greenhouse gas emissions - transportation, buildings, and electricity - we are on track or exceeding the state targets. Between 2021 and 2024 the number of both electric vehicles and building heat pumps doubled with over 400 Stow residents now driving an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid and nearly 300 residents have installed heat pumps in their homes for heating and cooling. For electricity, Stow already exceeds the state target as a result of non-greenhouse gas emitting resources from our utility, Hudson Light & Power, that provide 90% of the electricity we use.

Town government has been active in promoting environmental awareness and “walking the talk”. Heat pumps have been installed in four municipal buildings including the library renovation where Stow was awarded a $500,000 Green Communities grant. And both the police and facilities department are using electric vehicles. Earlier this year, Stow was one of nineteen communities to be designated a Climate Leader by the state which includes a $1,000,000 grant opportunity.

But challenges remain, at the federal level, tax credits for energy efficiency are being reduced or terminated. Fortunately, most incentives in Stow are provided through state and local sources and residents also benefit from much lower fuel costs as a result of our low electric rates. Going forward, it is key for Stow residents, government, and businesses to stay engaged and committed. To see the Climate Action Plan progress report presented to the Select Board, click here.