Poolesville's Solar Array Becomes Pollinator-Friendly
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Recap: MoCo Stormwater Summit / Volunteers Sought for MoCo Climate Planning Workgroups / Daylight Hour, June 21
Our monthly sampling of news, resources, events and other items of interest from across the sustainability spectrum in Maryland.
Poolesville's solar array is pollinator-friendly (Credit: Wade Yost)
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FUNDING
OPPORTUNITIES
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Montgomery County Green Bank
More info
Montgomery County Energy Efficiency Program
More info
Prince George's County Sustainable Energy grants
More info
Prince George's County Green Energy Loan program
More info
Maryland Urban & Community Forestry Grants
(Maryland DNR)
Deadline: semi-annual
More info
Charles County Forestry Grant Program
(Chesapeake Bay Trust)
Deadline: Rolling
More info
Community Engagement & Restoration Mini-grants
(Chesapeake Bay Trust)
Deadline: Rolling
More info
Prince Georges County Weatherization Program
Deadline: Rolling
Prince Georges County Raincheck Rebate
(Chesapeake Bay Trust)
Deadline: Rolling
More info
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EVENTS CALENDAR
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Bethesda Green's "Be Green Hub" Summer Pitch Event
Date: June 17
Location: Bethesda
Daylight Hour
Date: June 21
Locations: Everywhere!
This campaign asks offices and residences to turn off lights in day-lit spaces from noon until 1 pm on the Friday nearest the summer solstice.
Maryland Municipal League Summer Convention
Dates: June 23-26
Location: Ocean City
(Visit the SM exhibit on Main Street!)
Montgomery County Heritage Days
Dates: June 29-30
Location: various
SM CERTIFICATION APPLICATIONS ARE DUE JUNE 30!
Looking Ahead
Talbot County Fair
Dates: July 11-13
Location: Easton
Harford County Farm Fair
Dates: July 22-27
Location: Bel Air
Old Line State Summit Historic Preservation Conference
Date: July 24
Location: Frederick
National Drive Electric Week Events in MD
Date: Sept. 14
Location: Annapolis
Date: Sept. 15
Link
Location: Hyattsville
Date: Sept. 21
Location: Poolesville
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SUSTAINABLE MARYLAND COMMUNITIES IN THE NEWS
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Newly Elected Mayor in Landover Hills Touts Sustainable Maryland and Pet Waste Initiative
Havre de Grace approves resolution opposing offshore drilling
Ocean City Green Team Launches Plastics Reduction Program
Frederick Receives Main Street America Designation
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MAKE MD SHINE - JOIN THE CHALLENGE
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There are many ways to help brighten your community, but Neighborhood Sun's community solar offer is an easy, cost-free way to help keep our air free of pollution and in support of our local economy. And, for the next few weeks, register at
MakeMarylandShine.com
to put your town ahead of the game, and get a chance to win money towards a local charity AND an extra 5% off your electricity bill for a full year. The campaign's Pepco project is already 90% subscribed and the BGE project is 65% subscribed. So, join Neighborhood Sun in their initiative to help Make Maryland Shine!
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POOLESVILLE'S SOLAR ARRAY: A NEW HAVEN FOR POLLINATORS
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The Town of Poolesville is making big strides in Montgomery County thanks to its unique pollinator-friendly habitat retrofit at the Poolesville Solar Array, which was installed by Standard Solar. The array is owned by UGI Energy Services Inc. and Poolesville buys the power through a Power Purchase Agreement.
The idea to install this pollinator-friendly habitat was from the Poolesville High School Global Ecology Magnet program's senior research project.
This 1.1 megawatt solar array contains 4,000 solar panels and covers approximately 6.6 acres. The pollinator-friendly habitat contains a mix of native wild
flower and other plants
, a third of which have already bloomed. As the growing season continues, more flowering plants will cycle through later this year.
The implementation of this habitat reduces the amount of mowing to once a year, which saves on fuel emissions and costs, and does not use pesticides. All of this hard work is thanks to the efforts of the
Sustainable Poolesville Committee (part of the
Sustainable Maryland
Certified program), Town Manager Wade Yost, committee member Jane Harris, and Preston King and his team. If it gets certified, this could potentially be the first pollinator-friendly solar array in Maryland!
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RECAP: MOCO STORMWATER SUMMIT FOR HOMEOWNERS
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2nd Montgomery County Stormwater Summit for Homeowners
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Friends of Sligo Creek, one of 12 exhibitors at the Stormwater Summit
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Local government agencies and regional watershed associations that staffed exhibit tables at this event included the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, Chesapeake Bay Trust, Rock Creek Conservancy, Little Falls Watershed Alliance, Bethesda Green, One Montgomery Green, Audubon Naturalist Society, Friends of Sligo Creek, Neighbors of the NW Branch, Muddy Branch Alliance, and UMD Sea Grant Extension, each of which explained the unique support and technical services that they provide to towns and neighborhoods in the County.
Check out the presentations and information from this event
here.
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FREE TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE WITH BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE MARYLAND RESOURCE CENTER ACTION FOR YOUR TOWN
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 Over the summer, Sustainable Maryland will be offering assistance from UMD students to help a limited number of towns with populations of less than 10,000 people to Build a Sustainable Maryland Resource Center, a web-based and/or hardcopy compendium of local, county, regional and non-profit sustainability resources for your residents. This an excellent tool for communicating with residents about local sustainability projects, programs, incentives, and reports, and is worth 5 points on a town's Sustainable Maryland certification application. Here is an excellent example from Thurmont. Please contact mikeh75@umd.edu or 301-405-7956 if your town is interested in receiving this assistance next year.
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VOLUNTEERS SOUGHT FOR MONTGOMERY COUNTY CLIMATE PLANNING PROCESS WORKGROUPS
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Montgomery County is launching a planning process to develop prioritized actions and strategies to meet its greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction goals of 80 percent by 2027 and 100 percent by 2035. The County is seeking volunteers to serve on "technical workgroups" that will help in this effort.
Interested individuals should have demonstrable expertise in climate and energy issues, including identifying economic and equity challenges and opportunities that might arise in meeting these goals. The deadline to submit letters of interest is June 30.
The workgroups will:
- Review past County climate reports and plans, and best practices from other jurisdictions.
- Recommend actions and innovative strategies that have high potential to meet the County's GHG reduction goals in an equitable manner.
- Identify metrics that can be tracked, as well as data and knowledge gaps that could benefit from, additional technical analysis.
Each workgroup will consist of community members as well as County Government staff. Each workgroup will be co-facilitated by a County Government staff member and by a member of the community. Workgroups will convene approximately once a month from Summer to Fall 2019. Meetings will be held on a weekday or weeknight, primarily in the Rockville area. Workgroup members are expected to attend each meeting in person.
- Buildings Technical Workgroup
- Transportation Technical Workgroup
- Clean Energy Technical Workgroup
Qualified community members interested in volunteering with one or more workgroups can submit an expression of interest, cover letter and resume to: climate@montgomerycountymd.gov by June 30. Anyone interested in serving on multiple workgroups should indicate their first, second and third choices.
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RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT ENERGY & CLIMATE: DAYLIGHT HOUR ON JUNE 21
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This simple and engaging campaign asks offices and residences to turn off non-critical lights in day-lit spaces from noon until 1 pm on the Friday nearest the summer solstice.
A great way for Green Teams to help raise awareness locally about saving energy and tackling climate change.
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QUOTE
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"We have to wake up to the fierce urgency of the now."
-- Jim Yong Kim, President, World Bank, on the climate crisis
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Sustainable Maryland is an initiative of the Environmental Finance Center at the University of Maryland. It is a free and voluntary program designed to help Maryland communities choose a direction for their sustainability efforts, improve access to resources needed to implement action, and recognize their accomplishments. Our sponsors include the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Maryland Municipal League. For more information about how your municipality can register in the Sustainable Maryland program, plus customized Green Team training and access to student resources that are available to provide consultancy services for municipal planning, please contact 301-405-7956 or mikeh75@umd.edu
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Mike Hunninghake
Program Manager
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