Towns of region commit to clean energy changes

If you’d like to see what a green future could look like, talk a walk or drive around Park Road in Upper Gwynedd. Or, gaze up at Lansdale’s Borough Hall to catch a glimpse of new additions to the roof line.

We applaud and encourage their continuing commitment toward a clean energy future.

On Park Road, six houses along the street now have solar panel systems set up, after residents Tim and Heidi Lucas started the trend in their neighborhood. Lansdale Borough, which is one of a handful of municipalities in Pennsylvania with its own electric department, has invested in solar panels to generate electricity for local customers.

Now the borough of Lansdale is looking to do more with a consultant to plan for alternative energy sources to boost their power source.

In West Rockhill Township, plans are in the works to install a solar system behind the township building on Ridge Road to provide electricity for the properties owned by the municipality.

And, in Ambler, the borough has committed to using 100% clean energy by 2035, and has been replacing streetlights and traffic signals with efficient LED lighting. “We will shrink our carbon footprint and reduce air pollution while both greening our community and, hopefully saving taxpayer money,” wrote Borough Council Vice President Sara Hertz in a letter to the editor.

These recent examples show small towns setting the precedent for their residents and others to embrace clean energy as a means to combat global climate change.

The involvement in our region to be at the forefront of such efforts is not new. In recent years, we have seen sustainability and clean energy commitments made throughout the region.

Among municipalities participating in a 2019-2020 Local Climate Action Assistance Program were the city of Reading; Chester County and Caln Township; and Narberth in Montgomery County.

Among those signing on with the Montgomery County Planning Commission for sustainability planning in recent years: Pottstown, Collegeville, Cheltenham, East Greenville and Douglass Township.

Municipalities in the region have also joined the Sierra

Club’s Ready for 100, a campaign which helps municipalities transition from fossil fuel dependency to renewable energy sources.

More than 70 community activists gathered in 2019 in the Upper Merion Township building to discuss the energy transition trend growing in southeastern Pennsylvania. At that time, the region accounted for nearly 20 percent of the 145 municipalities nationwide which have committed to the RF100 plan.

“The number one ingredient for tangible changes that we’re seeing at the local level in southeastern Pennsylvania has been community pressure and advocacy. There’s a dedicated, knowledgeable group of residents who are demanding action and willing to help their elected local leaders figure out how to achieve 100 percent renewable energy,” Jodie Van Horn, the California-based founder and director of RF100, said at the 2019 gathering.

“Southeastern Pennsylvania is a great example of a power player on the national landscape. The people here are ready for solutions,” she added.

Since RF100 launched in 2016, 11 municipalities within Montgomery County have committed to 100 percent renewable electricity by 2035, and 100 percent renewable heat and transportation by 2050. Chester and Delaware counties have seen 10 and four municipal commitments, respectively.

Climate change is seen by the international science community as the number one threat to the human race, a threat consuming the attention of global alliances in nations and states. As with many things, change globally begins with individual actions — in towns and neighborhoods day by day.

The towns of this region recognize that truth and are demonstrating commitment to change. We applaud and encourage that continuing commitment toward a clean energy future.