Ready for 100 pushes for switch to green energy
RADNOR >> Members of a group involved in the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 movement, sporting blue T-shirts and carrying signs, came to the Radnor Board of Commissioners meeting on Jan. 28 to ask them to get on board with their plan.
The group asked the BOC to pass a resolution encouraging the use of 100 percent renewable energy.
Radnor High School sophomore Alli Beale showed a video that RHS students made of students and teachers saying they were ready for 100.
Jim Wylie, of West Chester, the Ready for 100 leader for Southeastern Pennsylvania, told the board that more than 100 towns nationwide have made the commitment to use renewable energy and that 71 percent of Pennsylvanians agree with that goal.
In Delaware County, Havertown has adopted the Ready for 100 resolution. Several other area towns, including Phoenixville, West Chester and Springfield in Montgomery County, have also taken the plunge.
Wylie said the national campaign calls for “a vision for thriving communities powered by affordable renewable energy” through “an equitable, democratic” process.
Officials such as mayors make a symbolic statement, pass a clean energy resolution, develop a plan, update their comprehensive plan and engage with stakeholders, he said.
“What are we talking about is choosing different [electric] providers,” he said.
Installing solar panels, driving electric cars and heating homes without using fossil fuels are also parts of the plan, he said.
Sara Pilling, a Radnor resident, is heading up the Delaware County Ready for 100 group with Robin Mann. They have held two public meetings and networked with educational institutions and churches.
“This has just begun, but the response is marvelous because everybody has a big electric bill,” said Pilling.
Both the Radnor Board of Health and the Environmental Advisory Council have signed off on the resolution, she said.
And using software that PECO developed, Pilling and a PECO representative made a heat map for the township building, the Sulpizio Gym and the public works building. Suggested changes could save the township $35,000 per year. One of the those is turning off lights and computers at night, she said.
“Kudos to Action Earth Team at Radnor High School who pretty much sought us out,” said Pilling. “It’s their generation who will be most intimately impacted if we don’t work together to reduce quickly and effectively the level of CO2 emissions.
“So much is about educating our community members how they can benefit from participate in transitioning to 100 percent clean energy. We look forward to the commissioners passing this resolution. It’s a goal to invite all entities in the township to enjoin it.”
“It’s something that’s worthwhile,” said Commissioner Luke Clark. “It’s something the township can do about climate change. I look forward to supporting it.”
Commissioner John Nagle said the township had purchased electricity from wind power 20 years ago but stopped when it ran into financial difficulties. “Now we’re back,” he said. They also installed chargers for electric vehicles, but those stopped functioning, he said.
BOC Vice President Jack Larkin said the “operative point” in the resolution requires an environmental committee to shepherd the program through, which the township could do.
“But then you guys have to show up and be on the environmental advisory council,” he said. “We have trouble getting people to man the committees we already have.”
Commissioner Richard Booker said that he has “some significant concerns with this.”
“What I also would remind people is a significant number of people in Pennsylvania are invested in the fossil fuel industry and rely on the revenue for their lives,” he said. “Many people are heavily reliant on their 401(k)s, their investments, their pensions, as well as dividends and interest. And that is a major part of the economy of Pennsylvania, and there are a lot of us that’s very important to. I also noticed we don’t talk about nuclear energy, which is clean energy, which is not part what I saw there.”
For more information and to view the RHS video, visit
sierraclub.org/pennsylvania/southeastern/ready-for100-delaware-county.
“So much is about educating our community members how they can benefit from participate in transitioning to 100 percent clean energy. We look forward to the commissioners passing this resolution. It’s a goal to invite all entities in the township to enjoin it.”
— Sara Pilling, a Radnor resident