Williston Resident Chapin Kaynor was recently appointed by the Williston Selectboard to the Board of Commissioners of CCTA, the Chittenden County Transit Authority, which runs commuter and local buses throughout the area. Chapin, a habitual CCTA rider and Sustainable Williston member, will represent Williston on the Board and is a great person to talk to about mass transit.
Category Archives: News
Alling Library Insulation and Weatherization Pay Off
In a note to community members this week, Marti Fiske of the Dorothy Alling Library in Williston said,
It has been a full year since the library’s insulation and roofing project has been completed. We have been collecting usage statistics for electricity and natural gas. Compared to the average usage over two previous years, the library saved an average of 27% in natural gas and 29% in electricity in this last year. When you convert that to dollars saved that is $884 on natural gas and $325 on electricity!
Eco Car Wash Opens Flagship Green Facility in Williston
The Williston Observer reported this week that Eco Car Wash company owners Aaron Vincelette and David Soons have opened their new flagship facility off Route 2A near James Brown Drive (right by Agway). This place was four years in the making–take a look:
Eco Car Wash exterior
As you probably know, one of the dangers with a business like this is “greenwashing”–that is, adopting a couple of seemingly environmentally-friendly practices while running a deeply unsustainable business and calling it “green.” “Eco-friendly” products have proliferated in recent years that range from questionable to downright horrible in terms of environmental impact. Is Eco Car Wash one of them, or is it a truly sustainable approach to washing cars? From the evidence I’ve seen, this appears to be the real deal.
If the biggest environmental impacts of a car wash are water, energy, construction, and the gas people expend to drive there, Eco Car Wash seems to be a win on all four fronts. They gather rain and snow and process their water on site, relieving the municipal water system of a potentially large impact; their transparent design and high-efficiency equipment minimize electrical use; their building is constructed from recycled and reclaimed materials; and their location is on the commute and errand path of many Williston and Essex residents.
Vincelette and Soons own and operate Eco Car Wash facilities in Milton and Plattsburgh, but the Williston facility is the most ambitious and sustainable car wash they’ve established.
Eco Car Wash interior
Car washes range from $8-$21. Eco Car Wash also offers detailing, gift cards, and a fleet program. This makes its pricing about average for the industry (for in-tunnel washes) despite the ecological advantages, according to StatisticBrain.com.
It makes sense that their prices should be normal even though they have presumably spent much more than the usual amount on constructing the facility, because their energy and water management practices should save them a bundle over time. While a car wash is an unusually obvious example for this kind of practice, it’s an approach virtually any business can take to be more profitable, as demonstrated by the massive energy retrofit done at the Empire State Building a few years ago: see Empire State Building’s Energy Savings Beat Forecast.
If I sound like an advertisement for this business, you’ll have to pardon me: it’s rare that I see a business that takes sustainability to these lengths. I haven’t been to the place already; if you have, leave a comment and let us know what you think of it.
One step closer to a Williston park and ride …
The Williston Observer reports on the current slow but steady progress of the Williston Park & Ride project: http://www.willistonobserver.com/park-and-ride-plans-moving-forward/
Sustainable Williston to Install Tidal Power at Lake Iroquois
Sustainable Williston has received a grant from the Eccentric Billionaire Foundation to plan and execute a tidal electricity generation facility in Lake Iroquois. The new tidal generation plant, which will take 120 years to build, will be about four times the size of the existing lake.
artist’s conception of tidal power facility
“We anticipate this may limit fishing, swimming, and some recreational activities,” said unofficial SW spokesperson Luc Reid, “but on the up side, with global warming we’ll soon be able to swim and fish in our back yards!”
As a follow-up project, SW is devising plans for a town-wide heating system based on harnessing the frustration of the American people at the inability of Congress to do absolutely anything. “American frustration is an incredible source of untapped power,” said Reid. “The heat generated by a single day of congressional dilly-dallying could warm the toes of 18,000,000 children, or fry a free-range egg omelette reaching from here to the moon.”
Williston Collaborates with Other Local Communities to Improve Water Quality
You may have heard about the stormwater improvements that are in the works for Williston and surrounding communities. Stormwater improvements are an environmental double win: they protect water quality while providing greater resilience in the kinds of large storms that are becoming increasingly common.
Lisa Sheltra of the Williston Public Works Department kindly brought us this update on Williston’s stormwater initiatives.
stormwater damage at a Vermont fishery
For more than ten years, several Chittenden County communities, including Williston, have worked together to create and operate the Regional Stormwater Education Program (RSEP). This organization is a collaborative effort of nine municipalities, the University of Vermont, the Vermont Agency of Transportation, and the Burlington International Airport. The central mission of RSEP is to educate the public on how stormwater affects our streams and Lake Champlain and the simple things we all can do to improve overall water quality. Together, we have been able to do much more than we would if efforts were town-by-town
Our efforts have included extensive community outreach and education to residents on key behaviors that anyone could do: picking up pet waste, reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides, testing soils to determine if fertilizers are even needed and greener practices for car washing.
We are happy to report that progress is being made and the overall results are promising. In 2013 we surveyed more than 400 residents of the nine RSEP member towns. More than 80% of those surveyed now pick up pet waste compared to only 62% in 2003. Pet waste can be a significant source of bacterial contamination to our streams and Lake Champlain. Similarly, only 29% of the citizens surveyed use fertilizers on their lawn, down from 50%. We also saw an increase in soil testing to determine whether fertilizers are even needed. Testing soil for fertilizer need saves money, but also prevents unnecessary pollutants from entering our local waters.
Your efforts have resulted in significant progress. Additionally, Williston has partnered with a number of private landowners to plant over 4000 trees along the Allen Brook and its tributaries in an effort to improve the stream buffer that helps keep surface waters clean. Williston also works with local volunteers to organize stream clean-up events and to mark our storm drains to make everyone aware that what goes down the storm drain directly impacts our local streams. The town also spent a half day at local schools teaching students about how important it is to prevent stormwater pollution and protect our streams. We applaud your ongoing commitment to improving our water resources, and remain committed to working with you to advance these common goals
To that end, in 2014 and beyond we will be providing you more information on how you can further protect waterways by using rain gardens, rain barrels and reducing impermeable surfaces on your property. As spring and summer rainstorms become more intense, these actions can “Slow the Flow” of stormwater so our local waterways don’t become excessively eroded and/or clogged with silt and other trash.
We would like to thank the people of Williston for your stewardship of our streams and Lake Champlain. We encourage anyone who wants to learn more about what you can do to keep our Town’s streams and Lake Champlain clean to please visit www.smartwaterways.org.
Lisa M. Sheltra
Assistant Public Works Director
Williston Green Initiatives Is Now Sustainable Williston
We’ve changed our name from Williston Green Initiatives to Sustainable Williston. We feel the new name is easier to communicate and gets across who we are and what we’re about from the get-go. Other than this snazzy new Web site (OK, relatively snazzy), we’re still the same people (plus some new members) with the same commitment to helping along environmentally positive ideas and projects in our home town.