Town of Stratford applies for $30K for community energy plan

The Town of Stratford has applied for $30,000 from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities green municipal fund to develop a community energy plan this year.

Stratford chief administrative officer Robert Hughes said strategies like solar panels could be a part of the plan.

"The idea is to develop a broad ... strategy for how we can reduce our energy use as a community and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and increase our reliance on renewable energy and increase local employment all in the, you know, same breath."

Hughes said the plan is not being driven by any particular problem, but more by the town's vision to be more environmentally and economically sustainable.

"The idea is that it would take about a year to do. We'll hire a project coordinator and then we'll basically engage the residents and the businesses in the community in a dialogue about how we can use energy less or more efficiently."

Hughes said Stratford is facing the same challenges as many other towns.

"Energy is one of our larger costs and also, the kind of energy that we consume is greenhouse gas emission produced energy and we want to lower our carbon footprint and we want our residents to take the best advantage of their hard-earned dollars as they can and reduce their energy use."

Creating the plan will cost $60,000, will include recommendations and there will be future phases to implement it.

In the Stratford budget, which came down March 9, $12,000 was set aside for the plan.Stratford has also sought$10,000from the Office of Energy Efficiency with theprovince and $1,500 from Maritime Electric, and there's in-kind funding from the town.

Hughes said the town expects to hear by the end of March if the funding has come through.

Stratford is considering applying for funding that's been set aside for renewable and green energy projects in the federal budget to eventually implement the plan.