Northampton energy commission opens year with wide-ranging priority discussion on food waste, landscaping equipment and local clean-energy options

The Northampton Energy and Sustainability Commission used its January meeting to solicit public ideas and set priorities for 2026, focusing discussion on food-waste diversion, gas-powered landscaping equipment, community choice aggregation (CCA) transparency and expanding EV chargers and active-transportation networks.

Public commenter Helen Seidler (Ward 2) told the commission: "I hope the commission has more of a presence in in the city of Northampton in the sense of doing some education and outreach," and urged stronger action on household food-waste separation, saying roughly 14% of solid waste is food waste according to an older city estimate. Several commissioners agreed outreach and pilot programs could raise participation.

Denise Lillo, coordinating Mothers Out Front Northampton, warned commissioners that a state proposal (House Bill 4744) could delay Massachusetts’ 2030 carbon-reduction goals and reduce renewable-portfolio requirements. "The State of Massachusetts is facing challenges to meeting its ambitious but necessary carbon emission reduction goals," she said, and urged the commission to review and forward resolutions and ordinances to City Council for broader citizen engagement.

Commissioners and staff discussed several recurring themes. Eric Winkler urged more public reporting on the local CCA, asking for enrollment numbers and savings figures and suggested exploring an opt-in tier or virtual power plant (VPP) to give residents additional product choices. The chair noted the city receives regular reports from FirstPoint, the CCA contractor, and that Valley Green Energy holds public meetings where customers can raise product requests.

Landscaping equipment drew sustained attention. Commissioners and residents discussed grants and rebates for electric mowers and blowers, pilot programs at city properties, and equity implications for small landscaping firms. Gavin Grant, a resident, referenced California’s statewide limits on gas-powered equipment and urged Northampton to act locally, saying the city should not "wait for the city departments to put it into place." Commissioners emphasized a phased approach that pairs any restriction with incentives and support for businesses and residents.

Other priorities raised included expanding an all-ages-and-abilities bicycle network to reduce on-road transport emissions, building a clean-tech testbed to leverage local universities and entrepreneurs, and exploring distributed resiliency-hub functions rather than a single centralized facility.

Next steps agreed at the meeting included asking staff to compile this collection of ideas into a working document for prioritization and a future public-facing list of commission priorities; commissioners said the draft should be reviewed and ranked before being posted publicly.