HOULTON — Staff from the Aroostook Partnership for Progress (APP) and Northern Maine Development Commission (NMDC) took part in the first ever Southern Aroostook Development Corporation Alternative Energy Expo held at the John A. Millar Civic Center in Houlton on Sept. 14.
APP photo by Jon Gulliver
NMDC’s Judy Dinsmore has a conversation with one of the 325 attendees at the Southern Aroostook Development Corporation Alternative Energy Expo in Houlton. In addition to information on the biomass industry in northern Maine, the APP/NMDC booth also featured a return on investment calculator for people considering a switch to an alternative energy solution.
More than 325 people attended to learn more about biomass, pellet stoves and boilers, heat pumps, geothermal systems and more.
The Mobilize Northern Maine asset based planning initiative, implemented by NMDC and APP, identified renewable energy as an industry sector to grow the economy of northern Maine.
“Biomass heating is really important for Aroostook County,” said APP President Robert Dorsey. “We have the forest products, the pellet production, the installers, delivery and maintenance, so from an economic point of view it is huge.”
Dorsey added, from an APP perspective many different forms of alternative energy make sense for the region.
“From a business retention perspective, anytime we can help a business or resident save money, help the local economy and keep the jobs that are in place now safe, it is all good,” he said.
