5/21 CIRenew Chapter Meeting
“Common Wealth: Making Clean Energy Work for Massachusetts”

Featured Speaker: Greg Watson, senior advisor, Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs

7 to 9 pm @ Waquoit Bay Reserve, Rte. 28, East Falmouth/Waquoit

—– Details —–

State Clean Energy Advisor to Provide Update

Watson special guest at May 21 meeting of CIRenew

Greg Watson, a senior member of Governor Deval Patrick’s energy team, will be featured speaker at a forum sponsored by the Cape and Islands Renewable Energy Collaborative (CIRenew) in Waquoit on May 21. The forum, “Common Wealth: Making Clean Energy Work for Massachusetts,” is free and open to the public; it runs from 7-9 p.m. at the Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on Route 28 in the Waquoit section of Falmouth. Light refreshments will be served.

Watson is senior advisor for Clean Energy Technology with the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and Vice President for Sustainable Development with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative. At the CIRenew event on May 21, he will give an update on state policies and opportunities regarding clean energy, economic development, and climate change.

The skyrocketing costs of fossil fuels and their impacts on local residents and our economy are already critical concerns, and they represent looming threats. Watson will talk about Governor Patrick’s near- and long-range plans to address these issues and other challenges through conservation, efficiency, and renewable energy.

“Greg’s knowledge of the Cape and his inside post with the Patrick administration will shed light on the actions the Commonwealth is taking to help struggling consumers pay their bills and to maximize local advantage from efficiency, wind, solar, and other clean options,” said Chris Powicki, president of CIRenew.

Watson, a resident of Falmouth, is known to many on the Cape as former Executive Director of the New Alchemy Institute. Currently, Watson is taking the lead for the state on the Offshore Wind Collaborative, working with the U.S. Department of Energy and GE. Other roles include Executive Director of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative; with Second Nature as its Director of Educational Programs; director of The Nature Conservancy’s Eastern Regional Office; and Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture. Watson serves on the board of directors of Ocean Arks International and the Henry A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture.

The meeting will conclude with Q&A and time for conversation and networking. Information will be available on CIRenew membership and on local clean energy programs and activities. To learn more about CIRenew, visit www.cirenew.org.