The Vermont Rural Energy Council (VREC) was a 2-year project (2006-2007) developed by VCRD to provide a non-partisan analysis of opportunities in rural electric generation, fuel development and energy efficiency in Vermont.

VREC’s review of economic opportunities included three main inputs: from leaders in the field, from fact-based research on the status of this economic sector today, and from economic modeling of sector opportunities.

Through the course of its deliberations, VREC invited leaders in all aspects of energy generation, fuel development and efficiency to provide testimony and advice to the council. VCRD also commissioned the development of The Vermont Energy Digest to serve as a fact book for VREC’s deliberations, one that provided a common set of known data on renewable energy and efficiency in Vermont today. It is important to see the Digest as the companion to the VREC final report; in the broadest sense it provides a situation analysis on renewable energy generation, fuel development and efficiency in Vermont that can provide a baseline as we look to future opportunities.

VCRD commissioned Economic & Policy Resources of Vermont to build a model to evaluate the economic benefits of development in fourteen focused categories of efficiency, fuel development and electric generation. The economic model developed by this process is freely available for the administration, legislature and interested parties for further use in examining alternative scenarios or to evaluate a variety of diverse assumptions over time.

The findings from the analysis are significant and are outlined in the final report as are recommendations for future action that would advance rural energy generation, fuel development and efficiency in Vermont.

Reports and Inputs

Members of the 2006 VREC

  • Paula Calabrese, Strategic Planning & Intellectual Property, Casella Waste Systems
  • Hal Cohen, Executive Director, Central Vermont Community Action Council
  • Robert De Geus, Wood Utilization Forester, Department of Forests Parks & Recreation
  • Rep. Robert Dostis, Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy
  • Michael Dworkin, Vermont Law School
  • Bob Foster, Foster Farm
  • Sen. Vince Illuzzi, Chair, Sen. Economic Development Committee
  • Kerrick Johnson, Vice President External Affairs, VELCO
  • Ellen Kahler, Executive Director, VT Sustainable Jobs Fund
  • Tom Kavet, Kavet, Rockler and Associates
  • Steve Kerr, VT Secretary of Agriculture
  • Sen. Ginny Lyons, Chair, Natural Resources and Energy Committee
  • Lawrence Mott, Earth Turbines
  • Andrew Perchlick, Executive Director, Renewable Energy Vermont
  • Chuck Reiss, Chair, Vermont Builds Greener Program
  • Bob Rogan, Green Mountain Power
  • Chuck Ross, State Director, Sen. Leahy’s Office
  • Beth Sachs, VEIC and Efficiency VT
  • John Sayles, Director of Planning and Policy, VT Agency of Natural Resources
  • Bill Sayre, AIV and A. Johnson Lumber
  • Mark Sinclair, Clean Energy, Inc and Clean Energy States Alliance
  • Rich Smith, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Public Service
  • Lisa Ventriss, VT Business Roundtable
  • Netaka White, VT Biofuels Association
  • Richard White, President, Community National Bank, VREC Chair
  • Jeff Wolf, Owner, Global Resource Options
  • Bonnie Smoren, VCRD, Project Manager
  • Paul Costello, Executive Director VCRD, Producer