On Friday, December 5, William Scully from Carbon Zero, LLC came to Log Lunch to speak about hydroelectric energy possibilities in the state of Vermont. Scully is a successful restaurateur from Bennington, Vermont, but he is also heavily involved with developing hydroelectric power plants. His work with hydroelectric power began in December 2008 after the realization that the combination of high gas prices and the availability of hydropower in the region could indicate a great opportunity for dam redevelopment. The use of hydropower in Vermont is not novel; at one point Vermont was one hundred percent hydro-powered, yet today there are 1,257 unused dams and barely any new development in the last thirty years.
Given this underutilization and his newfound passion, Scully formed Carbon Zero, a group dedicated to redeveloping Vermont dams that has proposed a redevelopment of the dam at the Vermont Tissue Paper Mill on the Walloomsac River. This hydroelectric power plant, built on a six-acre property with a 6.4-acre impoundment, will be the second site in Vermont to come online in the last thirty years and, when complete, will offset 1,206 metric tons of carbon dioxide every day. In creating a dam to service Vermont’s energy needs without carbon-intensive fuels, Scully was also concerned with ecological issues and gathered a group of stakeholders to redesign the structure in an environmentally-friendly manner. Even though without some aspects the dam could produce more energy, features such as a weir and a carefully designed flow regime for fish migration work to preserve the area’s natural flora and fauna. Additionally, Carbon Zero successfully remediated the brownfield full of PCBs and other unidentifiable materials in the main mill building.
With his dam reducing the region’s use of fossil fuels and making its existing dams more ecologically-sound, this restaurateur will have created great success and improvement of the public good for Vermont outside of the kitchen.
By Sara Clark ‘15
