Environmentally Minded Peruse, Schmooze at iPark

By Kerry Wills
Special Correspondent
Stamford Advocate

Published March 14 2008

NORWALK - In October, a writer named Heather Burns-DeMelo organized Fairfield County GreenDrinks, a mixer where folks with environmental concerns can swap ideas and phone numbers.

Sixty-five people showed up at the meeting place: a bar.

Even more people - about 150 - showed up Wednesday evening to check out the city's new i.park corporate complex, a green office park. They included builders, architects and students.

"The room is full of people who couldn't be more different, but one thing they share is an interest in the environment," Burns-DeMelo said. "People are waking up to it."

Norwalk Mayor Richard Moccia showed up, as did three boys from Cider Mill School in Wilton who enrolled people in Connecticut Light & Power's CTCleanEnergyOptions. The program allows customers to get their power from renewable sources, such as wind.

Fourth-graders Alex Scaperotta, 9, and Jordan Reichgut, 10, are the founders of Little People, Big Changes, a club for children who care about the environment. Last year, they pushed for a ban on idling cars in the school parking lot.

"If every person in the United States stopped idling for five minutes each day, it would save 32 million tons of carbon dioxide, approximately," Jordan said. "Not pounds. Tons."

The boys, with Jordan's 8-year-old brother, Ethan Reichgut, a second-grader at Cider Mill, said they have signed up more than 100 Wilton residents for clean energy, enough to earn the town free solar panels on a municipal building.

Moccia urged Norwalk residents to enroll in the program. The Norwalk Common Council this week passed a resolution to support using 20 percent clean energy by 2010.

Since the October launch, Fairfield County GreenDrinks events have showcased green products, businesses and initiatives, Burns-DeMelo said.

"It's a place where people can exchange creative ideas, brainstorm solutions, inspire each other, and maybe even start projects," she said.

At Wednesday's event, Mia Schipani, director of business development for Waldners Business Environments, a furniture dealer, was talking up her "green team," which she hopes will include heating, venting and air conditioning installers, flooring dealers and others.

Darek Shapiro of Energy Independence Now said he was looking for partners for his new business, which sells energy integration using solar panels and super-insulation.

Shapiro ran for the mayor of Stamford in 2005 as the Green Party candidate.

Sarah McCall and Jennifer Milano, marketers for Stepping Stones Museum for Children, attended the event to learn about trends and technologies.

"Stepping Stones is moving to the future and trying to be more environmental stewards in planning new exhibits and in how we operate our business," McCall said.

The event was, for many, a first visit to i.park Norwalk, which Greenwich developer National RE-sources created by renovating the former PerkinElmer Corp. headquarters at 761 Main Ave. National RE-sources has i.parks in New York, New Jersey and Maine.

Space in the 400,000-square-foot building is rented at 25 percent below market rate. Property manager Rose Hughes said rents vary depending on location in the building, which is about half leased.

Norwalk Hospital, LA Fitness and Source-Envi Marketing are early tenants. Some of the interiors are under construction.

During the event, Action Motors of Danbury made Chrysler's Global Electric Motorcar available for test drives. Mercury Solar Systems of New Rochelle, N.Y., gave tours of the green roof it installed at i.park, which features 54 solar panels that supply 11 kilowatts of electricity.

The building is shaped like a barbell, with two stories on either side and solar panels above the center, which will provide a "green oasis" for tenants, Hughes said.

Walking trails will be added along the Norwalk River, which borders the property. The corporate park is certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

Burns-DeMelo said her goal is to make Fairfield County a leader in the green world.

"The key people are here, and if I can reach and inspire the key people . . . maybe some magic is going to happen," she said.

GreenDrinks is an international social networking organization founded in London in 1989. Since then, 320 groups have sprung up worldwide.

- To learn more about GreenDrinks, visit the community blog at www.ctgreenscene.org.