Boston is famously known as “Beantown” to people all over Massachusetts, but Mayor Menino has worked very hard to make it known as “Greentown.” His hard work has paid off because Boston has been named the 3^rd greenest city in the United States, following Portland, Oregon and San Francisco. Boston still has work to do to become the greenest city in America, but surely, we are on our way.

Mayor Menino has developed plans to make Boston much greener, and it will take time, but after seeing the work he has completed so far, there is no doubt he will accomplish them with great success. Mayor Menino proudly calls Boston “Greentown” because it makes a statement to the citizens of Boston: “Being green helps us build a better city and improve our economy…”

The Museum of Science has worked with Mayor Menino to build the “Green Trail,” which is a series of buildings in the Boston area that provide an audio tour to visitors. The “Green Trail” provides information about Mayor Menino’s plans, and the green efforts of the particular building. The buildings on the Green Trail are Cambridge City Hall Annex, Boston City Hall, Museum of Science, Nexus Green Building Resource Center, New England’s NonProfit Center, and the Artists for Humanity EpiCenter. While visiting, for example, the Boston City Hall, visitors are able to walk on the roof to view the wind turbine and green roof. The tour is informative and interactive because as you are being described the plans for change, you can see what has been done.

The main purpose of the “Green Trail” is to provide education. Through education about green living and sustainability, Boston sends the message that it supports all efforts, big and small, to make the world cleaner.

For more information on Boston’s Museum of Science Green Trail please visit: http://www.mos.org/greentrail/

Director of Energy Initiatives at Aerovironment, Paul Glenney, understands this concept of sending a green message: “We want to integrate these small wind turbines on buildings in plain sight…we think this can really communicate the generation of clean electricity.”

Wind turbines create clean energy, but the amount produced varies greatly. It can be enough to power 3 computers of a building, which are micro wind turbines, mainly used for powering residences. The point of having these turbines on an office building, or at Logan Airport, is to send a message that it is time to follow through with any efforts we can to clean the air and conserve natural resources.

Building micro wind turbines at 10 Somerset would send the message that Suffolk University supports Mayor Menino’s green efforts. It will show Bostonians and visitors that Suffolk supports clean energy and is making the effort to preserve limited natural resources. We also hope that installing micro wind turbines at Suffolk University will provide inspiration to other colleges and universities, as well as education to its own students about clean energy and sustainability. The micro turbines could be one of the first steps in a series of many green efforts at Suffolk University.