Environmental Initiatives Take Hold in Andover, at AHS

• March 17, 2025

Anushka Dole || ONLINE EDITOR

The Andover Green Advisory Board has taken on several initiatives to increase the overall sustainability of AHS and the town of Andover as a whole.

The advisory board was created around 2008 by the then-Director of Planning and Land Use, Paul Materazzo. According to the town of Andover’s website, the intent of the board was to “provide support and advice, which contribute to practical environmental solutions, to various town boards and town departments in Andover”. Members on the board are appointed by the Town Manager. 

Environmental Science teacher Melanie Cutler is one of six members serving on the board currently, and she articulated the goals of the board in more detail.

“The main role [of the board] is to advise [the] town government in improving the environmental sustainability of our town,” she said. “That includes things like energy reduction, pollution reduction, and decreasing water use.”

One of the board’s most significant efforts in recent times has been supporting the construction of the new, green West Elementary school building.

“For the new West Elementary School, the [board] was involved early in the planning process,” Cutler said. “Some [board] members attended public planning meetings with the architects to encourage environmental sustainability features in the design.”

Designed by Cambridge architectural firm SSMA, the new school building underwent a 36.7% carbon reduction compared to the original building. The building is also 100% electric and ready to be net zero. 

Thanks to the board’s efforts, Andover has been designated as a “green community” by the state, which has opened up opportunities for grants that have been used to reduce energy consumption in schools and town buildings. These grants have enabled the replacement of traditional street lights with energy-efficient LED lights.

In addition to the grants earned by the green community designation, the board works with Dr. Losick Yang, Director of Sustainability, and the Energy Director Janet Nicosia, to apply for new grants.

“We do what we can to support [Yang] and help her in her efforts,” Cutler said. “She’s the official town employee, and we are the volunteer group that talks with the different town departments to see how we can help them do things more sustainably.” 

The board’s initiatives also focus on enhancing environmental education and improving indoor air quality.

Because of the availability of environmental education, clubs such as the Environmental club and the Garden club have flourished at AHS (see sidebar). 

Students in AHS courses, such as ESIC, also help contribute to the goals of the board. ESIC is the Environmental Sustainability Internship Course, and it is a course for seniors who would like to conduct an environmental project over the course of the year. A particularly interesting project from ESIC, from 2015, involved students studying indoor air quality at the high school. They investigated volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

“There are a whole bunch of things that can reduce air quality in schools… VOCs are one,” Cutler said. VOC stands for volatile organic compounds, and they are chemical fumes that you can smell coming from things like paint, furniture, or flooring. The study conducted at AHS revealed that there are no VOCs at AHS, which is a major step towards indoor air quality improvement.