Sustainability at MTL

“An average American loves his family. If he has any love left over for some other person, he generally selects Mark Twain.” – Thomas Edison

The Mark Twain Library has always been committed to doing our part in contributing to a more sustainable environment and ultimately a greener planet. In fact, you might say our sixty year old  Book Fair was our original recycling program.

More recently, in 2013,  we installed solar panels as part of an effort to  reduce our overall carbon footprint. By utilizing this renewable power we generate fewer harmful emissions and therefore hope to have a more positive impact on the environment. This rooftop photovoltaic (PV) system was installed by Sound Solar Systems of Old Greenwich and continues to maintained by this company.  Until very recently, the panels were owned by Santa Energy which generously funded the costs of installation.  Through a special buyback program the library assumed the ownership of the panels in late October 2019.  The panels continue to function well.  All power generated by the panels is fed back into the “grid” and the library receives credit on its utility bill from Eversource and other special credits from a state run program.

We also recently replaced our oil burning furnace with a state of the art  highly efficient heating unit that runs on propane.  We are using less fuel to heat the library and have a more comfortable environment for our library users.

In addition, the Mark Twain Library has a long history of recycling our own internal waste materials because we are dedicated to making and sustaining a cleaner, healthier environment for all.