NEWTOWN -- The Newtown Sustainable Energy Commission plans to request $1 million in the upcoming town budget to fund energy saving measures in town, including solar panels.

"It's just smart planning," commission chairman Dan Holmes said. "It's a lot of money, but we want to start making these changes locally verses waiting for the federal government to fund it for us or to mandate it. We're trying to be ahead of the curve."

The commission has researched putting solar panels on municipal buildings and schools, Holmes said.

The commission would also like to switch out municipal lighting with energy saving LED-lighting, as well as upgrade municipal buildings to make them more energy efficient.

"We're trying to determine whether it makes sense to do any wind projects in town," Holmes said.

"We hope we can bring down costs or level costs down and rely less on outside sources," he added. "Yes, it's a tough time and there's not a lot of money, but many people who live here have lived here for a long time and raised their kids here. Had we done this eight or 10 years ago, we would have been well ahead of the game."