SCARBOROUGH, Maine — A nonprofit retirement community in Scarborough is charting a bold course toward sustainability.

Piper Shores has committed to achieving carbon neutrality by 2040 and eliminating fossil fuel use entirely by 2045. Through a collaborative effort involving residents, staff, and board members, Piper Shores is turning environmental stewardship into a shared mission.

“The residents here come because of the beauty of the environment,” Karen Brewer, a longtime resident, said. “If we could do our part to make the environment more healthy, carbon neutral is the way to go.”

The effort is spearheaded by the Piper Shores Sustainability Collaborative, which has already introduced several green initiatives. Some of these include the installation of electric vehicle charging stations and the implementation of composting and recycling programs.

Still, these steps are just the beginning. 

CEO Philip Jean emphasized the importance of their approach, which combines energy conservation, water efficiency, and improved landscape management to achieve their goals.

“Our goal is to make sure that we’re doing things that are environmentally friendly,” Jean said. “There’s a number of things in each of those areas that will evolve and allow us to get to our carbon neutrality goals.”

Jean noted the community is ahead of schedule, thanks in part to offsite solar panels providing clean electricity. 

“The community was built on the premise that we obviously sit on a lot of conserved space,” Jean explained. “It’s important that we give back to the planet in a meaningful way.”

For residents like Brewer, the journey toward sustainability is inspiring and hopeful.

“Everybody is involved—residents, staff, board. It’s exciting to see what we’ve done and what’s still to come,” she said.

You can view Piper Shores’ sustainability plan by clicking here.