Galvin Electricity Initiative Sparks Sustainable District Energy Talk in BMIP
District heating. A municipally supported energy aggregation buying group. On-site, business community owned renewable energy production. Smart Grid ready buildings. High performance energy standards and assistance for tenant fit outs. Green leases. A lower carbon, more competitive Boston Marine Industrial Park (BMIP).
These were some of the ideas that a range of 35-40 stakeholders including business leaders, government and quasi-governmental representatives, utilities, energy distributors, cleantech CEOs, policy makers, and energy experts discussed and debated at a sprited workshop today led by John Kelly and the Galvin Electricity Initiative to explore district scale sustainable energy solutions in the BMIP, which anchors Boston’s Innovation District.
Achieving these goals will require innovative finance tools and approaches, greater transparency among stakeholders, and public private partnerships, but BRA Director John Palmieri, who attended the workshop offered his strong support for exploring a range of energy strategies that will help all BMIP tenants reduce their energy costs, move the Park toward a lower carbon energy supply, while growing the cleantech cluster there.
This visioning workshop was just the first step. We look forward to on-going productive engagement with business owners, our utility partners, NSTAR and National Grid, Massport, the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, Veolia, and others. If we are successful, the sustainable district energy vision in the Park could serve as a prototype which we could eventually scale to the broader Innovation District, joining a handful of sustainable energy district scale efforts under development around the globe.
Beyond tackling energy consumption in existing buildings, experts familiar with the Park speculated that new development could double energy demand in the Park over the next 10 to 20 years. At the same time, rising sea levels and energy costs demand that public and private sector forces join hands to identify innovative solutions to tackle these new energy, climate change, and economic development challenges. The Park’s growing cleantech cluster, anchored by renewable energy, energy efficiency, energy storage, cleantech R&D facilities, and sustainable design firms, can play a powerful role by injecting innovative techologies, new service and business models into the mix, supported by City leaders who are eager to promote cleantech prototyping and beta testing site locations for our cleantech cluster.
Please contact me if you are interested in joining this exciting effort.
read moreRenew Boston Rolls Out Energy Saving Opportunities For Area Restaurants
On February 16th 2011 The Massachusetts Restaurant Association Educational Foundation and the MRA Green Team Task Force are hosting a seminar sponsored by Renew Boston, MassSave, and the Sustainable Business Network SBN to announce the kickoff of a program to provide free energy assessments and energy efficiency improvements for Boston Restaurants. The expanded program will help restaurant owners identify efficiency upgrade opportunities as well as financial incentives for energy savings related to natural gas, electricity, and water usage for Boston Restaurants using up to 300 KW peak electrical loads. Specific upgrades will include general lighting and lighting controls, case fan motor replacement, evaporator fan motor replacement, cooler control systems which include, controlling door heaters, evaporator fans, door fans, compressors. Spray valves, pipe insulation, programmable thermostats, duct wrap, boiler reset, and low flow shower heads will also be included.
Efficient LED lighting can provide savings of up to 85% over incandescent lighting with a lifespan of 48,000 hours, which is a considerable reduction in electrical consumption while providing a warm pleasing spectrum of light for restaurant application. The program is also providing the installation of low-flow spray nozzle technology for commercial dishwashers providing both natural gas and water savings.
Together these targeted approaches can significantly reduce the energy costs for restaurant owners further helping to reduce the overall operating costs for such businesses.
The 9:45 a.m. February 16th, 2011 seminar at Taranta Restaurant in Boston’s North End will feature presenters from National Grid, NSTAR, Renew Boston as well as the chef/owner of Taranta.
Please sign up for the Renew Boston Energy Efficiency Seminar at the Massachusetts Restaurant Association 508-303-9905
Can biodeisel help mitigate global warming?
Check out this article about waste vegetable oil WVO and biodeisel on the Massachusetts Restaurant Associations site: The Massachusetts Restaurant Association -
read moreNew Green Jobs Portal Launched
About once every few weeks, I field a call from a Boston resident interested in green jobs. The caller is typically a young person, interested in sustainability, or a seasoned member of the construction industry, looking to add a marketable new skillset or credential to their resume. Now, those callers have a new resource they can reference. The Northeast Energy Efficiency Partnerships (NEEP) and the New England Clean Energy Council in partnership with the MA Clean Energy Center have put together an excellent on-line green jobs portal which maps the wide range of regional green jobs workforce training programs, employer partners, as well as valuable information about industry credentials, and other resources.
In addition to developing some of our own green jobs training workshops, the BRA is doing its part to help grow demand for job seekers with these skill sets by attracting new clean energy companies to Boston, weighing in on policy matters that help grow the industry, and investing directly in energy efficiency and solar thermal systems.
read moreHoliday Odds and Ends
We’ve had a solid year for cleantech industry development, witnessed the adoption of sustainable business practices across the City, and launched innovative energy efficiency and renewable energy program and policy work. Thank you to everyone in the Boston area cleantech/green business community who has contributed your time and expertise to making our approach more strategic, more effective. I value community and industry feedback; please drop me a line in the new year if you have thoughts/suggestions about our programs, policy work, or business development strategy.
A few end-of-the- year announcements:
Green Jobs – The City’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG), funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Srategy (ARRA), includes funding for two energy related positions (search for these positions: Energy Administration and Finance Manager and Energy Efficiency and Alternative Energy Project Manager). Please circulate to good candidates. Applicants must be Boston residents.
New Green Industry Blog - Northeastern University Professor Joan Fitzgerald (author: Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development) is spearheading a new blog covering Boston’s sustainable economic development work. We are excited about this new resource which will provide a valuable outside perspective on our work and engage students in process.
Best Green Gift of the Holiday Season – While the tax bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama generated more than its share of controversy, key clean energy tax credits were extended, as part of the legislative negotiation helping to protect the 85,000 clean energy jobs nationally and keeping several large planned solar projects (totalling over 600kW) and the jobs associated with them on track here in Boston.
Have a safe and happy holiday season.
Galen
read moreSustainable Chinatown Reaches Over 60 Businesses
The Sustainable Chinatown project is a partnership between the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the Asian American Civic Association, and Chinatown businesses. It is funded by The Barr Foundation. To date, over 60 small businesses in Chinatown have taken advantage of the City of Boston’s federally subsidized energy efficiency program, Renew Boston. The program will shift to sustainable waste management and explore renewable energy options for businesses next. Despite the image at right, Jackie Chan is not assisting with the installation of T5 lamps.
Chinatown is a vibrant community located close to Boston’s downtown area and at the foot of the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Packed with restaurants and retailers, the neighborhood continues to evolve with new developments and changing populations. The BRA initiated the Sustainable Chinatown project to help Chinatown businesses address the issues of rising energy, water, and solid waste management costs by providing business owners with practical and affordable sustainable business and energy solutions, while building long term sustainable business expertise awareness and capacity in the community.
The project has gained momentum in a neighborhood where many thought energy efficiency would be a tough sell due to language and cultural barriers. Chinatown’s business leaders have proven otherwise.
read moreBoston Adopts “Stretch” Energy Code
The Boston City Council voted yesterday to adopt the so called “stretch code” an option provided to municipalities under the state’s Green Communities Act, which will increase energy efficiency performance requirements for new construction and some renovation projects, and be a key driver for clean energy businesses. City Councillor John Connolly: “we’re taking an opportunity to create jobs for clean energy companies by passing [the stretch code].”
Tom Pincince, CEO of Digital Lumens, testified at the hearing. “The savings from energy efficiency will put millions of dollars back into the local economy that can be used to create jobs, buy capital equipment, and build profitable companies.”
Adoption of the stretch code has been a top GreenTech initiative policy goal. The code goes into effect in June of next year.
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