Region 1: EPA New England

Massachusetts Communities Providing Leadership on Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy

By Robert W. Varney November 6, 2003

CT | ME | MA | NH | VT Archive

While it hasn’t yet reached the glory of Paul Revere’s Ride, another grassroots revolution is underway across much of Commonwealth. And like the famous ride 228 years ago, this revolution evolves around freedom – freedom from expensive, polluting energy sources.

From wind turbines in Hull, to solar panels in Somerville to energy-efficient street lights and hybrid vehicles in Medford and Cambridge, dozens of Massachusetts communities are on a mission to dramatically reduce their overall energy consumption while boosting their reliance on clean renewable sources of energy.

Spurred by the prospect of large cost savings on energy bills and growing citizen interest in less-polluting energy sources, communities as big as Boston and as small as Arlington are developing formal action plans that document where energy dollars are being spent and where energy reductions and cost savings can be found in buildings, street lights, transportation or disposing trash.

With renewable energy technologies more readily available, communities such as Hull, Newton and Brockton also are moving aggressively to supplement traditional energy sources with solar panels, wind turbines and other clean-power sources that are being installed on school buildings and other municipal properties.

These municipal programs are great news for New England’s environment because they are reducing the region’s reliance on fossil-fuel power plants, which emit greenhouse gas emissions as well as other pollutants that cause elevated smog levels, acid rain and mercury deposition. They’re also great news for local taxpayers because they are saving cities and towns money at a time when municipal budgets and school budgets are razor-tight.

Backed with technical and financial assistance from state and federal agencies, as well as local utilities which have millions of dollars available for energy efficiency programs, the benefits of these energy efficiency and clean energy programs are already widespread. Among the highlights:

• Newton’s $130,000 investment in energy efficiency lighting in 38 municipal buildings is saving the city $60,000 a year on its electricity bills. Eighty percent of the energy efficiency improvements were paid for by a local utility.

• Medford, Arlington, Somerville and Brookline are saving tens of thousands of dollars a year by replacing their traffic lights with energy-efficient Light Emitting Diode traffic lamps, which use 80 to 90 percent less energy. “Change a Light” campaigns also are underway in many of these communities to encourage residents to use energy-efficient light bulbs and fixtures in their homes. (By replacing the five most frequently light fixtures or bulbs at home with models that have the Energy Star label, a typical household will save more than $60 a year on their energy bills.)

• A new 150-foot-high wind turbine in Hull is running all of the town’s street lights and traffic lights, while also saving the town’s ratepayers $130,000 a year on their electric bills. Meanwhile, Brockton, with support from EPA and the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust, is trying to reclaim an abandoned 10-acre property into the largest solar facility of its kind in New England.

• Worcester’s pay-as-you-throw trash recycling program has diverted more than 100,000 tons of trash from being incinerated – thus saving the city millions of dollars in tipping fees while reducing air pollution at the same time. The city’s recycling rate is over 50 percent – the highest recycling rate of any major city in New England.

• The new Michael E. Capuano School in Somerville is using 43 percent less electricity and 24 percent less natural gas due to energy efficiency measures that are expected to save the city $60,000 annually on its energy bills. The school is also getting nine percent of its electricity from photovoltaic solar panels on the roof.

• Cambridge, in an effort to reduce vehicle emissions, requires new companies and developers to offer programs that encourage commuting by public transit, biking or walking. One company, Millenium Pharmaceutical, has gone so far as to pay employees $175 each quarter for biking or walking to work and charging them up to $45 every two weeks for using company parking spaces. (Millenium was honored by EPA Oct. 30 as one of 60 Massachusetts employers on the agency’s list of Best Workplaces for Commuters.)

From land use, to transportation to building construction, local governments have major influence and control over energy consumption patterns in this country. That’s why the examples above are so important. In addition to providing immediate tangible benefits, they serve as models that other communities can replicate.

To learn about these and other energy-saving projects, Massachusetts residents should consider attending an upcoming conference Sunday Nov. 16 at Tufts University in Medford. Sponsored by the Massachusetts Climate Action Network, a coalition of local groups, the all-day conference will include dozens of workshops covering such topics as green schools and high-performance buildings, funding energy efficiency and renewable energy projects, buying green electricity and hybrid vehicles and organizing “Change a Light” campaigns. For more information about the conference, visit www.massclimateaction.org

Robert W. Varney is regional administrator of EPA's New England Office.