New Guide Helps Businesses Save On Energy
The Westborough-based 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership recently hosted an energy forum and released a guide that Executive Director Paul Matthews hopes can help answer questions on where to start when it comes to reducing energy costs.
The document, "Lighting the Way: A New Era of Energy Solutions," helps businesses and public officials navigate initiatives, rules and regulations regarding energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in Massachusetts.
"In this era, cutting energy costs is important to address operating expenses and keeping things efficient," Matthews said.
Power Ahead
In recent years state and federal governments have put programs in place to help encourage energy conservation.
In 2008 alone, the state passed the Green Communities Act, the Green Jobs Act, the Global Warming Solutions Act, the Clean Energy Biofuels Act and the Oceans Act.
According to John Ziemba, a lawyer with Worcester-based Bowditch & Dewey, which co-sponsored the report with the partnership, the programs seem to be working.
"Right now, these incentives make renewable energy possible," Ziemba said. "Projects just couldn't be financed without some of the incentives available from the state and federal government."
That's good news and bad news.
The good news is that incentive programs are fueling the renewable energy industry.
The bad news: There is uncertainty about how long those incentives will be in place. The federal government's 30-percent grant for some renewable energy projects was set to expire at the end of 2010, but was extended in December.
State programs seem to be here to stay, Ziemba said.
And some local MetroWest companies are taking advantage.
For example, before Cambridge-based biotech giant Genzyme built a six-story, 175,000-square-foot research and development building in Framingham, the company consulted with local utility provider NStar. Through a variety of incentive programs, the company saved money on the incremental upgrades that made the building more energy efficient. The building is now equipped with energy-efficient boilers, chillers, high-performance lighting systems and occupancy sensors.
BJ's Wholesale Club, headquartered in Westborough, took advantage of utility programs to save almost $50,000 when the company installed gas-fired low-intensity infrared heating units - 99 of them - at the company's Uxbridge distribution facility. Through a program with the utility company, the company received a $500 credit for each one.
But there are barriers to getting more energy efficiency projects completed, the report shows.
For example, sometimes the priorities of different parties don't always line up. Take a small business that may rent office space from a landlord and be responsible for paying the utility bills. In that scenario the landlord may not have an incentive to invest in energy-efficiency upgrades to the building.
Homebuilders have a variety of ways to make new buildings more energy efficient, but that can cost more money, a tradeoff some developers are not willing to make.
And then there can be a lack of information, or a perceived notion that making the improvements are too expensive.
The partnership's report attempts to discount these misperceptions by showcasing success stories.
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