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Massachusetts Governor Announces Fund for Saving Energy and Reducing Emissions, Based on Cambridge Model
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick announced in a March 29 press release that the state is creating a $2 million state revolving loan fund to cover the start-up costs of large-scale energy efficiency programs. The fund, called MassEfficiency, is modeled on the Cambridge Energy Alliance, a public-private partnership unveiled the same day. MassEfficiency will allow the City of Boston and four other Massachusetts cities to replicate the Cambridge effort, which promises $100 million in efficiency measures to be paid for largely out of the savings they generate.
The governor advocated replicating the alliance's financial mechanism — a Revolving Fund for Energy Efficiency. Approximately 80 percent of the financing will come from private sources, and 20 percent will come from electrical utility incentive programs that were established, in part, to promote energy efficiency. As a result, energy savings and clean energy installations will, in most cases, be paid for by the project financing and repaid from future energy savings of companies, municipal facilities, universities, hospitals, small businesses, and residents. No upfront costs will be required for such installations, and there will be no cost to Cambridge or state taxpayers.
The alliance is a nonprofit organization formed in partnership with the City of Cambridge to carry out sweeping and "unprecedented" energy efficiency measures. Over the next 5 years, the alliance plans to spend more than $100 million on an energy efficiency effort in Cambridge, while also installing new renewable and clean energy generation. The goals are to reduce the Cambridge's peak electricity demand by 50 megawatts (MW), which represents a 15 percent load reduction; reduce annual electricity and water consumption by 10 percent citywide; and reduce the city's annual greenhouse gas emissions by 150,000 tons, or 10 percent, by 2011. The alliance wants to achieve a participation rate of 50 percent in each sector of customers (municipal, commercial, and residential). The tagline of the program, which will also target transportation, water use, and heating efficiencies, is "Saving Money and the Planet." The Henry P. Kendall Foundation, the Barr Foundation, and the Chorus Foundation provided start-up funding.
"The Cambridge Energy Alliance is pioneering a new model for energy efficiency that should be replicated by communities across the Commonwealth," said Patrick, speaking at the launch of the alliance at the Cambridge City Hall Annex. "MassEfficiency will help make that happen."
For more information, see the governor's March 29 press release and the March 29 Cambridge Energy Alliance press release.
To read more information about renewable energy and energy efficiency projects in Massachusetts, see:
- Massachusetts news published on the EERE Web site.
- Brief project descriptions from the Massachusetts Energy Office published in the EERE State Energy Program newsletter, Conservation Update.
- Massachusetts publications listed in the EERE State Publications Database.
