Solar panels, energy-saving light bulbs and fuel-efficient vehicles, all increasingly commonplace in the region, each play a role in making the Bay State the nation's leader in energy efficiency, officials said this week.
Massachusetts is the most energy-efficent state in the nation, according to a report released last month by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy.
State and local officials agree that a 2008 program that encourages cities and towns to put a priority on sustainable energy has played a large role in that achievement.
In 2008, Massachusetts passed the Green Communities Act, which qualifies cities and towns for state aid if they meet five energy-saving criteria, including fuel-efficent vehicles and energy-saving building codes.
Seventy-four communities in the state have now received the certification, including Lincoln, Sudbury, Marlborough, Wayland, Natick, Hopkinton and Medway. Mendon most recently became a Green Community in July.
To be certified, a city or town must do five things. First they must change zoning bylaws to prioritize renewable and alternative energy projects and expedite permits for those projects.
It must also calculate its total energy use and plan to reduce it by 20 percent within five years. It must also purchase only fuel-efficient vehicles for town use and require all new construction to follow a new energy-saving building code.
Ashland is one of 84 communities in Massachusetts that hope to become Green Communities in the next few years, according to Joanne Bissetta, northeast regional coordinator for the Green Communities Division of the state government.
Once certified, communities qualify to apply for state grants to offset the costs of implementing the green technologies.
Medway, which became a Green Community in 2010, used a $158,450 grant the town received in August to buy equipment to modify the heating, air condition and ventilation systems in the library, as well as energy-saving light bulbs in the library, town hall, senior center and police station.
"The Green Community program has really piqued our interest in pursuing other projects that will help us save energy," Medway Town Administrator Suzanne Kennedy said.
On Thursday, the state announced that Mendon will receive $146,000 to install a high-efficiency furnace in the library and calculate how much energy the town uses.
Two months ago, Natick finished installing solar panels on five schools in town. But Bob Bois, the town's environmental compliance officer, said Natick began going green long before the Green Communities Act was established.
"It's not the Green Communities program driving the town, it's the town using the Green Communities opportunity to apply to its overall plan for energy improvements across the town," Bois said.
When Natick became a Green Community two years ago, the town had already reduced its energy consumption by 18 percent.
He said the new solar panels, installed by Framingham company Ameresco, will provide 20 to 60 percent of the daily energy for the schools and cost the town half of what it paid previously.
Natick signed a 20-year agreement with Ameresco to purchase electricity at 9.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, instead of the average rate of 18 cents.
"By just generating our own electricity and paying for it we're saving almost 50 percent of our cost of electricity," Bois said.
One drawback, he said, is that the grant money the town has received from the state represents less than 2 percent of what the town is spending on renewable energy.
One major part of becoming a Green Community is adopting the "stretch code," a building code overhaul that requires all new residential construction over 3,000 square feet and all new commercial and real estate construction to consume 30 percent less energy than what a conventional building would use.
The code focuses on insulation, windows and appliances that consume less energy.
Building departments said the new code often costs more up front, but stretch code advocates said the long-term pay off is huge.
"Your energy costs are reduced so much that it offsets the few thousand extra dollars on your mortgage," Bissetta said.
Marlborough Building Commissioner Stephen Reid said the code became official in Marlborough in July but doesn't become mandatory until January 2012. Right now he said only two of the eight builders in town decided to use the new energy-saving code.
Reid said utility companies such as NStar and National Grid offer incentives to builders or individuals if they purchase a more efficient appliance, such as a water boiler.
At the State House this week, however, Attorney General Martha Coakley said although the program has many benefits, its cost to the state over the next four years will be more than $4 billion, which she said will cause the cost of electricity to rise 7 percent by 2015.
Coakley said the program offers utility companies "overly generous incentives" to meet energy efficiency goals required by the law.
"These standards need to be re-evaluated and changes should be made to protect the interests of ratepayers," Coakley said.
She said long-term renewable energy contracts should be subject to competitive bidding to drive down prices.
Bois suggested several other changes to the program, including more understanding of factors beyond communities' control.
"Weather is a big factor," he said, saying heavy winter snowstorms necessarily require more use of town vehicles.
"Regardless of how energy efficent you are, you're going to see an increase in fuel use," he said.
Reid said he is concerned about how the stretch code will affect peoples' ability to choose and afford their building projects.
"When it becomes mandatory it's going to level the playing field, and all the houses are going to meet the same standard," he said.
He said that means while now a family can pay the same amount to build with green technology or build a whirlpool bathtub, when the green technology becomes mandatory, he said that family won't be able to afford the whirlpool.
"I see that as a little bit of a hindrance, especially on the low end and on the first-time home builder end," Reid said.
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