Press Release  Healey-Driscoll Administration Awards $3.3 Million in Green Communities Grants

Boston — The Healey-Driscoll Administration today awarded $3.3 million in Green Communities competitive grants to 27 municipalities across Massachusetts to fund clean energy projects. With today’s announcement, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) has awarded more than $170 million to Green Communities in Designation Grants and Competitive Grants since 2010.

“The Green Communities program helps our cities and towns make important investments at the local level to achieve their own climate goals and lower carbon emissions,” said Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper. “This moves us forward on our clean energy path and lessens our reliance on volatile fossil fuels, lowering costs and risks for our communities and their residents and businesses.”

“We are proud to collaborate with cities and towns across Massachusetts to provide clean heat and transportation alternatives to expensive fossil fuels and help implement energy saving projects for budget-strapped municipalities,” said DOER Commissioner Elizabeth Mahony. “The hard work and commitment of our municipal partners to lower energy costs and emissions at the local level helps Massachusetts meet its ambitious climate goals and creates healthier communities.”

Under the Green Communities Act, cities and towns must meet five criteria to be designated a Green Community and receive funding. The grants provide financial support for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that further the designated communities’ clean energy goals and are awarded to existing Green Communities that have successfully invested their initial designation grants and previous competitive grant awards. Grants are capped at $200,000 per municipality. Funding for these grants is available through proceeds from carbon allowance auctions under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

The grants announced today fund a range of projects including the acquisitions of air-source heat pumps, hybrid police cruisers, battery-electric vehicles, and electric vehicle charging stations. Projects also include ventilation system upgrades, high efficiency lighting and the installation of insulation and energy management systems at municipal buildings and facilities.

Close to half of the awardees are implementing fuel switching projects, replacing fossil fuel fired heating systems with electric heat pumps. Once installed, those projects will reduce municipal energy burden and GHG emissions. In total, the related projects reduce GHG emissions by 121 tons annually, and 2,215 tons during the lifetime of the equipment.

The following municipalities received grant awards:

“The timing of these grants could not be better, arriving as they do during a time when city and town finances are under stress. We know the most effective response to climate change is local action. It’s about weatherizing the individual home, business, and municipal building,” said State Senator Michael J. Barrett. “Efforts funded by this money will boost efficiency, reduce the amount of energy we consume, and hasten the day when the sources of that energy are all green.”

“The Green Communities program is a highly-effective, intuitive, nuanced initiative at the necessary intersection of climate change mitigation and adaptation and municipal needs and realities,” said State Senator Joanne M. Comerford. “Thank you to the Healey-Driscoll Administration for continuing meaningful investments in my district and across the Commonwealth.”

“No two communities are exactly alike, meaning the needs of each are unique. What we all have in common is a climate that continues to change," said State Senator John F. Keenan. "Thanks to the Green Communities program, local municipalities can tackle the issues most immediately impacting them and fund projects for a more environmentally-friendly future.”

“I'm thrilled Waltham is a recipient of this Green Communities grant to support the City’s ongoing efforts to support clean energy and energy efficiency projects,” said State Representative Thomas M. Stanley. “The Green Communities Act is a great example of the Commonwealth collaborating with our cities and towns, giving them the resources they need to reduce emissions and lower energy consumption and costs.”

“I am thrilled to hear the Town of Abington is one of 27 communities selected to receive the Green Communities Competitive Grant,” said State Representative Alyson M. Sullivan-Almeida. “With the $200,000 grant, Abington will benefit greatly by addressing the needs of some of our municipal buildings including our senior center.”

“I’m very grateful to see the towns of Orange and Warwick receiving these grants to assist them in their ongoing initiatives to employ more clean and efficient projects,” said State Representative Susannah M. Whipps. “On behalf of myself and these communities, I thank the administration for these opportunities.”

Representing an estimate energy cost savings of more than $256,000 annually and leveraging more than $856,000 in utility incentives, the proposed projects will reduce the equivalent of the energy use of 285 Massachusetts households. In greenhouse gas emissions terms, the projects are estimated to reduce emissions by 586 metric tons annually – roughly equal to taking more than 130 cars off the road for one year.

Learn more about the awarded projects and funding amounts here.

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