Community and energy efficiency—during the holidays, there is no better time to observe the interplay of those elements. Just walk around any cozy neighborhood during the evening, and you’ll see houses awash in lights, and each strand of colored bulbs represents not only the season, but also an additional power demand. And if the whole block is lit up, well … you can imagine how many watts are wafting out into that winter night.
But don’t label me a Scrooge just yet. I love holiday lights as much as the next guy, but you have to admit they are a handy example of how communities choose to use their energy resources. Imagine the consequences if a cul-de-sac, block, or neighborhood decided to actively promote efficiency. In Massachusetts, state officials have decided to harness this block party mentality by creating energy-efficient neighborhoods.
According to what appeared earlier this week via the Associated Press, the state plans to work with the City of Boston to apply for a $60 million DOE grant to retrofit and upgrade several urban neighborhoods. The money is available thanks to the federal “Retrofit Ramp-Up” program, which was designed to “demonstrate that economical energy upgrades can be created for a large portion of residential, commercial, and public buildings in specific communities.”
Massachusetts officials estimate that if the $60 million grant is awarded, the state could save up to $41 million annually in energy costs by the third year of the project. Another benefit would be the creation of 4,700 new jobs in the areas of weatherization, HVAC, energy assessors, and support personnel. With a focus on practical solutions like weather stripping and insulation, the state’s proposal would first be implemented along Boston’s Blue Hill Avenue, an historic corridor that runs through the heart of the city’s Roxbury, Mattapan, and Dorchester neighborhoods. According to city officials, Blue Hill Avenue is comprised of dense, residential neighborhoods perfectly equipped to demonstrate the benefits of energy efficiency upgrades and retrofits. City officials hope that by using $15 million out of the $60 million grant to fund improvements throughout the neighborhoods situated along Blue Hill Avenue—an area where 60% of residents are renters—landlords can be persuaded to upgrade their buildings and lower the energy costs (which can make up as much as 10% of a renter’s income) for tenants. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino noted that this kind of residential investment will not only improve structures, but also “transform lives by significantly lowering utility bills and will create good paying green jobs for local residents.”
So what do you think? Can this “boots on the ground” efficiency effort make a difference? Does it make sense to fund simple residential retrofits rather than large-scale projects? And is this the best way to engage and encourage communities to become energy efficiency stakeholders?