A year in review…the clean energy revolution continues

Mark Sylvia

Commissioner, Department of Energy Resources (DOER)

View Mark's Bio

This week, President Obama and Governor Patrick both confirmed their visions for our clean energy future. In the State of the Union speech, the President talked about the “promise of clean energy,” and said “nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy.” In the Governor’s State of the Commonwealth address, he brought it home, reminding us that the Green Communities Act fundamentally shifted our state’s energy focus toward efficiency and renewable energy.  

Our nation-leading energy policies are producing results across the board.  Massachusetts citizens, businesses, state entities, and local governments - including 86 designated Green Communities - are taking advantage of the economic and environmental rewards of investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy. We’re creating clean energy jobs, reducing municipal operating costs, using less energy and adding cleaner energy. And we’ve received national recognition for our efforts.

Take a look at the advances in our energy agenda from last year (for the best view press play, click 'More' and view 'Fullscreen'). 

You can also view the Massachusetts 2011 Clean Energy Year In Review on this site or you can download 2011 Massachusetts Clean Energy Year in Review.

Under Governor Patrick’s leadership and support of renewable energy, the clean energy industry grew nearly 7 percent in Massachusetts last year, and added thousands of jobs. We’ve added tens of thousands of kilowatts of renewable generation – enough to power over 25,000 households – since 2007.  

This past fall, Massachusetts was ranked as the No. 1 state in the nation for energy efficiency by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) for “excelling in every aspect of energy efficiency” and continuing “the implementation of the 2008 Green Communities Act.” Massachusetts’ success in renewable energy was also underlined in the fall, when Governor Patrick was awarded the Solar Champion Award by the Solar Energy Industry Association. 

None of our success would be possible without the hard work of the more than 63,000 people working in 4,900 Massachusetts clean energy companies, weatherizing homes, designing energy efficient buildings, installing solar panels for electricity or heating, and tuning up high efficiency furnaces. It also wouldn’t be possible if homeowners, renters, landlords, business owners and municipal leaders didn’t see the benefit of investing in energy improvements that provide savings and value today, and well into the future.

It’s been a thrilling first year as commissioner and I look forward to continuing my work with you as we create a cleaner energy future together. 

Comments

[Christopher Derby Kilfoyle]

Commissioner , congratulations on your first year and for the continued growth the Patrick administration has nurtured in 2011.
Lets work for passage of the Solar License Bill HO1004 this year to 1. assure a career path for and competency of the growing number of solar installers and 2. ensure consumer protections for solar development contracts that reach the standards required of HIC registered and CSL licensed contractors.

[GW]

Many politicians include Natural Gas ( fracked methane) in the list of "Clean Energy" sources.......nothing could be further from the truth.

The engineering process used to FRACK and extract "natural" gas from the depths of the earth ( several miles down)....not only explodes shale beds which are a natural cushion to the deep level trauma( Earthquakes) reaching the earths surface where we require stability to live and thrive...."FRACKING" forces arsenic laced water at high velocity into the extraction process, deep within the cavities of the earth which causes mutations in the atoms of the methane being extracted. Numerous heavy metals - (lead, mercury, radon, arsenic, etc) bond to the methane atoms as a result of the fracking process)and when extracted and burned as "clean" natural gas....ACTUALLY spew SIX TIMES MORE CARBON ( pollution) INTO THE AIR THAN COAL WOULD when being burned to create the same amount of power.....REAL natural gas is reasonably CLEAN burning...but FRACKED natural gas ( methane) is NOT the same animal...no matter what the energy producers would LIKE us to believe.......We need to listen to the educated/reason of the scientific community...NOT to the loud and illiterate voices of the political and media pundents who SHOULD be better informed and take off their rose colored glasses...Carbon from fossil fuel stays in the atmosphere for THOUSANDS of years..it does not get washed out of the air by rain......carbon from WOOD is easily absorbed by the earth in many ways and benefits the planet.....FOSSIL FUEL should remain undisturbed ( BELOW GROUND)....not to be mined, drilled and polluting the earth, air, water and LIFE of all God's creatures....including mankind.

[Jack Gregg]

The video does not work. What has the Prezi package got to do with this? Hitting play gets you an advertizement for the Prezi software, but not review of the Massachusetts 2011 Clean Energy Year. What's up!!!

[Emily Dahl]

Excellent presentation, and great statistics. Congratulations to everyone who has worked so hard to get Massachusetts to where we are today with clean energy.

We're lucky to have Undersecretary Kates-Garnick speaking at our upcoming solar energy conference in Boston (along with US DOE SunShot director Ramamoorthy Ramesh), and I'd be happy to set up a screen where this presentation can loop and show our national and international visitors all the progress MA has made. Please let me know if this sounds good!

http://www.cleantechnotes.org/2011/12/solar-deployment-costs-pv-rollout-conference-2012

[Brett Tofel]

Great summary of the work done in Massachusetts on clean energy and efficiency. I think DOER is going great things for Massachusetts.

[Scrapsparcs]

Whats the best way to get timetable updates for adoption of the next code version?

[Dan Burgess]

@Scrapsparcs, Thank you for your comment. You should be able to find updated information on the timetable for the stretch code implementation on the Department of Public Safety’s website, here: http://www.mass.gov/eopss/agencies/dps/building-codebbrs.html

The latest news on that page states: “March 1, 2012: BBRS is considering adoption of the IECC 2012 possibly as early as third quarter of 2012, and when promulgated a full one year concurrency period will be in effect. The Stretch code which is in development now may follow a similar schedule.”

[Ruby @ Solar Panel Installation]

This is a good move for the government. I hope that they get this in place as soon as possible. Energy costs could eat up so much of our family's income.