Commonwealth Conversations: Energy Smarts

Massachusetts Schools Honored for Energy, Sustainability Achievements

Samantha Randall

Intern, Department of Energy Resources (EEA)

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On Wednesday, June 5, the Massachusetts National Energy Education Development (NEED) Youth Awards ceremony was held in the State House. NEED was started more than 30 years ago and is a national project to promote an energy conscious and educated society by creating objective and engaging energy education programs. This year, seven schools, one district and one exceptional student were chosen from applications by Massachusetts schools and awarded for their efforts towards environmental sustainability and community outreach. I had the opportunity to attend as a DOER intern, where part of my work supports our clean energy education initiative. Being a recent college graduate, I was completely surprised by just how much these K-12 students actually knew and understood about energy.

Commissioner Mark Sylvia was the keynote speaker and opened the event by addressing how much the efforts and leadership taken by NEED students and teachers alike are becoming an increasingly important part of Massachusetts’ clean energy initiatives. The NEED curriculum ranges from themes like energy efficiency, to recycling and renewable energy.

That day, there were more than 100 students sitting in the Massachusetts State House for the NEED Youth Awards who had spent the year becoming energy literate. At one point during the award ceremony, each school was given a chance to have student representatives approach the podium and speak about their outreach projects. This is when I actually heard what the students had to say.

I was most impressed with the younger K-8 students’ knowledge. They were using words like solar photovoltaic, energy generation, kilowatt-hour, sustainability… These kids were learning topics in their primary education years that I hadn’t had the chance to start learning about until college − and most of them weren’t able to drive yet, let alone even see a PG-13 movie without an adult.

Commissioner Sylvia made a point during the event that I strongly agree with − “It’s so important for young people to understand the role energy plays in our lives; and it may be more important than trying to educate all the adults in Massachusetts.” If younger people learn about energy and environmental protection today, it will likely influence their actions and cultural values in years to come. And as I witnessed in the Massachusetts’ NEED Youth Awards − students become motivated to act upon an issue they understand when given the opportunity.

New Opportunities for K-12 Energy Education in Massachusetts

Florence Chen

Intern, Department of Energy Resources (DOER)

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Creating a “cleaner energy future for the Commonwealth” (DOER’s focus) and teaching engaging and relevant science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) material in the classroom may seem like two goals that require different strategies. However, DOER’s new energy education website (mass.gov/energy/energyeducation) may enable progress toward both.

The website is a tool for Massachusetts educators − perhaps you − to explore clean energy concepts as a way to bring math and science lessons together in a stimulating, engaging context. You can learn about examples of successful energy education programs in our schools, examples of student efforts that have won energy and environmental education awards, and evolving state and federal guidelines and standards that are creating a path to integrate science and energy education.

The website’s section on “Lessons You Can Use in Your Massachusetts Classroom” discusses ways to link science concepts to clean energy examples that can make lessons more interesting and more relevant. For instance, if you’re teaching about thermodynamics and heat energy, why not talk about solar thermal collectors as an application of these principles? This energy education page also connects to lessons – with sample lesson plans – that fit energy concepts to current Massachusetts standards for science education.

Many great energy education lesson plans are freely available online already; DOER hasn’t tried to reinvent that wheel. Our website shows you how easy it is to integrate these lessons into your science curriculum and match them to our state education standards. Through energy examples, your students will be able to learn about exciting, real-world applications of science.

As a DOER intern, I was able to create a large part of the content for this website. It quickly became clear that teachers have many demands on their time, so our DOER team tried to make this website practical and easy-to-use. Another insight from this experience is that a few motivated individuals really can make a difference and change the way a school system approaches sustainability. While researching content for the website, I was inspired again-and-again by stories of how innovative educators around Massachusetts are making clean energy and environmental awareness a part of their students’ lives.

Finally, my DOER colleagues are always looking for feedback and ways to improve the website, so please share your ideas with us at energy.education@state.ma.us.

Red Sox Pitch In to Combat Climate Change on Earth Day

Bram Claeys

Deputy Director of the Renewables Division, Department of Energy Resources

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As part of their plans to celebrate Earth Day and support clean energy, the Boston Red Sox purchased Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset the greenhouse gas emissions from this year’s Earth Day game. The RECs offset the carbon emissions from energy used at Fenway Park for the game, as well as fan, employee and team transportation. All told, the Red Sox will be offsetting 500 tons of greenhouse gases, equivalent to the annual emissions from 104 cars.

For those unfamiliar with it, the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard (RPS) was one of the first programs in the nation that required a certain percentage of the state's electricity to come from renewable energy.

Electricity suppliers meet their RPS obligations - a specific percentage each year - by acquiring a sufficient quantity of RECs. For each megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity, one serial-numbered electronic certificate is created. Certificates that represent renewable generation are coded accordingly and known as RECs. DOER calculates how much greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by one megawatt hour of clean energy generation, or one REC.

The Red Sox don’t have solar photovoltaic panels for electricity at Fenway, so the team calculated how much greenhouse gas emissions are caused by the Earth Day game, and then bought enough RECs to compensate for those emissions.

To support clean energy sources in New England, the Red Sox are purchasing their RECs from facilities in New England: 140 Massachusetts RECs from solar installations (at Falmouth Academy, North Coast Seafood, and Country Curtains) and 1,175 Maine RECs from hydropower installations. The Mass. RECs cover energy consumption within Fenway Park and the Maine RECs cover fan, employee, and team transportation emissions.

We’re thrilled that the Red Sox continue to hit it out of the park in their support for clean energy.

Photo Tour of MassCEC's Wind Technology Center

Rachel Schowalter

Multimedia Intern at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)

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On Dec. 11, I was given a tour of MassCEC’s Wind Technology Testing Center in Charlestown, where engineers test wind turbine blades from all over the world. The center, which can handle blades up to 90 meters in length, is an impressive sight to see, making it a natural topic for a photo blog. I hope you enjoy these photos of the center in action!

Deer Island Tour

Rachel Schowalter

Multimedia Intern at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)

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On December 3, 2012, I was given a tour of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority's (MWRA) facilities at Deer Island. Kristen Patneaude, my tour guide and project manager for the MWRA, showed me their various renewable energy installations around the island. It was an unexpectedly gorgeous day for December, making it the perfect time to take pictures of wind turbines and solar panels!

Click the picture to go to Flickr and select <12-3-12 Deer Island> under the header: "This photo also appears in."

Putting Clean Energy Interns to Work

Tamika Jacques

Director of Workforce Development at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)

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The 2013 Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Internship Program will again provide opportunities this spring for college students and recent graduates to intern with interested clean energy companies based in Massachusetts.

Not only do interns earn a paycheck but they gain meaningful employment experiences including networking opportunities, mentoring, and hands-on training. For companies – including early-stage companies without the resources to employ a large staff – the students provide a steady and engaged workforce to help them get their projects off the ground.

I was lucky enough to join Governor Deval Patrick when he spoke last month at the 2012 Global Cleantech Meet-up and announced the expansion of the program to include 10-week internship sessions in the fall and spring, as well as traditional the 10-week summer program.

University of Massachusetts Amherst chemical engineering graduate student QuynhAnh Tran and Boston University energy and environmental analysis major Amanda Colby were there too (pictured left to right with the governor). Both of them were hired as full-time employees after their internships.

They are two of the 38 students who gained full-time and part-time employment over the past two summers when the program placed more than 262 students and recent graduates at more than 77 clean energy companies across the state.

This program, co-sponsored by the New England Clean Energy Council, is a natural fit for us at MassCEC’s Workforce Development Program, which is dedicated to connecting Massachusetts’ talented workers with emerging and established Massachusetts clean energy companies, growing Massachusetts’ clean energy ecosystem.

Space in this program is limited, so we invite you to apply today.

Leading By Example Awards Winners Contribute To Clean Energy Goals

Mark Sylvia

Commissioner, Department of Energy Resources (DOER)

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The 2012 Leading by Example (LBE) Awards showcased the wide spectrum of government organizations and individuals contributing to the fulfillment of the Patrick-Murray Administration's clean energy goals. This year's nine recipients ranged from small and medium-size towns, to a regional planning authority, to a community college and UMass campus, to state agencies, to committed individuals.

The award-winning efforts underlie broad LBE accomplishments. The program has increased the installations of solar electric power (photovoltaics or "PV") at state facilities to more than 6 MW in 2012 from a mere 100 kW in 2007. Installed wind power at state sites -- now 11 MW -- has grown 18-fold from 2007 to 2012. At the same time, oil usage dropped over 9 million gallons between 2002 and 2011. The drop in electricity use at 480 state-owned buildings from installation of the Enterprise Energy Management System managed by LBE is projected to be in the five-to-fifteen percent range.

But these dramatic totals are not the result of a single state program or initiative. Rather, they represent the aggregate of individual projects, driven by impassioned people and dedicated organizations, across diverse segments of the public sector. Reductions in energy use and greenhouse gas emissions that flowed from actions taken by this year's award winners were enabled by Massachusetts' policies and initiatives, such as the Leading by Example Program. The projects that made up the reductions, however, were very much local, even those executed by large state agencies. Here is a sample of the projects from all nine 2012 award winners:

State Agencies: The Massachusetts Department of Correction installed two commercial wind turbines, totaling 3.3 MW capacity at its Gardner facility. A community swimming pool rehab project in Waltham opened by the Department of Conservation and Recreation incorporates solar PV for electricity and solar thermal for hot water, and is expected to supply nearly all of its own energy needs (zero-net energy).

Colleges: North Shore Community College opened the first state-owned zero net energy pilot project and UMass Lowell increased its recycling rate by more than 376 percent since 2008.

Municipal: The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission procured services for its fifteen member communities to pursue the development of PV on closed landfills. Scituate’s 1.5 MW wind turbine is expected to generate about 50 percent of the town’s electrical needs for 15 years, while Sutton used ARRA funding to install a 201 kW solar PV system on its Early Learning Center, projected to save the town $25,340 a year.

Individuals: Betty Ann Learned led Massasoit Community College to implement a comprehensive energy and water conservation project that will save around $12 million over 20 years with a 40 percent reduction in annual energy use. In Sudbury, Jim Kelly oversaw the installation of solar thermal and solar PV systems on the town community center and managed a streetlight conversion project that will save an estimated $21,000 a year.

The Leading by Example award winners demonstrate the impact that a "think globally, act locally" clean energy mind-set can have on achieving Massachusetts' clean energy goals.

Meet me at the Meet-Up

Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

Secretary, Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs

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The strength of the Massachusetts clean energy ecosystem is a testament to the work we’ve done together from town to town and business to business and in homes across the Commonwealth to adopt and champion clean energy.

The number of clean energy workers in Massachusetts – 72,000 and counting – has increased 11.2 percent over the past year. It’s a remarkable development that’s due to deliberate, progressive state clean energy policy, Massachusetts’ high-quality workforce, healthy investment environment, and innovation communities.

This strength is apparent from one end of the clean energy economy to the other. Clean energy firms forge partnerships among innovators, researchers, and utilities to grow business relationships. International clean tech companies look here for leadership.  Companies from abroad simply want to do business here, and emerging companies want to grow here.

In Massachusetts, opportunities abound for businesses that want to lower energy bills by working with companies right in the same zip code – and many of our corporations and institutions with energy-intensive facilities are entering into these partnerships. More and more homeowners recognize that not only is clean energy good for the environment, it’s a good home improvement investment.

We are dedicated to maintaining this momentum by fostering new connections that expand markets, push technology forward, and forge meaningful partnerships from our own backyard to across the nation and around the globe.

Now is your chance to join us in celebrating this growth and advancing the clean energy economy at the Global Cleantech Meet-up held in Boston and Cambridge from October 15 to 18.  The event is brought to you by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, Fraunhofer Ventures, and the New England Clean Energy Council. (Early bird discounts end Thursday, September 6.)

Representatives from the Commonwealth’s clean energy team look forward to meeting you at the Meet-up – let’s grow your clean energy business in Massachusetts!

We hope to see you there.

Back to School - SAGEE and NEED bring energy and environmental education to students

Tom Witkin

Marketing and Collaboration, Department of Energy Resources (DOER) 

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Schools across the Commonwealth have designed programs that include energy and environment-related themes ranging from energy efficiency to recycling to renewable energy.  These initiatives − which include extensions to mandatory K-12 science curricula – are making students an increasingly important part of Massachusetts’ clean energy initiatives.

Last May, Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Sullivan, on behalf of the Secretary's Advisory Group on Energy and Environmental Education (SAGEE), honored Massachusetts schools, students, and nonprofit organizations from 24 communities across the Commonwealth for their outstanding achievements. Later in May, another group of students and teachers were recognized as Massachusetts and national winners of the NEED (National Energy Education Development Project) Youth Awards. This time EEA Undersecretary for Environment Phillip Griffiths did the honors.

Here’s a sampling of the NEED projects undertaken by these students and their advisors:

• Energy saving lighting retrofit that saves $33,000 annually, an energy jobs program, and elementary school student mentoring program  – Boston Latin School
• Outreach and education about solar power for municipalities – Sandwich High School
• “Power-Down” program to raise awareness about energy conservation within the school, which led to a 5.5% reduction in energy consumption – Acton-Boxborough Regional High School
• “Energy Savers” education for school staff, students, and the community about ways to conserve energy – Bourne Middle School
• Energy experiments, poems and essays shared with other students, the Sandwich School Committee and community (via local TV) – The Forestdale School, Sandwich MA
• Energy carnival that included a challenge to families to create an energy efficient house from a box , a club for first grader energy education, and an engineering club that built a solar oven – Eastham Elementary School
• ”Energize for Our Environment” to raise energy awareness: turning the school parking lot into an idle-free zone and selling CFL’s to town citizens – Harwich Community Learning Center

These projects and programs certainly raise literacy among young people. Our hope is that these students will also share this message with their parents and communities: responsible energy use is critical to Massachusetts’ future. The SAGEE and NEED youth programs can help spawn a new generation of forward thinking clean energy movers and shakers.

With the new school year beginning, we look forward to seeing what clean energy initiatives students create this year!

Massachusetts clean energy sector grows by 11.2 percent

Alicia Barton McDevitt

CEO and Executive Director at Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC)

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It was such a thrill to come on board at MassCEC on the heels of our recent announcement that Massachusetts has seen more than 11 percent job growth in the state’s clean energy sector. Surrounded by students who participate in our clean energy training programs at the State House in Boston, Secretary Sullivan announced the results of our 2012 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report, and I was honored to be there with him.

2012 Massachusetts Clean Energy Industry Report

Clean jobs are growing in the state at a rate nearly 10 times that of the state economy as a whole, and these results shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who has been following the clean energy revolution underway in Massachusetts.

This job growth is not an accident. It’s by design.

What we’re seeing now is the direct result of the hard work and dedication of the Patrick-Murray Administration, the Legislature, energy industry representatives, environmental groups, municipal leaders and the residents of the Commonwealth who have all come together to commit to clean energy. The Green Jobs Act and the Green Communities Act, both passed by the Legislature and signed by Governor Patrick in 2008, have played an instrumental role in accelerating the development and deployment of clean energy technologies in Massachusetts, in turn creating high-quality jobs and reducing the Commonwealth’s dependence on traditional fossil-fuel based energy supplies.

Focusing on clean energy also allows us to focus on home-grown energy.  Did you know Massachusetts spends $22 billion on energy annually? Since Massachusetts has no native sources of traditional energy, $18 billion of that money is spent in other regions of the United States and in South America, Canada and the Middle East. Investing in renewable energy keeps those dollars here.

Responses from employers surveyed as part of the report show our policies are working. Below are some highlights.

Nearly two-thirds of the state’s 4,995 clean energy firms employ 10 or fewer workers, meaning this revolution is truly being built from the ground up at the small business level.

Manufacturing and assembly jobs within the clean energy sector grew by 37 percent over the past year, now employing more than 11,000 people across the state. These jobs provide a new industry in which seasoned workers can thrive. 

And one final number – 12.4 percent.

That’s the projected growth in the clean energy sector that employers are predicting for the next 12 months. If this estimate holds true, that’s nearly 9,000 more people who will have jobs in the industry by this time next year.

That’s truly something to get excited about.  I am happy to be joining MassCEC at this significant moment in our energy history. I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and start working with the team at MassCEC – and with our many partners – to build Massachusetts’ clean energy future.